Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 392 (1997) 999104
ELSEVIER
Recent advances in the construction A. Barr”, R. Bouclief’,
NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS 81METHODS IN PHVSICS RESEARCH SectronA
and testing of MSGCs
M. Cape&“, G. Della Meab, M. Hoch”, G. Million”, G. Manzinb,*, L. Ropelewski”, F. Sauli”
blNFN, Laboratori
’ CERN, Genera, Switzedand Nazionali di Legplaro. Via Romea 4, 35020 Legnaro
(PD) Ita&
Abstract We describe the assembly procedure and the operation in a high-intensity beam of a small but representative system of Micro Strip Gas Chambers (MSGC) fully equipped with readout electronics. The chambers, with an active area of 100 x 100mm2, are made on 300 urn diamond-like coated D-263 glass with 200 j.trn pitch gold or chromium strips. The readout electronics (PreMux 128) allows the recording of charge on individual anode strips. The monitoring task includes a complete control and characterization of each device before installation in the beam, such as measurement of surface resistivity, finding shorts, pulse height analysis. gas gain calibration, rate capability and testing of the final electronics. Preliminary results of the beam test are described.
1. Introduction The choice of the substrate material for MSGCs is one of the most important elements for stable operation of the detector and various kinds of surface treatment have been tried. The deposition on the substrate of a thin layer of a resistive material has been demonstrated to be a very good solution [I]. It has been shown [Z] that the use of Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coating on standard glass allows to overcome the problems of instability and moderate rate capability of MSGCs realized on insulating substrates, at the same time preserving operating characteristics such as gas amplification, noise performance, energy resolution and gain uniformity. Encouraged by the satisfactory performance ofMSGCs coated with DLC films [3]. we have started a project for construction of 20 medium-sized detectors to be installed in a high-intensity beam, to demonstrate long-term (1 yr) operation of a small but representative system in realistic conditions. We describe in this paper the results and experience acquired during the preparation of the detectors and the tests performed in the laboratory in order to check the characteristics of each detector to be mounted in the beam test, as well as some preliminary results of the runs. The steps of this procedure are essentially the
*Corresponding author: Tel.: + 39 49 8068406: fax: + 39 49 641925: e-mail:
[email protected].
following: optical and electrical inspection of the plates. assembly of the detector, preliminary tests in the laboratory, and beam test. All the chambers tested and used in this study have the same geometry: a strip width of lOOurn for cathodes and 7 urn for anodes with a pitch (distance anode to cathode centre) of lOOf.tm and an active area of 100 x 100mm2. The plates have no backplane electrode, since this is known to have no functionality in the presence of resistive layer. Anode strips are individually accessible for readout, while the cathodes are connected in groups of 10 and then to the high voltage through a protection resistor. The pattern is engraved on the substrate by wet-etching photo-lithography for chromium strips, or by lift-off for gold strips.’ As a substrate we have used a b?rosilicate glass 300pm thick coated with a thin (1500A) layer of amorphous diamond-like carbon.’
2. Optical and electrical inspection Before assembling the detectors, the plates have been optically and electrically inspected in order to check the quality of the diamond-like layer and the strip pattern on
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0168.9002/97/$17.00 Copyright c 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SO168-9002(97)00283-O
PII
II. MICROSTRIP GAS COUNTERS
it. During the processes of deposition of the layer and of manufacturing of the strip it is mandatory to have very clean conditions to obtain high-quality results. Particular care must be taken in the cleaning of the glass before the deposition of the diamond layer because any dust particle that can be trapped in the layer will induce a bump or damage (a hole) on it. The optical inspection consists of a coarse scan over all the surface of the plate to detect the presence of defects in the thin layer or in the strips. The next step is the measurement of the surface resistivity in order to know the uniformity over the plate. From previous studies made also by SURMET [-il. we know that the homogeneity achieved for this kind of substrates is within 10% of the nominal value. The resistivity check is carried out on a probe station with a movable support for fixing the plates with vacuum; it is possible to apply voltage to the strip through 2 or 3 needles connected to the multimeter. For safety the voltage applied never exceeds 200 V in air. The measured parameter is the current and from it the surface resistivity can be deduced. For diamond-like coated plates the value of the surface resistivity is in the range of 10’5-lO’hQ/0.
