CVD diamond detectors for ionizing radiation

In future HEP accelerators, such as the LHC (CERN), detectors and electroni cs in the vertex region of the experiments will suffer from extreme radiati on. Thus radiation hardness is required for both detectors and electronics to survive in this harsh environment. CVD diamond, which is investigated by the RD42 Collaboration at CERN, can meet these requirements. Samples of up to 2 x 4 cm(2) have been grown and refined for better charge collection pr operties, which are measured with a beta source or in a testbeam. A large n umber of diamond samples has been irradiated with hadrons to fluences of up to 5 x 10(15) cm(-2) to study the effects of radiation. Both strip and pix el detectors were prepared in various geometries. Samples with strip metall ization have been tested with both slow and fast readout electronics, and t he first diamond pixel detector proved fully functional with LHC electronic s. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.