Simulation of 3D-Silicon sensors for the TIMESPOT project

The experimental conditions in future High Luminosity LHC experiments require new detector systems with increased performances compared to the current state of the art. In this context, increasing spacial resolution and including time measurement with a resolution of less than 50 ps for particle tracking systems can avoid false track reconstruction due to event pile up. For this kind of future tracking detectors the 3D silicon sensor technology appears as a good option. In this context the TIMESPOT initiative was launched. Concerning the development of the sensor, different geometrical solutions have been explored and simulated to optimize the timing response of the single pixel sensor using Sentaurus TCAD. The configuration with the best electric field characteristics for timing was selected for signal simulation. In order to compensate the very time-consuming behavior of TCAD simulations, a faster charge transport simulator with TCAD and Geant4 support is under development. Further sensor configurations, including a first primitive capacitive and resistive load, were also simulated and evaluated. This paper shows a general overview of the project with particular attention to the silicon sensor development. First results are presented.