The ALICE silicon pixel detector front-end and read-out electronics

The ALICE silicon pixel detector (SPD) comprises the two innermost barrel layers of the ALICE inner tracker system. The SPD includes 120 half staves each of which consists of a linear array of 10 ALICE pixel chips bump bonded to two silicon sensors. Each pixel chip contains 8192 active cells, so the total number of pixel cells in the SPD is ≈107. The tight material budget and the limitation in physical dimensions required by the detector design introduce new challenges for the integration of the on-detector electronics. An essential part of the half stave is a low-mass multi-layer flex that carries power, ground, and signals to the pixel chips. Each half stave is read out using a multi-chip module (MCM). The MCM contains three radiation hard ASICs and an 800 Mbit/s custom developed optical link for the data transfer between the detector and the control room. The detector components are less than 3 mm thick. The production of the half-staves and MCMs is currently under way. Test results as well as on overview of the integration of the on-detector electronics are presented.