nLGAD detectors for low penetrating particles: Concept and first results

In the last decade, Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGAD) have demonstrated their sterling performance when detecting high-energy particles. Nevertheless, due to the difference in the multiplication mechanism for holes and electrons, the detection performance for low penetrating particles (e.g low-energy protons or soft x-rays) is drastically reduced. A pioneering conception of an LGAD detector, the nLGAD, was designed and fabricated at IMB-CNM to resolve this limitation. A description of the nLGAD concept is presented in this work, along with gain response measurements of the first prototypes under visible light of 404 and 660 nm, IR light of 1064 nm wavelength and 15 keV X-rays. Furthermore, a discussion on how to upgrade this novel sensor for very-low penetrating particles detection is also presented.