With the ultimate goal of developing a pixel-based readout for a TPC at the ILC, a GridPix readout system consisting of one Timepix3 chip with an integrated amplification grid was embedded in a prototype detector. The performance was studied in a testbeam with 2.5 GeV electrons at the ELSA accelerator in Bonn. The error on the track position measurement both in the drift direction and in the readout plane is dominated by diffusion. Systematic uncertainties are limited to below 10 µm. The GridPix can detect single ionization electrons with high efficiency, which allows for energy loss measurements and particle identification. From a truncated sum, an energy loss (dE/dx) resolution of 4.1% is found for an effective track length of 1 m. Using the same type of chips, a Quad module was developed that can be tiled to cover a TPC readout plane at the ILC. Simulation studies show that a pixel readout can improve the momentum resolution of a TPC at the ILC by about 20 %.
A gaseous pixel readout module with four GridPix chips, called the quad, has been developed as a building block for a large time projection chamber readout plane. The quad module has dimensions 39.6 mm × 28.38 mm and an active surface coverage of 68.9%. The GridPix chip consists of a Timepix3 chip with integrated amplification grid and have a high efficiency to detect single ionisation electrons, which enable to make a precise track position measurement. A quad module was installed in a small time projection chamber and measurements of 2.5 GeV electrons were performed at the ELSA accelerator in Bonn, where a silicon telescope was used to provide a reference track. The error on the track position measurement, both in the pixel plane and drift direction, is dominated by diffusion. The quad was designed to have minimum electrical field inhomogeneities and distortions, achieving systematics of better than 13 µm in the pixel plane. The resolution of the setup is 41 µm, where the total systematic error of the quad detector is 24 µm.
GridPix structures combine the high resolution of a pixel readout chip with a Micromegas as gas amplification stage. This detector has shown excellent performance before with the Timepix ASIC, but has been improved by using the successor ASIC, the Timepix3. This new version of the GridPix detectors has been used in test beams at the ELSA accelerator at Bonn, where 2.5 GeV electrons are available for tracking studies. It could be demonstrated that the spatial resolution in both transverse and longitudinal direction follows the diffusion function.
Structures made of four GridPixes have been designed and constructed to cover larger areas. Also these devices called quads have been successfully tested with the electron beam giving similarly good results as the single GridPix detector.
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