Analysis of 3D stacked fully functional CMOS Active Pixel Sensor detectors.

The IC technology trend is to move from 3D flexible configurations (package on package, stacked dies) to real 3D ICs. This is mainly due to i) the increased electrical performances and ii) the cost of 3D integration which may be cheaper than to keep shrinking 2D circuits. Perspective advantages for particle tracking and vertex detectors applications in High Energy Physics can be envisaged: in this work, we will focus on the capabilities of the state-of-the-art vertical scale integration technologies, allowing for the fabrication of very compact, fully functional, multiple layers CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS) detectors. The main idea is to exploit the features of the 3D technologies for the fabrication of a “stack” of very thin and precisely aligned CMOS APS layers, leading to a single, integrated, multi-layers pixel sensor. The adoption of multiple-layers single detectors can dramatically reduce the mass of conventional, separated detectors (thus reducing multiple scattering issues), at the same time allowing for very precise measurements of particle trajectory and momentum. As a proof of concept, an extensive device and circuit simulation activity has been carried out, aiming at evaluate the suitability of such a kind of CMOS active pixel layers for particle tracking purposes.