Design of CMOS Monolithic Avalanche Detectors for charged-particle timing with sub-nanosecond resolution

This work reports on the design of CMOS-integrated sensors for radiation detection, incorporating an avalanche multiplication layer to amplify the signal generated by the incidence of a charged particle. The avalanche gain, obtained with a dedicated implantation, is used to enhance the Signal-to-Noise Ratio of the sensor signal, and thus to increase its charge and timing resolution. The proposed devices are obtained with the modification of a 110nm CMOS process customized for the production of Fully Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors, and are suitable for the fabrication of pixelated large-area Time-Of-Flight detectors.