System Tests with DC-DC Converters for the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker at SLHC

The delivery of power is considered to be one of the major challenges for the upgrade of the CMS silicon strip tracker for SLHC. The inevitable increase in granularity and complexity of the device is expected to result in a power consumption comparable or even higher than the power consumption of todays' strip tracker. However, the space available for cables will remain the same. In addition, a further increase of the tracker material budget due to cables and cooling is considered inacceptable, as the performance of the CMS detector must not be compromised for the upgrade. Novel powering schemes such as serial powering or usage of DC-DC converters have been proposed to solve the problem. To test the second option, substructures of the current CMS silicon strip tracker have been operated for the first time with off-the-shelf DC-DC buck converters as well as with first prototypes of custom-designed DC-DC converters. The tests are described and the results are discussed.