The ALICE Time-Of-Flight system: Construction, assembly and quality tests

The ALICE Time-Of-Flight (TOF) detector is based on the Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) technology capable of a total time resolution (intrinsic + electronics) of approximate to 50ps. The detector is made of 1638 MRPCs located in 90 gas-tight modules distributed over 18 azimuthal sectors (SuperModules, SM). The front-end electronics is based on a very fast low-power amplifier/discriminator ASIC (NINO), while the readout relies on the High-Performance TDC (HPTDC) Chip. In ALICE the global TOF time resolution is expected to be < 100 ps. In this paper the MRPGs production and tests are described together with the module and SM assembly procedures and duality tests.