Eur. Phys. J. C (2025) 85: 534
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14196-9

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Quality assurance and quality control of the $26{\text{m}}^2$ SiPM production for the DarkSide-20k dark matter experiment

¹ Fondazione Bruno Kessler, 38123, Povo, Italy
² Department of Physics, Carleton University, K1S 5B6, Ottawa, ON, Canada
³ Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
⁴ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi (AQ), Italy
⁵ AstroCeNT, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-614, Warsaw, Poland
⁶ INFN Catania, 95121, Catania, Italy
⁷ Università of Catania, 95124, Catania, Italy
⁸ Instituto de Física, Universidade de SËœao Paulo, 05508-090, São Paulo, Brazil
⁹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 99352, Richland, WA, USA
¹⁰ Physics Department, Augustana University, 57197, Sioux Falls, SD, USA
¹¹ TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, V6T 2A3, Vancouver, BC, Canada
¹² Physics Department, Columbia University, 10027, New York, NY, USA
¹³ INFN Cagliari, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
¹⁴ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Alberta, T6G 2R3, Edmonton, AB, Canada
¹⁶ Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, 125047, Moscow, Russia
¹⁷ INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, 35020, Legnaro (Padova), Italy
¹⁸ Savannah River National Laboratory, 29831, Jackson, SC, USA
¹⁹ Department of Physics, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 0EX, Egham, UK
²⁰ CIEMAT, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, 28040, Madrid, Spain
²¹ Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
²² INFN Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy
²³ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy
²⁴ University of Oxford, OX1 2JD, Oxford, UK
²⁵ INFN Torino, 10125, Turin, Italy
²⁶ Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, 10129, Turin, Italy
²⁷ INFN Sezione di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
²⁸ Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
²⁹ INFN Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
³⁰ Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
³¹ INFN Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
³² Institute of Radioelectronics and Multimedia Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, 00-661, Poland
³³ INFN Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy
³⁴ INFN Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
³⁵ Virginia Tech, 24061, Blacksburg, VA, USA
³⁶ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universita‘ degli Studi di Cagliari, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
³⁷ Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain
³⁸ Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia
³⁹ INFN Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
⁴⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
⁴¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Laurentian University, P3E 2C6, Sudbury, ON, Canada
⁴² SNOLAB, Lively, ON P3Y 1N2, Canada
⁴³ Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
⁴⁴ M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, 30-348, Poland
⁴⁵ Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
⁴⁶ Physics Department, Universita‘ degli Studi di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
⁴⁷ Physics Department, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
⁴⁸ Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering Department “G. Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
⁴⁹ Saint Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, 188350, Gatchina, Russia
⁵⁰ Physics Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
⁵¹ Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy, Queen’s University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, ON, Canada
⁵² Physics Department, Princeton University, 08544, Princeton, NJ, USA
⁵³ National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 123182, Moscow, Russia
⁵⁴ Radiation Physics Laboratory, Belgorod National Research University, 308007, Belgorod, Russia
⁵⁵ Department of Physics, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA
⁵⁶ Physics Department, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB, Lancaster, UK
⁵⁷ APC, Université de Paris Cité, CNRS, Astroparticule et Cosmologie, 75013, Paris, France
⁵⁸ Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, The Oliver Lodge Laboratory, L69 7ZE, Liverpool, UK
⁵⁹ Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁶⁰ Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, 00184, Rome, Italy
⁶¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK
⁶² Institute for Particle Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
⁶³ Williams College, Physics Department, 01267, Williamstown, MA, USA
⁶⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 96822, Honolulu, HI, USA
⁶⁵ Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, IL, USA
⁶⁶ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, 95123, Catania, Italy
⁶⁷ Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
⁶⁸ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3FD, Edinburgh, UK
⁶⁹ Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, 77204, Tx, USA
⁷⁰ Pharmacy Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80131, Naples, Italy
⁷¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Riverside, 92507, Ca, USA
⁷² Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980, Dubna, Russia
⁷³ National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, 115409, Moscow, Russia
⁷⁴ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
⁷⁵ Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761, Hamburg, Germany
⁷⁶ LFoundry S.r.l, Via Antonio Pacinotti 7, 67051, Avezzano, AQ, Italy
⁷⁷ Physics Department, Temple University, 19122, Philadelphia, PA, USA
⁷⁸ University of Warwick, Department of Physics, CV47AL, Coventry, UK
⁷⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, 00186, Rome, Italia
⁸⁰ Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Physics Department, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA, USA
⁸¹ Chemical, Materials, and Industrial Production Engineering Department, Universita‘ degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
⁸² Department of Mechanical, Chemical, and Materials Engineering, Università degli Studi, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
⁸³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
⁸⁴ Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California, 90095, Los Angeles, CA, USA
⁸⁵ Department of Physics and Engineering, Fort Lewis College, 81301, Durango, CO, USA
⁸⁶ Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, 93-590, Lodz, Poland
⁸⁷ Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Technology, Harwell Oxford, OX11 0QX, Didcot, UK
⁸⁸ Engineering and Architecture Faculty, Università di Enna Kore, 94100, Enna, Italy
⁸⁹ Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, and Department of Physics, University of Washington, 98195, Seattle, WA, USA
⁹⁰ CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland

^a ds-ed@lists.infn.it

Received: 24 December 2024
Accepted: 16 April 2025
Published online: 14 May 2025

Abstract

DarkSide-20k is a novel liquid argon dark matter detector currently under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) that will push the sensitivity for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) detection into the neutrino fog. The core of the apparatus is a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC), filled with 50 tonnes of low radioactivity underground argon (UAr) acting as the WIMP target. NUV-HD-cryo Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM)s designed by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) (Trento, Italy) were selected as the photon sensors covering two $10.5{\text{m}}^2$ Optical Planes, one at each end of the TPC, and a total of $5{\text{m}}^2$ photosensitive surface for the liquid argon veto detectors. This paper describes the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) plan and procedures accompanying the production of FBK NUV-HD-cryo SiPM wafers manufactured by LFoundry s.r.l. (Avezzano, AQ, Italy). SiPM characteristics are measured at 77 K at the wafer level with a custom-designed probe station. As of March 2025, 1314 of the 1400 production wafers (94% of the total) for DarkSide-20k were tested. The wafer yield is $93.2\pm 2.5$%, which exceeds the 80% specification defined in the original DarkSide-20k production plan.