Progres on large-scale, low-cost Si(Li) detector fabrication for the GAPS balloon mission

The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) experiment is an indirect dark matter search that aims to detect low-energy antideuterons resulting from dark matter annihilations and decays in the Galactic halo. Layers of semiconducting lithium-drifted silicon (Si(Li)) tracking detectors are essential to the success of the GAPS detection and background rejection scheme, requiring ~22.5 square meters of Si(Li) active area with a channel energy resolution of ~3 keV. To produce this large volume of detectors, we are pursuing a process that can provide the required performance and high yield at approximately two orders of magnitude less cost per unit area than commercially acquired detectors.