Performance of the first 150 mm diameter Cryogenic silicon ionization detectors with contact-free electrodes

Abstract Cryogenic semiconductor detectors operated at temperatures below 100 mK are commonly used in particle physics experiments searching for dark matter. The largest such germanium and silicon detectors, with diameters of 100 mm and thickness of 33 mm, are planned for use by the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment at SNOLAB, Canada. Still larger individual detectors are being investigated to scale up the sensitive mass of future experiments. We present here the first results of testing two prototype 150 mm diameter silicon ionization detectors. The detectors are 25 mm and 33 mm thick with masses 1.7 and 2.2 times larger than those currently planned for SuperCDMS. These devices were operated with contact-free bias electrodes to minimize leakage currents which currently limit operation at high bias voltages. The results show promise for the use of such technologies in solid state cryogenic detectors.