Detector production

Contacts: R. De Oliveira, F. Jeanneau, A. Delbart, G. Iaselli, G. Charles 

Contact email: DRD1-WG6-convenors@cern.ch

 

This working group focuses on the production aspects of gaseous detectors. The group aims to help the development and transfer to the industry of cost-effective industrial technology solutions. It concerns all the constitutive elements of the detectors. The tasks are:

• Task 6.1: Development and maintenance of common production facilities or production devices

• Task 6.2: Production industrialization (quality control, cost-effective pro-DRAFTduction, large-volume production)

• Task 6.3: Collaboration with Industrial Partners

• Task 6.4: Gaseous Detector Forum establishment

 

Development and maintenance of common production facilities or production devices

It is in the interest of the collaboration to share the resources that are used to produce gaseous detectors. So far, the CERN’s EP-DT-EM2 MPT workshop has played this role for MPGD by providing detectors to experiments and institutes, many of which are members of the collaboration. Thanks to this workshop many innovative ideas to fabricate MPGDs and read-out boards have been generated and put into practice. MPT  is capable of producing detectors in prototype quantities and in series for small experiments (TOTEM GEM, T2K Micromegas). This mix of creating production processes, prototyping various MPGDs and producing small series, combined with the experience of transferring production technology to industry (e.g., GEM, ATLAS TRT) is invaluable for the gaseous detector community. The CERN workshop has become what we defined as a common production facility for the collaboration. We propose to extend the list of the common facilities for each technology of gaseous detectors with the following criteria: 1. Develop an element necessary for gaseous detectors 2. Accept orders from DRD1 collaborators 3. Access to the production tools and consumables

Production industrialization (quality control, cost-effective production, large-volume production)

Quality insurance is needed once the development of a detector type is out of the prototyping phase. Quality control in the sense of all tests and controls needed during production to guarantee that the technical parameters of the circuits are within the specification, is an important factor of quality assurance. For gaseous detectors, specific quality controls are usually required, such as the measurement of the leakage current or the measurement of the maximum voltage at which the detector can be operated before instabilities occur. A strict quality assurance plan with highly detailed manufacturing procedures and quality control should be put in place for any large-volume production. It is expected that the quality control used in the common production facility can be adapted for large-scale productions. DRAFT Final quality assurance procedures can only be made for larger-scale projects. The aim of the common production facility for MPGDs is to develop production processes and to produce small to medium quantities. To be able to produce larger quantities (several hundred per year of a single large type) the equipment and the organization of operating the facility may need to be different. Depending on many parameters this may require investments by the common production facility or it may need the involvement of industry. Only when the different parameters of a specific project are known (e.g. type, size, material, volume, delivery times, available budget), the path to take can be chosen. The wire community extensively uses wires as a basic component. The quality of the wires being a key parameter of the success of an experiment, we will identify standard tests to perform for quality purposes. Once the key parameters to check are identified, we will develop devices easy to transport or copy for the community to use. Among the tests to perform, one can mention the cylindricity, the elastic domain, the maximum charge it can take and the purity of the material. Once mounted the wires also need to be checked, especially their mechanical tension. Despite different existing technologies, up-to-date tension checker devices cannot be found. The community will identify elements to perform such controls.

Collaboration with Industrial

Partners The involvement of industrial partners may be necessary for several reasons: • because the demand for detector production is larger than the production facilities can provide, whether it is a common production facility or local facilities identified in the different partner laboratories of the project • to allow prices reductions due to large-scale or industrial manufacturing methods, either for components of the devices or for what concerns the integration of these same devices • to ensure the availability of production capacities for potential commercial applications of these instruments. Since the technology of most types of MPGD, RPC/tRPC and wire chambers is very specific and difficult, a technology transfer is most of the time necessary for large-scale production. This transfer is not a simple procedure and can be time-consuming and expensive. Indeed, the production technology of this type of detector is often completely different from the usual industrial production methods. The pitfalls that can be encountered when one wishes to engage in such a project are the following: • the level of the market • the interest of the company DRAFT • the identification of the market for this type of product or fear of licensing problems. To avoid these pitfalls, it is necessary to: • identify a market through a market study • have a significant amount of production (for an experiment for example) • make sure that the company has an interest in acquiring new methods that may at first sight only correspond to a niche market CERN has a long experience in transferring production technology to industry and has set up several contracts with commercial companies to produce GEMs for example, but also large PCBs for the Micromegas modules of the Atlas New Small Wheels. CERN’s Technology Transfer unit is active in this field and has helped TS-DEM to collaborate with several companies. Several institutes in the DRD1 collaboration have also a long experience in collaborating with companies. It is expected that the acquired experience with the transfer of MPGD technologies 62 will be invaluable for other technology projects. Qualification of companies before transferring technology, contractual obligations, IP licensing and other issues are a few of the subjects that may improve the chances of a successful transfer. Industry involvement can also be useful for carrying out selected production steps (e.g. the stretching of mesh for Micromegas, exposure step for GEMs, Wire production or stretching for Wire chambers, Resistive layer deposition for RPC/tRPC, etc.). Another R&D point is the search for new types of wires. Even though this aspect initially is part of another working group, once the manufacturing process is found, it has to be passed to the industry. So together with the WG concerned by the idea, we will contact companies and see how they could be interested in developing new wires.

Gaseous Detector Forum establishment

In order to help the community, and in particular the newcomers, to find the ex- parts within the community to help them when they face problems related to the conception and realization of their detectors, a forum will be established. The forum will allow any member of the community to ask a question that can be shown by the whole community so that answers from people who experienced the same problem and fixed it can provide answers. The forum needs to be organized in a way that a minimum of maintenance is needed but the proposed questions and the provided answers can be accessible for a long time in order to avoid repeating the same questions.