3. Assembly of the detector The technique for assembling MSGC plates as operating devices is shown in Fig. 1: a rectangular poly-
mer frame (VECTRA) is glued onto the plate, very close to the last cathode on each side, adding on the top a thin glass cover made conductive on the inner side with evaporated gold: the drift length used is 3mm. To prevent discharges in the high field regions at the end of strips, passivation with a thin layer of epoxy for chromium strips and of polymide resin for gold strips is made with silk screening. The assembly is done with materials which have been demonstrated not to outgas [4S]. The chamber is then mounted on a metallic frame as support and for the testing procedure the anode strips are bonded on a 3 level pitch adaptor: the 512 strips are grouped in I28 groups of 4 strips each and then in 8 pads of 16 groups. On the 8 groups another check of the resistivity is performed to verify its uniformity across the plate as shown in Fig. 2; at the same time this permits a fast check for the presence of short circuits between anodes and cathodes, measuring the current between strips at moderate voltage. For this test, performed in air, the maximum voltage applied is 200V. If a short is detected. the pitch adaptor is cut at the level of the first grouping and it is then possible to locate the group of 4 anodes with the short. This group will not be bonded on the electronics used for the test in the laboratory (PreShape). The chamber is fully assembled and bonded on the electronics board allowing individual analogue readout of 128 channels (1 channel = 4 anodes); connections for the gas input and output are provided.
FR3TECTlCN R3lSTcRS 500 KQ on 20 cathode groups
u3IFr Au-Co
ted glass
Fig. 1. Modular
assembly
of the detector
101
A. Barr et al. ! Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Ph.ys. Rex A 392 (1997) 99-104
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Fig. 2. Uniformity of the surface resistivity for different chambers across the plate measured in air.
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.tage: 550 V
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16 SSace
resistivity
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Fig. 3. Dependence of the gain on the resistivity of the plate.
4. Preliminary tests in the laboratory The MSGC is installed in the laboratory with a clean gas system [6]: as operating gas we have always used argon and dimethylether (DME) in equal proportions. The first check consists in verifying the gas tightness of
the assembly, looking for any leak in the chamber or in the gas connections. When applying voltages to the detector, the dark current is monitored, in order to measure its average value and the behaviour of the gain when the surface resistivity changes (Fig. 3). Typical voltages applied are - 1OOOV
II. MICROSTRIP GAS COUNTERS
102
600
0
Channel number Fig. 4. Uniformity
of the gain over the plate: the last 2 groups
electrode and up to - 600 V for the cathodes, the anodes being grounded. It can happen that one or more shorts appear at voltages higher than 2OOV, so the channels that present this problem must be disconnected (by removing the bond) from the electronics. All the measurements are performed with the use of an X-ray source of “Fe or an X-ray generator when available. Pulse height spectra on the anodes can be recorded for moderate fluxes and the dark current is monitored throughout the test. In parallel with the measurement of gain and pulse height spectra from each channel, the response of the electronics is also checked. In Fig. 4 the response of the chamber, corrected by the response of the electronics, is plotted: the signal is almost uniform all over the plate except on the edges where a decrease around 20% is detected. This demonstrates that the gluing of the frame very close to the last cathode extends the efficiency of the detector all the way to the edges. With some of the MSGCs tested, a rate capability test has been performed, to verify if they can stand high rates and if any further failures appear when applying fluxes higher than 10” mm-’ s I. These measurements are necessary in order to know exactly the correlation between failures from the production and problems that may appear due to the voltages or the rates applied. for the drift
on the edges show a decrease
of the signal of about
20%
Before bonding the chamber to the final readout electronics (PreMux, a 128 channels chip with multiplexed analogue output [7]), the pitch adaptor is cut at the level between 128 pads and 512 pads (each pad one anode). After this procedure, the anodes responsible for shorts are found within the group of four previously identified; they will not be bonded on the final electronic board. The last check in the laboratory consists of applying voltages to the chamber fully equipped, looking at the signals coming from it in order to understand if there are new problems and if they are due to non-functioning electronic channels, to interrupted strips or to poor bonds. Because of the gated operation of the circuit, requiring a trigger, when setting the voltages on the detector the only way to monitor the behaviour of the gain with an X-ray source is to use an additional readout: this is placed on the second cathode group (20 strips) from the HV side with a capacitor and a charge amplifier.
