Radiation hardness characterization of SiPM sensors for Low Earth Orbit space missions

Abstract

This work presents a comprehensive radiation hardness characterization of SiPM devices for space-based applications: FBK NUV-HD-MT and NUV-HD-LowCT (1×1, 3×3, and 6×6~mm²) and Hamamatsu S14160 MPPCs with equivalent active areas. Total Ionizing Dose (TID) tests were performed at the ESA/ESTEC Co-60 facility with a level of dose up to 20~krad in silicon, while displacement damage effects were evaluated using 100~MeV protons with a fluence up to 1.12×10¹¹~p/cm² at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Radiation damage in SiPMs manifests through two main mechanisms: ionizing energy loss and non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL), which increases dark current and dark count rate. In this work, breakdown voltage, dark current, and quenching resistance were systematically measured as functions of accumulated dose and fluence. Gain and dark count rates were indirectly measured from the characterized electrical parameters. Both technologies exhibit remarkable stability of most of the functional parameters across all dose levels, while dark current shows predictable increases significantly more pronounced under proton irradiation due to displacement damage. Based on these results, both FBK and Hamamatsu devices are confirmed suitable for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mission environment.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{aloisio2026radiation,
  title = {{Radiation hardness characterization of SiPM sensors for Low Earth Orbit space missions}},
  author = {R. Aloisio and F. C. T. Barbato and I. De Mitri and A. Di Giovanni and G. Fontanella and D. Kyratzis and R. Nicolaidis and D. Pattanaik and P. Savina and C. Trimarelli and L. Burmistrov and S. Davarpanah and M. Heller and T. Montaruli and T. Borel and A. Costantino and F. Acerbi and A. Gola and M. Ruzzarin},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.25093},
  eprint = {2609.25093},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25093},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Radiation hardness characterization of SiPM sensors for Low Earth Orbit space missions
AU  - R. Aloisio
AU  - F. C. T. Barbato
AU  - I. De Mitri
AU  - A. Di Giovanni
AU  - G. Fontanella
AU  - D. Kyratzis
AU  - R. Nicolaidis
AU  - D. Pattanaik
AU  - P. Savina
AU  - C. Trimarelli
AU  - L. Burmistrov
AU  - S. Davarpanah
AU  - M. Heller
AU  - T. Montaruli
AU  - T. Borel
AU  - A. Costantino
AU  - F. Acerbi
AU  - A. Gola
AU  - M. Ruzzarin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/25
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.25093
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.25093
AB  - This work presents a comprehensive radiation hardness characterization of SiPM devices for space-based applications: FBK NUV-HD-MT and NUV-HD-LowCT (1×1, 3×3, and 6×6~mm^2) and Hamamatsu S14160 MPPCs with equivalent active areas. Total Ionizing Dose (TID) tests were performed at the ESA/ESTEC Co-60 facility with a level of dose up to 20~krad in silicon, while displacement damage effects were evaluated using 100~MeV protons with a fluence up to 1.12×10^11~p/cm^2 at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Radiation damage in SiPMs manifests through two main mechanisms: ionizing energy loss and non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL), which increases dark current and dark count rate. In this work, breakdown voltage, dark current, and quenching resistance were systematically measured as functions of accumulated dose and fluence. Gain and dark count rates were indirectly measured from the characterized electrical parameters. Both technologies exhibit remarkable stability of most of the functional parameters across all dose levels, while dark current shows predictable increases significantly more pronounced under proton irradiation due to displacement damage. Based on these results, both FBK and Hamamatsu devices are confirmed suitable for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mission environment.
ER  -

Abstract

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