Experience with the Test and Qualification of Double-Sided Silicon Microstrip Sensors for the ALICE Inner Tracking System

The two outermost layers of the ALICE inner tracking system are composed of about 1800 AC-coupled double-sided silicon microstrip detectors. More than two thousand sensors have been delivered by three manufacturers, which amount to the largest production of this type of devices undertaken so far. Sensor testing and quality control has been performed at INFN Trieste. By careful optimization of the testing procedure, a complete static characterization of the large number of sensors has been possible without making use of fully automatic test stations, which are difficult to adapt to handling diced double-sided detectors. The paper presents some aspects of the experience gained from the testing and qualification of the sensors. The test procedures and the statistics of results will be briefly illustrated, and some problems encountered will be discussed.