ILC Vertex Tracker R&D

This document summarizes past achievements, current activities and future goals of the R&D program aimed at the design, prototyping and characterization of a full detector module, equipped with monolithic pixel sensors, matching the requirements for the Vertex Tracker at the ILC. We provide a plan of activities to obtain a demonstrator multi-layered vertex tracker equipped with sensors matching the ILC requirements and realistic lightweight ladders in FY11, under the assumption that ILC detector proto-collaborations will be choosing technologies and designs for the Vertex Tracker by that time. The R&D program discussed here started at LBNL in 2004, supported by a Laboratory Directed R&D (LDRD) grant and by funding allocated from the core budget of the LBNL Physics Division and from the Department of Physics at UC Berkeley. Subsequently additional funding has been awarded under the NSF-DOE LCRD program and also personnel have become available through collaborative research with other groups. The aim of the R&D program carried out by our collaboration is to provide a well-integrated, inclusive research effort starting from physics requirements for the ILC Vertex Tracker and addressing Si sensor design and characterization, engineered ladder design, module system issues, tracking and vertex performances and beam test validation. Themore » broad scope of this program is made possible by important synergies with existing know-how and concurrent programs both at LBNL and at the other collaborating institutions. In particular, significant overlaps with LHC detector design, SLHC R&D as well as prototyping for the STAR upgrade have been exploited to optimize the cost per deliverable of our program. This activity is carried out as a collaborative effort together with Accelerator and Fusion Research, the Engineering and the Nuclear Science Divisions at LBNL, INFN and the Department of Physics in Padova, Italy, INFN and the Department of Physics in Torino, Italy and the Department of Physics of Purdue University.« less