A GEM Detector System for an Upgrade of the CMS Muon Endcaps

Figure 56: TIF gas system.
5.6 Production of GEM foils and assembly of GE1/1 detector
The CERN TE-MPE-EM fine pitch printed circuit board (PCB) workshop provides know-how and production
facilities for the development of MPGDs. It is presently located in the building 102 and consists of an area of about
1000m 2 equipped with machines for rigid and flex PCB production. The infrastructure is well sized for prototyping
and limited series productions. Large area gas detectors with GEM and Micromegas technologies became a real
perspective for detectors upgrades as technology improvements allowed increasing in size and implementing more
compact structures, with enhanced geometrical accuracy and cost reduction. This trend called for an improvement
of the equipment infrastructure in the PCB workshop, in order to be able of processing larger PCB sizes. Together
with the support of RD51, the workshop established a machine upgrade project. The project started in 2010 with
the agreement of the CERN management to finance 785kCHF for the supply of ten key machines for large PCB
size processing up to 1m in width. All machines orders have been completed in 2011 and the last batch of three
machines will be received and installed in January 2012. As from next year the workshop will be capable to process
GEM foils of sizes up to 2m×0.6m, where the limitation of 0.6m is imposed by the availability of the raw material.
At the end of 2013 the whole TE-MPE-EM section will be moved to a new building facility (building 107), hosting
together the design office, the fine pitch PCB workshop and the assembly workshop. The new working area will
be located at the place of the building 174 and will also extend onto part of the present parking place. The new
area will consist of 1400m 2 , allowing a better installation for the working stations, providing better separation of
equipment types into different dedicated rooms and improving the handling of larger PCB sizes.
Figure 57: New building 107.
In the new building, in particular, it is planned to improve the service of detector development and qualification by
providing two additional areas, one for the MPGD assembly (34m 2 ) and equipped with test stations and another
one with tool machines (35m 2 ) for the manufacture of mechanical parts. The project for the development of GEM
dedicated test station will start in January 2012 with the support of an AIDA fellow joining the MPGD team for two
years. Limitation to the detector production volume in the workshop is mainly given by knowledgeable manpower.
54