  The ALICE ITS3 (Inner Tracking System 3) upgrade project and the CERN EP R&D
on monolithic pixel sensors are investigating the feasibility of the Tower
Partners Semiconductor Co. 65 nm process for use in the next generation of
vertex detectors. The ITS3 aims to employ wafer-scale Monolithic Active Pixel
Sensors thinned down to 20 to 40 um and bent to form truly cylindrical half
barrels. Among the first critical steps towards the realisation of this
detector is to validate the sensor technology through extensive
characterisation both in the laboratory and with in-beam measurements. The
Digital Pixel Test Structure (DPTS) is one of the prototypes produced in the
first sensor submission in this technology and has undergone a systematic
measurement campaign whose details are presented in this article.
  The results confirm the goals of detection efficiency and non-ionising and
ionising radiation hardness up to the expected levels for ALICE ITS3 and also
demonstrate operation at +20 C and a detection efficiency of 99% for a DPTS
irradiated with a dose of $10^{15}$ 1 MeV n$_{\mathrm{eq}}/$cm$^2$.
Furthermore, spatial, timing and energy resolutions were measured at various
settings and irradiation levels.
