Abstract Advances in timing detector technology require new specialized readout electronics. Applications demand below 10 ps time of arrival resolution and low power for a low repetition rate. A ...possible path to achieve O(10 ps) time resolution is an integrated chip using Silicon Germanium (SiGe) technology. Using DoE SBIR funding, Anadyne, Inc., in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz, has developed a prototype SiGe front-end readout chip optimized for low power and timing resolution. Two versions of the chip were produced with performance in simulation: a more power version with 10 ps resolution at 5 fC with 1.1 mW/channel, and a less power version with 10 ps resolution at 8 fC with 0.6 mW/channel. The chip was produced at Tower Semiconductor with 350 nm technology. The ASIC from the prototype run shows good performance: a rise time of 0.7–1 ns and 25 mV per fC response with RMS noise <1 mV. Simulation and results from the prototype will be reported in this paper.
For the potential use in future high luminosity applications in high energy physics (HEP) (e.g., the large hadron collider (LHC) upgrade), we evaluated the radiation tolerance of several candidate ...technologies for the front-end of the readout application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for silicon strip detectors. The devices investigated were first, second and third-generation silicon–germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs).
The DC current gain as a function of collector current was measured before and after irradiation with 24
GeV protons up to fluences of 10
16
p/cm
2 and with a
60Co gamma source up to 100
Mrad. The analog section of an amplifier for silicon strip detectors typically has a special front transistor, chosen carefully to minimize noise and usually requiring a larger current than the other transistors, and a large number of additional transistors used in shaping sections and for signal-level discrimination. We discuss the behavior of the three generations of transistors under proton and gamma exposure, with a particular focus on issues of noise, power and radiation limitations.
Picosecond-level timing will be an important component of the next generation of particle physics detectors. The ability to add a 4\(^{th}\) dimension to our measurements will help address the ...increasing complexity of events at hadron colliders and provide new tools for precise tracking and calorimetry for all experiments. Detectors are described in detail on other whitepapers. In this note, we address challenges in electronics design for the new generations of fast timing detectors
