Radiation Damage and Mitigation in LGAD Timing Sensors for HL-LHC and Future Colliders

Precision timing is a key enabler for 4D tracking and pileup mitigation at high-luminosity hadron colliders. Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) and related internal-gain silicon technologies are leading candidates for minimum-ionizing particle (MIP) timing layers because they can deliver excellent time resolution with thin sensors and fast signals. In these devices, moderate charge multiplication is produced by a high-electric-field region engineered via a dedicated gain layer (e.g., a boron-doped p(^+) layer) in an (n^{++}/p^{+}/p/p^{++}) structure.However, radiation damage, particularly acceptor removal and field modification in the gain region, along with bulk and surface effects, can significantly reduce gain and degrade timing performance while pushing operation toward higher bias and tighter breakdown margins. For the HL-LHC and future collider scenarios, the community is pursuing new LGAD-family concepts and rad-hard design strategies (materials, implants, terminations, and defect/device engineering) to maintain timing capability and high efficiency/fill factor after irradiation, validated through TCAD-to-measurement workflows and system-level tests.This Research Topic aims to explore radiation-hard LGAD-family timing sensors and related high-performance timing detectors for high-luminosity collider environments, spanning device physics through module/system integration.Themes of interest include:- Development of new design detectors using novel materials.- Emerging rad-hard LGAD technologies for bulk and surface damage.- Advanced TCAD device modeling for performance evaluation toward a full detector system.- Simulation or measurement of the gain in the irradiated detectors.While this Research Topic primarily focuses on collider timing, contributions that connect timing-detector innovation to related ultrafast radiation-detection applications are also welcome when they directly inform collider-relevant device engineering, modeling, or qualification. Topic editors: Gordana Lastovicka-Medin, Ajay Kumar Srivastava Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78138/radiation-damage-and-mitigation-in-lgad-timing-sensors-for-hl-lhc-and-future-colliders