5. Beam test The SMC beam at CERN where the MSGCs have been installed provides 2 x 10’ muons at 190GeV per
A. Barr et al. J Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phvs. Rex A 392 (1997) 99-104
103
40
30
20
10
0
-10 0
100
300
200
400
500
event raw
Fig. 5. Typical
event from the beam test: due to the high rate, multiple
hits are present
ID
4007
Entries 600 rr?
in the chambers
5526
Mean
6.605
1 RMS
5.245
100
0
0
5
10
16
20 Number
Fig. 6. Distribution
25
30
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I
35
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45
>
of clusters
of the number
of reconstructed
tracks.
II. MICROSTRIP
GAS COUNTERS
I04
A. Barr et al. 1 Nucl. Insrr. and Meth. in Pl!\s. Rex .1 392 (1997) 99-104
spill; the average rate in the central part of the chambers is 104mm-2 s-l. A typical high multiplicity eve:rt is shown in Fig. 5: the presence of multiple hits in the chambers obviously complicates the data analysis. Fig. 6 shows the typical distribution of reconstructed tracks (clusters) per event. The analysis of the data collected in several month of beam runs is on the way and will be described elsewhere [S].
131 R. Bouciier, M. Capejns,
[4]
[5]
[6] References [I] R. Bouclier, M. Capeins, C. Garabatos, G. Manzin, G. Million, L. Ropelewski, F. Sauli, E. Shefer, L. Shekhtman. T. Temmel. G. Della Mea, G. Maggioni and V. Rigato, Proc. Int. Conf. on Micro-Strip Gas Chambers, Legnaro, 1994. [Z] R. Bouclier, M. Cape&, R.A. Cooke, S. Donnel G. Million, L. Ropelewski. F. Sauli, T. Temmel. S.A. Sastri and N. Sonderer. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 369 (1996) 328.
[7] [8]
R.A. Cooke, S. Donnel, G. Manzin. G. Million. L. Ropelewski, F. Sauli, T. Temmel, S.A. Sastri and N. Sonderer, Proc. Int. Conf. on Micro-Strip Gas Chambers. Lyon (1995) p. 279. R. Bouclier, M. Capeans, C. Garabatos. G. Manzin, G. Million, L. Ropelewski, F. Sauli and K. Silander, CERN CMS-TN,/96-083. R. Bouclier, M. Capeans, C. Garabatos. G. Manzin. G. Million, L. Ropelewski, T. Ropelewski-Temmel, F. Saul] and L. Shekhtman. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 381 (1996) 289. R. Bouclier C. Garabatos, G. Manzin, G. Million. F. Sauli, L. Shekhtman and T. Temmel, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 348 (1994) 109. RD20 Status Report CERNILHCC 96-02 and references therein. B. Boimska, R. Bouclier, M. Capeans, W. Dominik R. Hammarstrom, M. Hoch, J.C. Labbe, F. Meijers, G. Million, A. Peisert, L. Ropelewski. F. Sauli. M. Schulz. C. Wolff, S. Bachmann, C. Camps, V. Commichau, G. Fliigge, K. Hagarter, D. Macke, R. Schulte, R. Bellazzini, A. Brez, M. Massai. G. Spandre, V. Nagaslev. L. Shekhtman, A. Barr, F. Gomez and G. Manzin, to be published.