Dr. Dennis Sperlich has been awarded the 2026 ATLAS Outstanding Achievement Award for identifying a critical failure mechanism in the bPOL12V6 voltage converter chip, which can occur at low temperatures following irradiation. This issue posed a significant risk to the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk) strip detector and other LHC detector systems. Dennis not only discovered the problem but also carried out key measurements to understand its origin and proposed a solution, subsequently validated by CERN's electronics development team.
Beyond this achievement, Dennis has made major contributions to the ATLAS ITk upgrade, particularly through his leading role in the development and production of power boards for the strip detector endcaps.
We warmly congratulate Dennis on this well-deserved recognition!