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Sensor design and test laboratory (SDT Lab)

ROLIS-D prototype being tested at the SDT lab.

Called SDT lab, the laboratory for designing and testing detectors and sensor systems is accommodated in the Institute's laboratory building. With a floorspace of 30m2, the laboratory is used for all design, integration, and test activities that do not require a clean-room environment, such as assembling and testing breadboards, demonstrators, and engineering units with hermetically sealed detectors that are not extremely sensitive to moderate humidity and dust.

The SDT lab is equipped with a high-current power supply, earth bus bars, a high-speed LAN, and a water supply as well as with two chambers for thermal tests of detectors and electronics:

• a thermal chamber with a volume of 20cmx20cmx40cm and a temperature range from -75°C to +185°C, and 
• a vacuum test chamber with a helium-based refrigerator that can cool detectors and small components down to about -160°C.
• Furthermore, the lab features a comprehensive set of electronics measurement tools, including
• a CCD test-system
• a logic analyzer,
• spectrum analyzers
• digital oscilloscopes
• analog and digital generators,
• power supply systems, 
• precision voltage and current sources and multimeters.

The sensor design and test laboratory is used in the realization of individual components as well as complex subsystems and instruments. Hardware and software implementation is handled by Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) or dedicated Special Check-Out Equipment (SCOE).

Activities in the SDT lab are supported by facilities for manufacturing breadboard PCBs and soldering SMD PCBs.