On the timing performance of thin planar silicon sensors

We report on the signal timing capabilities of thin silicon sensors when traversed by multiple simultaneous minimum ionizing particles (MIP). Three different planar sensors, with depletion thicknesses 133, 211, and 285 µm, have been exposed to high energy muons and electrons at CERN. We describe signal shape and timing resolution measurements as well as the response of these devices as a function of the multiplicity of MIPs. We compare these measurements to simulations where possible. We achieve better than 20 ps timing resolution for signals larger than a few tens of MIPs.