An alignment method for the mark II silicon strip vertex detector using an X-ray beam

Abstract Silicon strip vertex detector consisting of 36 independent detector modules is being constructed for use in the Mark II detector at a SLAC Linear Collider. This paper describes a method for determining the relative alignment of the modules to a precision better than the 5 μm intrinsic resolution of the detectors. The basic procedure involves moving the vertex detector by known amounts through a fixed, collimated X-ray beam, and using the beam position reconstructed from the detected signals to determine the relative positions and orientations of the modules. Results from tests of the method on a subset of detectors are presented.