SMILE

MIlano Laboratory for SeMIconductor detectors and MIcroeLEctronics

The SMILE Laboratory is a joint initiative involving staff from the Department of Physics and the INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics) Milan section, dedicated to the research and development of solid-state detectors and microelectronics.

Laboratory participants share expertise, instrumentation, and testing facilities. The lab is equipped with:

• Design and simulation tools for ASIC development (details available on request, e.g., list of supported PDKs)
• FPGA programming infrastructure
• Assembly and post-processing capabilities in ISO7 clean room or under a laminar flow hood, including:
• Probe stations
• Wire bonding
• Flip-chip and die bonding
• Plasma cleaning
• Automated gluing systems
• Laser-based detector testing setups
• X-ray tube systems for detector characterization
• Climate chamber for thermal testing
• Metrology tools: digital microscope, profilometer, coordinate measuring machine (CMM)
• Electronic instrumentation: TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry), network analyzers, parametric analyzers

The laboratory’s research activities span a broad range of fields, including participation in particle and astroparticle physics experiments — such as ATLAS and LHCb at CERN’s LHC, and DARKSIDE at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory — as well as R&D in microelectronics (ASICs for cryogenic environments, data processing, integration of photonics into ASICs), and hybrid and monolithic solid-state sensors.

This R&D effort is carried out within national projects (e.g., IGNITE) and international collaborations coordinated by ECFA for the advancement of new detector technologies, including:

• DRD3 – Solid State Detectors
• DRD7 – Electronics and On-Detector Processing
• DRD8 – Mechanics and Cooling

Feel free to explore our work and reach out for collaborations or discussions!