Simulation of silicon microstrip detectors for a cosmic ray experiment

This is a simulation of the silicon microstrip detectors used in the PAMELA tracking system. We simulated the collection on the strips of the charge generated in the silicon layer by ionizing particles, after the drift of the charge along the electric field lines. In this way the electrical signals obtained for every channel were equivalent to the signals arising in the read-out electronics as a consequence of a real particle in the telescope. The simulation aids to completely understand the effect of different physical processes on the output signals. Moreover, the spatial resolution obtained with some methods of impact point reconstruction has been studied. We analyzed tracks orthogonal to the sensor and also inclined up to 20 degrees, which corresponds to the maximum angular acceptance of the PAMELA telescope.