Microelectronics at CERN: from infancy to maturity

The start of the LAA project in 1986 propelled electronics at CERN into the era of microelectronics

The LHC experiments are able register 40 million collisions per second, continuously – a feat that was barely more than a dream when thoughts turned to building detectors for the big collider some 30 years ago. The start of the LAA project at CERN in 1986 – proposed by physicist Antonino Zichichi and financed by the Italian government – led directly to the build-up of know-how at CERN, with the recruitment of young and creative electronic engineers. This allowed the development of microelectronics at CERN, which together with the design of silicon-strip and pixel detectors would become essential ingredients for the superb performance of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider today.

Read the full article: "Microelectronics at CERN" – CERN Courier