Novel fused-silica charge detection tile for particle detectors

Abstract

Develop a novel charge-detecting tile for future large-scale liquid xenon TPC for searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Use advanced microelectronic technologies to fabricate small metal pads on a fused-silica wafer. The pads are chained into orthogonal strips, and the strips are isolated at the cross sections. The size of the pads defines the pitch between parallel strips and can be flexibly tuned according to any optimized dimension from future Monte Carlo studies. Such tile also has good potential to suppress the radioactivity and control electronics noise. Furthermore, its modular design allows to easily cover a large size. The design and performance have been demonstrated by a prototype tile, particularly by comprehensive tests in liquid xenon. A new design of charge detection tile and the fabrication technologies have been developed, which would be useful for future noble liquid detectors.