Radiation hardness of amorphous silicon particle sensors

Radiation tests of 32 mu m thick hydrogenated amorphous silicon n-i-p diodes have been performed using a high-energy 24 GeV proton beam up to fluences of 2 x 10(16) protons/cm(2). The results are compared to irradiation of similar I pin and 32 mu m thick n-i-p diodes using a proton beam of 405 keV at a fluence of 3 x 10(13) protons/cm(2). All samples exhibited a drop of the photoconductivity and an increase in the dark leakage current under both high- and low-energy proton irradiation. An almost full recovery of the device performance was observed after a subsequent thermal annealing. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.