Microchannel silicon devices for the LHCb experiment

Tender description

The University of Manchester and the University of Oxford are UK collaborators on the LHCb experiment, which operates at CERN. An important LHCb subdetector is the Vertex Locator (VELO) that is, like many parts of the LHCb experiment, due to be replaced and upgraded during a shutdown in 2019-2020. The VELO subdetector comprises 52 modules each of which is instrumented with an array of particle-detecting ASIC chips. All the modules sit in vacuum so the active cooling must occur by conduction. Active cooling will be achieved by passing CO2 coolant through microchannels embedded in the ~100cm2 substrate on which the ASIC chips are mounted. This tender is for the fabrication of the microchannelled substrates, referred to herein as ‘devices’. The devices will be operated by flowing bi-phase CO2 though the microchannels at pressures of 14-65 bar, and from ambient room temperature down to –30˚C. The devices will be placed in vacuum in a high radiation environment and are expected to operate without rupturing for up to 10 years. This is a time specific project