Research and Development of Time Resolution and Time Reference Adjustment for CMS Improved Resistive Plate Chambers (Irpcs)

Improved resistive plate chambers (iRPCs) will be installed in the challenging forward region of the compact muon solenoid (CMS) during its Phase-2 upgrade. The design target of iRPC time resolution is 1.5 ns. It will help the Level-1 trigger system distinguish the muons from high backgrounds and improve the trigger efficiency. Studying the time resolution after integrating the new backend electronics boards (BEB) is essential for ensuring timely performance. In this system, a time reference (Tref) signal is distributed by the BEB to several frontend electronics boards (FEB) to reset the time-to-digital converters (TDC). In the CMS experiment, the arrangement of the iRPC chambers and on-chamber FEBs is at different positions, resulting in varying Tref arrival times on the FEB side. This paper describes the measures taken to ensure the time resolution of the single path and adjust the time base for multi-paths. Unique designs were implemented in the chamber, FEB, and BEB to ensure a satisfactory time resolution. Tref adjustments for different paths were performed in bunch crossing steps (24.950 ns) in the BEB using shift registers. And the sub-bunch crossing adjustment steps were performed in the FEB using the TDC correction module. Finally, the arrival time differences of Tref on different FEBs were less than 1.25 ns after adjustment. The time resolution of the FEB–BEB system was observed to be 32 ps. The time resolution of the chamber FEB–BEB system was first measured and is 554 ps at an iRPC working point of 7200 V. In addition, the Tref arrival time differences of different paths were adjusted from − 99.923 (− 90.113) ns to 0.073 (− 0.141) ns. The test results revealed that the system time resolution and Tref adjustment performed by the BEB met the Phase-2 upgrade goals.