A large statistics study of the performance and yields of generation-6 VLPCs (HISTE-VI)

In this paper, the D∅ collaboration reports on the test results of 142 880 VLPC pixels. We have explored the space of operating conditions and found good performance at a temperature of 9 K and an average bias voltage of 7 V. Preliminary tests have shown an average quantum efficiency of 80% and a gain of 20 000–60 000. Tests have shown that the devices can be made to work at very high rates. The pixel-to-pixel variation within a chip is manageable, allowing one to assemble like-performing VLPC chips into cassettes containing 1024 pixels each.