Investigation of low gain avalanche detectors exposed to proton fluences beyond 10$^{15}$ n$_\mathrm{eq}$cm$^{-2}$

Abstract: Low gain avalanche detectors (LGADs) deliver excellent timing resolution, which can mitigate mis-assignment of vertices associated with pileup at the High Luminosity LHC and other future hadron colliders. The most highly irradiated LGADs will be subject to $2.5 \times10^{15} \mathrm{n}\mathrm{eq} \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ of hadronic fluence during HL-LHC operation; their performance must tolerate this. Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. and Fondazione Bruno Kessler LGADs have been irradiated with 400 and 500 MeV protons respectively in several steps up to $1.5 \times10^{15} \mathrm{n}\mathrm{eq} \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. Measurements of the acceptor removal constants of the gain layers, evolution of the timing resolution and charge collection with damage, and inter-channel isolation characteristics, for a variety of design options, are presented here.