Single electron-hole pair sensitive silicon detector with surface event discrimination

Abstract We demonstrate single electron–hole pair resolution in a single-sided, contact-free 1 cm 2 by 1 mm thick Si crystal operated at 48 mK, with a baseline energy resolution of 3 eV. This crystal can be operated at voltages in excess of ± 50  V, resulting in a measured charge resolution of 0.06 electron–hole pairs. The high aluminum coverage ( ∼ 70%) of this device allows for the discrimination of surface events and separation of events occurring near the center of the detector from those near the edge. We use this discrimination ability to show that non-quantized dark events seen in previous detectors of a similar design are likely dominated by charge leakage along the sidewall of the device.