Probably the most advanced ultra-thin pixel sensors ever: DEPFET. Developed for the ILD detector’s vertex subdetector, they will be used in the Belle II detector – an extreme example of fast-forward technology spin-off. The first full-size module for use in Belle II has just been completed. It comprises a thin sensitive area (75 microns) with roughly […]
Vertical wonder
In 2006, Fermilab’s Particle Physics Division teamed up with MIT’s Lincoln Labs to start work on the first iteration of a new kind chip for the proposed International Linear Collider’s vertex detector. A new way to slim down chips was emerging in the semiconductor industry, one that could potentially make it easier to measure the […]
Common ground in ILC and CLIC detector concepts
The Compact Linear Collider and International Linear Collider will accelerate particles and create collisions in different ways. Nonetheless, the detector concepts under development share many commonalities. CERN physicist Dominik Dannheim explains that CLIC detector plans are adaptations of the ILC detector designs with a few select modifications. “When we started several years ago, we did […]
Light as a feather
The PLUME project sets a new milestone for vertex detectors
A group of European physicists, the PLUME collaboration, aims to prototype an ultra-light device intended to equip one of the thinnest and lightest elements at the inner heart of the ILC detectors: the vertex detector. At CERN one month ago, a full-scale prototype equipped with CMOS pixel sensors was successfully tested in beam. At the […]
The impact of ILC detector R&D
This month's Research Director's Report was written by Marcel Demarteau, chair and convener of the ILC Detector Common Task Group
Although the actual construction date of the ILC accelerator and its detectors is very uncertain, the impact of the R&D for ILC detectors is very real. We are so immersed in our day-to-day activities, in the analysis of physics and test beam data, in our struggles to obtain funding, that we tend to overlook the […]
3-D silicon technology project draws together industry and research for ILC
The International Linear Collider had more than a dozen circuit pixel-detector technologies to choose from for their vertex detectors. Now, they can choose from many more design options thanks to a ground-breaking partnership among national laboratories, universities and industry. The bonding of two electronic tiers using the oxide-oxide Cu-Cu thermo-compression technique employed by Tezzaron. A […]
The ILC Vertex Detector: Tagging Transient Particles
Possible geometry for the ILC vertex detector. At the heart of the massive ILC detector system, the vertex detector, a compact tracking device about the size of a wine bottle, surrounds the interaction region. This high-tech piece of equipment hosts about a billion pixels in total – equivalent to hundreds of the finest cameras. It […]