Observations of sensor bias dependent cluster centroid shifts in a prototype sensor for the LHCb Vertex Locator detector

We present results from a recent beam test of a prototype sensor for the LHCb Vertex Locator detector, read out with the Beetle1.3 front-end chip. We have studied the effect of the sensor bias voltage on the reconstructed cluster positions in a sensor placed in a 120 GeV pion beam at a 10∘ incidence angle. We find an unexplained systematic shift in the reconstructed cluster centroid when increasing the bias voltage on an already overdepleted sensor. The shift is independent of strip pitch and sensor thickness.