Radiation hardness of silicon detectors for future colliders

Abstract The radiation hardness of silicon pad detectors, especially developed for the PLUG-calorimeter of the H1 experiment at HERA was investigated with respect to neutron and electron irradiation. Be(d,n)-neutrons with an average energy of 6.2 MeV up to a fluence of 10 15 n/cm 2 and 1.8 MeV electrons up to a dose of 1 MGy (10 16 e/cm 2 ) were used. Degradation effects of the diode properties regarding the reverse current, depletion voltage and charge collection efficiency are studied at room temperature and with no bias applied during irradiation. Special emphasis is put on the separation of the respective damage generation and its subsequent self annealing. The observed effects are discussed with respect to radiation levels to be envisioned for experiments with future colliding beam machines.