An induced annealing technique for SiPMs neutron radiation damage

The use of Silicon Photo-Multipliers(SiPMs)has become popular in the design of High Energy Physics experimental apparatus with a growing interest for their application in detector area where a significant amount of non-ionising dose is delivered. For these devices, the main effect caused by the neutron fluence is a linear increase of the leakage current. In this paper, we present a technique that provides a partial recovery of the neutron damage on SiPMs by means of an Electrical Induced Annealing. Tests were performed, at the temperature of 20C, on a sample of three SiPM arrays (2x3) of 6 mm^2 cells with 50 um pixel sizes: two from Hamamatsu and one from SensL. These SiPMs have been exposed to neutrons generated by the Elbe Positron Source facility (Dresden), up to a total fluence of 8x10^11 n1MeV-eq/cm^2. Our techniques allowed to reduced the leakage current of a factor ranging between 15-20 depending on the overbias used and the SiPM vendor. Because, during the process the SiPM current can reach O(100 mA), the sensors need to be operated in a condition that provides thermal dissipation. Indeed, caution must be used when applying this kind of procedures on the SiPMs, because it may damage permanently the device itself.