pith. sign in

arxiv: 2606.25655 · v1 · pith:L7VX7QSPnew · submitted 2026-06-24 · ⚛️ physics.ins-det

First evaluation of the tracking performance of the ARCADIA Fully Depleted MAPS with 120 GeV proton beam

M. Rignanese , S. Ciarlantini , C. Pantouvakis , A. Zingaretti , A. Apresyan , P. Azzi , N. Bacchetta , C. Bonini
show 14 more authors
D. Chiappara D. Falchieri S. Garbolino A. Hayrapetyan S. Mattiazzo L. Pancheri D. Pantano A. Rivetti M. Rolo R. Santoro R. Turrisi J. Wyss I. Zoi P. Giubilato
This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-06-25 19:49 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification ⚛️ physics.ins-det
keywords ARCADIAfully depleted MAPStest beamdetection efficiencyspatial resolutionproton beamparticle trackingmonolithic sensor
0
0 comments X

The pith

Test beam data show the ARCADIA fully depleted MAPS reaches above 99 percent detection efficiency and 3.8 micrometer spatial resolution with 120 GeV protons.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper reports the first beam-test results for the ARCADIA Main Demonstrator 3, a 200 micrometer thick monolithic active pixel sensor built in a custom 110 nm process on high-resistivity silicon. Measurements track how cluster size, position resolution, and hit efficiency change when threshold, front-end current, and backside bias are varied. A reader would care because these sensors combine sensing and readout in one thin layer, which could simplify tracking detectors if the reported efficiency and resolution hold. The work therefore supplies the operating-parameter maps needed to judge whether the device meets the requirements of high-energy physics trackers. All results are obtained under a 120 GeV proton beam whose energy and direction are chosen to approximate minimum-ionizing particles.

Core claim

The ARCADIA Main Demonstrator 3 achieves detection efficiency exceeding 99 percent and spatial resolution down to 3.8 micrometers. These figures are extracted from cluster data collected with a 120 GeV proton beam while the sensor is operated at different thresholds, front-end currents, and backside bias voltages. The study maps how each performance metric depends on those three parameters.

What carries the argument

The ARCADIA fully depleted MAPS, a monolithic pixel sensor whose substrate is fully depleted to collect charge from a 200 micrometer thick volume in a single integrated device.

If this is right

  • Efficiency stays above 99 percent across the scanned range of thresholds and backside biases.
  • Spatial resolution reaches its best value of 3.8 micrometers at particular combinations of threshold and bias.
  • Cluster size grows or shrinks predictably with threshold and front-end current, directly affecting the position-resolution figure.
  • Performance remains stable when backside bias is increased to improve depletion depth.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The same operating curves could be used to tune the sensor for lower-power or higher-speed regimes in a full-scale detector.
  • If radiation hardness follows the same parameter trends, the device might suit environments with moderate fluence.
  • A direct comparison of cluster-charge spectra before and after irradiation would test whether the efficiency plateau shrinks.
  • The reported resolution value sets a benchmark that hybrid pixel sensors or other MAPS variants would have to beat to displace this technology.

Load-bearing premise

The test-beam alignment, beam divergence, and data-selection cuts do not add significant smearing beyond the sensor's intrinsic resolution and efficiency.

What would settle it

A repeat measurement under the same 120 GeV proton beam that yields efficiency below 99 percent or resolution coarser than 5 micrometers at the same operating points would falsify the reported performance.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2606.25655 by A. Apresyan, A. Hayrapetyan, A. Rivetti, A. Zingaretti, C. Bonini, C. Pantouvakis, D. Chiappara, D. Falchieri, D. Pantano, I. Zoi, J. Wyss, L. Pancheri, M. Rignanese, M. Rolo, N. Bacchetta, P. Azzi, P. Giubilato, R. Santoro, R. Turrisi, S. Ciarlantini, S. Garbolino, S. Mattiazzo.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: (a) Picture of the telescope made of three ARCADIA MD3 planes used at the [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p005_1.png] view at source ↗
Figure 2
Figure 2. Figure 2: Pixel hit distributions over time (timestamp in seconds) for the three planes: [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p006_2.png] view at source ↗
Figure 3
Figure 3. Figure 3: Correlation 2D plot (a): the plot shows the y coordinate of the DUT as a [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p007_3.png] view at source ↗
Figure 4
Figure 4. Figure 4: Comparison of the cluster size distribution at three different threshold values. [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p009_4.png] view at source ↗
Figure 5
Figure 5. Figure 5: Cluster and residual width (a) and efficiency and fake it rate (b) for threshold [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p009_5.png] view at source ↗
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: Cluster and residual width for ID scan (a) and IBIAS-IFB scan (b). [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p010_6.png] view at source ↗
Figure 7
Figure 7. Figure 7: Cluster and residual width (a) and efficiency (b) for backside bias scans. [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p011_7.png] view at source ↗
read the original abstract

This work presents test beam characterization of the ARCADIA Main Demonstrator 3, a 200 $\mu$m thick Fully Depleted MAPS developed using a custom LFoundry 110 nm CIS process on a high-resistivity substrate. Measurements using a 120 GeV proton beam demonstrate a detection efficiency exceeding 99% and a spatial resolution down to 3.8 $\mu$m. The study evaluates cluster size, spatial resolution, and efficiency as a function of the threshold, front-end currents, and backside bias voltage.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

0 major / 1 minor

Summary. This paper reports the test beam characterization of the ARCADIA Main Demonstrator 3, a 200 μm thick fully depleted MAPS fabricated in a custom LFoundry 110 nm CIS process on high-resistivity substrate. Using a 120 GeV proton beam, it demonstrates detection efficiency exceeding 99% and spatial resolution down to 3.8 μm, with evaluations of cluster size, spatial resolution, and efficiency as functions of threshold, front-end currents, and backside bias voltage.

