Guard Ring Width Impact on Impact Parameter Performances and Structure Simulations

The 1 mm guard ring structure of the VELO sensors has been simulated. The performance of the baseline design is considered and a design which improves the electric field characteristics proposed. Designs which would permit a reduced guard ring width, to 0.5 mm or better, are also discussed and shown to also have similarly good electric field performances. The effect of implementing these designs on the impact parameter resolution of LHCb is found to be better than 5 %. This design is currently being fabricated. Finally, a very different structure, the trench guard ring, is considered which would then allow an impact parameter resolution improvement of approximately 7 %.