Characteristics of edgeless silicon detectors for the Roman Pots of the TOTEM experiment at the LHC

TOTEM Roman Pot (RP) microstrip edgeless silicon detectors, fabricated with standard planar technology, reach full sensitivity within 50 μm from the cut edge and can operate with high bias voltage at room temperature. These detectors use a newly developed terminating structure, which prevents breakdown and surface current injection at high bias, while simultaneously providing extremely reduced dead zones at the edges. Moreover, radiation hardness studies indicate that when operated under moderate cooling, the detectors remain fully efficient up to a fluence of about 1.5×1014 p cm−2. The mass production of these detectors for the TOTEM Experiment is being completed and their installation in the Roman Pots is ongoing. When the installation is complete and the LHC will be operational, these detectors will allow the TOTEM Experiment to detect leading protons at distance of ∼1 mm from the beam centre at the LHC. This work presented here is a survey of this recently developed device and its most up-to-date characterisations.