Significance. If substantiated by the full analysis, these results establish competitive performance for FD-MAPS in high-energy tracking applications, with the parametric dependence on operating conditions providing useful optimization data and internal cross-checks. The high-energy beam choice minimizes multiple scattering, strengthening the resolution claim.

minor comments (1)
  1. [Abstract] Abstract: the reported performance numbers would be strengthened by a one-sentence indication of the reference telescope, alignment procedure, or residual subtraction method used to extract the quoted 3.8 μm resolution.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

0 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the positive assessment of our work and the recommendation for minor revision. The report does not list any specific major comments requiring point-by-point response.

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity: direct experimental measurement report

full rationale

This paper reports test-beam measurements of detection efficiency (>99%) and spatial resolution (down to 3.8 μm) for the ARCADIA FD-MAPS using a 120 GeV proton beam. The abstract and reader's summary indicate no derivations, equations, fitted predictions, or self-citation chains are present; results are stated as functions of threshold, front-end current, and bias voltage with internal parametric cross-checks. No load-bearing steps reduce to inputs by construction, satisfying the default expectation for experimental papers (score 0-2).

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

This is an experimental characterization study; no mathematical derivations, free parameters, axioms, or invented entities are present in the abstract.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.1-grok · 5734 in / 1110 out tokens · 33747 ms · 2026-06-25T19:49:27.477229+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Reference graph

Works this paper leans on

13 extracted references · 8 canonical work pages

  1. [1]

    Reidt , title = "

    F. Reidt , title = ". doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2022.166632 , journal =

    work page doi:10.1016/j.nima.2022.166632 2022

  2. [2]

    The ALPIDE pixel sensor chip for the upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System

    Gianluca. The ALPIDE pixel sensor chip for the upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.016 , journal=

    work page doi:10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.016 2016

  3. [3]

    doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.168678 , journal=

    Snoeys, Walter , title=". doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2023.168678 , journal=

    work page doi:10.1016/j.nima.2023.168678 2023

  4. [4]

    doi:10.3389/fsens.2025.1603755 , journal=

    Da Rocha Rolo, Manuel and Andreazza, Attilio and Ambrosi, Giovanni and Alfonsi, Fabrizio and Balbi, Gabriele and Dalla Betta, Gian-Franco and Croci, Tommaso and Caccia, Massimo and Chiappara, Davide and Corradino, Thomas and Durando, Stefano and Falchieri, Davide and Gabrielli, Alessandro and Giubilato, Piero and Garbolino, Sara and Iuppa, Roberto and Man...

    work page doi:10.3389/fsens.2025.1603755 2025

  5. [5]

    doi:10.3390/s21113809 , journal=

    Thomas Corradino and Gian-Franco Dalla Betta and Lorenzo De Cilladi and Coralie Neubuser and Lucio Pancheri , title=". doi:10.3390/s21113809 , journal=

    work page doi:10.3390/s21113809

  6. [6]

    doi:10.1088/1748-0221/21/04/P04003 , journal =

    Pantouvakis, Caterina and Rignanese, Michele and Zenger, Todd and Ciarlantini, Sabrina and Zingaretti, Alessandra and Azzi, Patrizia and Bonini, Chiara and Chiappara, Davide and Mattiazzo, Serena and Pantano, Devis and Wyss, Jeffery and Apresyan, Artur and Bacchetta, Nicola and Bolla, Luca and Hayrapetyan, Aram and Peña, Cristián and Salvador, Nelson and ...

    work page doi:10.1088/1748-0221/21/04/p04003

  7. [7]

    and Merkel, P

    Hartz, M. and Merkel, P. and Niner, E. and Prebys, E. and Toro, N. Test Beam and Irradiation Facilities. Snowmass 2021. 2022. arXiv:2203.09944

    arXiv 2021

  8. [8]

    and Garbolino, S

    Pantouvakis, C. and Garbolino, S. and Rignanese, M. and Affleck, P. and Apresyan, A. and Azzi, P. and Bacchetta, N. and Bonini, C. and Chiappara, D. and Ciarlantini, S. and Falchieri, D. and Hayrapetyan, A. and Mattiazzo, S. and Pancheri, L. and Pantano, D. and Rivetti, A. and Rolo, M. and Santoro, R. and Turrisi, R. and Wyss, J. and Xie, S. and Zingarett...

    work page doi:10.1088/1748-0221/21/04/c04040

  9. [9]

    Fermilab Test Beam Facility

    , howpublished =. Fermilab Test Beam Facility

  10. [10]

    Corryvreckan: a modular 4D track reconstruction and analysis software for test beam data

    Dannheim, Dominik and Dort, Katharina and Huth, Lennart and Hynds, Daniel and Kremastiotis, Iraklis and Kr. Corryvreckan: a modular 4D track reconstruction and analysis software for test beam data. Journal of Instrumentation , doi=

  11. [11]

    2006 , publisher=

    Pixel detectors: From fundamentals to applications , author=. 2006 , publisher=

    2006

  12. [12]

    Innovative readout architecture for Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors

    Davide Chiappara. Innovative readout architecture for Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors. 2023

    2023

  13. [13]

    Performance study of the JadePix-3 telescope from a beam test

    Dong, Sheng and Chen, Zhiliang and Zhou, Jia and Zhai, Xingye and Wang, Anqi and Wang, Yunxiang and Wang, Hulin and Xu, Lailin and Dong, Jing and Zhou, Yang and others , journal=. Performance study of the JadePix-3 telescope from a beam test. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2024.169551 , volume=

    work page doi:10.1016/j.nima.2024.169551 2024