The effect of humidity on reverse breakdown in 3D silicon sensors

The effect of humidity on reverse breakdown in silicon sensors of the “3D” geometry is studied for unirradiated and irradiated samples exposed to fluences relevant to the environment of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider. Leakage currents are measured and breakdown voltages are compared for a range of relative humidities and bias voltages. The proton beam at LANSCE, Los Alamos National Laboratory, was used to irradiate samples with 800 MeV protons up to 2×1016p/cm2.