Tomsk State University-based Prospective Microelectronics Technologies Center has launched a small enterprise for assembling detector prototype samples for use in the Synchrotron Radiation Facility SKIF and other megascience-tier, Russia-based facilities. The new enterprise will be also used to manufacture the first prototypes of new detectors for medical, industrial, and scientific uses.
TSU ranks among world leaders in detector manufacturing. A research group headed by Professor Olga Tolbanova of the TSU Faculty of Radiophysics created sensors that are used in synchrotrons based in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK. Currently, scientists are using the TSU Laboratory of Synchrotron Radiation Detectors to develop detectors for SKIF, the world’s most cutting-edge synchrotron radiation facility.
“The work site should be as germproof as possible,” comments Maksim Skakunov, head of the assembly work site and staff scientist at the Laboratory of Synchrotron Radiation Detectors. “Sensors are the heart of a detector: They are very fragile, and the smallest dust particles or water droplets can negatively impact them.”
Thanks to the TSU Maintenance Department, the site received a complete overhaul and was reworked with consideration to strict regulations in a timely manner. Additionally, the site hosts hardware necessary to the entire production cycle, which includes combining sensors with data-reading electronic components.
The first detector prototypes are expected to be out in 2024. At the same time, the site will produce detectors for Russian medical devices, analytical equipment, and industrial measuring setups, further enabling Russia’s technological sovereignty.