Development of a super B-factory monolithic active pixel detector—the Continuous Acquisition Pixel (CAP) prototypes

Over the last few years great progress has been made in the technological development of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) such that upgrades to existing vertex detectors using this technology are now actively being considered. Future vertex detection at an upgraded KEK-B factory, already the highest luminosity collider in the world, will require a detector technology capable of withstanding the increased track densities and larger radiation exposures. Near the beam pipe the current silicon strip detectors have projected occupancies in excess of 100%. Deep sub-micron MAPS look very promising to address this problem. In the context of an upgrade to the Belle vertex detector, the major obstacles to realizing such a device have been concerns about radiation hardness and readout speed. Two prototypes implemented in the TSMC 0.35 μm process have been developed to address these issues. Denoted the Continuous Acquisition Pixel, or CAP, the two variants of this architecture are distinguished in that CAP2 includes an 8-deep sampling pipeline within each 22.5 μm2 pixel. Preliminary test results and remaining R&D issues are presented.