Influence of surface damage on highly segmented silicon detectors

Highly segmented silicon detectors have already been used in high-energy ph ysics experiments for a long time. But. in future experiments they will hav e to survive for several years in harsh radiation environments. Their perfo rmance will degenerate due to irradiation-induced bulk and surface damage. Whereas bulk damage is design independent and has been successfully under i nvestigation for a long time nom, the design-related surface damage and its consequences for a highly segmented detector are not well known yet. There fore, we have developed a test device and irradiated it systematically with low-energy electrons. From I-V curves before and after irradiation we have determined the influence of surface damage on the leakage current of singl e-pixel cells. As a main result it was found that, depending on the design, only a fraction of the surface area contributes to the interface generatio n current after surface damage.