Quality Control Testing & Data Analysis: Preparing for Run 4 of ATLAS at the Large Hadron Collider*

The ATLAS experiment aims to uncover the fundamental workings of our universe via the ATLAS particle detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator in the world. In preparation for the fourth data taking period (Run 4) of the LHC, the detector will undergo an upgrade, involving the replacement of the current Inner Detector with the new Inner Tracker (ITk). 

In order to improve or maintain tracking performance, it was necessary to reduce detector material. One way this is achieved is by deploying an integrated DC/DC converter on each ITk Strip Detector module, reducing the mass of the services powering the detector. This DC/DC functionality is provided by the Powerboard component of the ITk Strip module, which also supplies several monitoring and control features. 

During the ITk production phase, the ATLAS group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is responsible for building and quality control (QC) testing 14,000 Powerboard components. In this work, we have performed QC testing on 600 Powerboard components, and developed an algorithm which visualizes QC test results and finds deviations from expected measurement values. Distributions of DC/DC output voltages and efficiencies are discussed and found to largely agree with expectations.