How-to guide: Commissioning a Sensor Physics R&D Lab

Been there, done that... one thing I cannot stress enough is that doing this is expensive. You will need a lot more money than you think you will need. Even if you think you will need a lot of money.

There are places you can spend less money than this guide suggests (Weller soldering gear is a ripoff, mediocre performance for premium prices; Amscope microscopes are surprisingly great) and places you should spend a lot more (Rigol is not great, at least go for Siglent... and you should plan to spend as much on probes as you do on oscilloscopes... and you probably then want all your oscilloscopes to be able to use those fancy probes....) but, yeah: money pit.

Great resource. I'm building a basic version of this in my basement DIY style. Not going to get to industrial levels, but I think some fun experiments are to be had.

A practitioner's guide based on my own experience setting up and operating sensor development and characterisation labs at CERN, LBNL, DESY, and the University of Bergen.