A 200 dB Dynamic Range Radiation-Hard Delta-Sigma Current Digitizer for Beam Loss Monitoring

TL;DR

This paper presents a radiation-hardened delta-sigma ADC capable of measuring currents over nine decades with a 200 dB dynamic range, suitable for high-energy physics beam loss monitoring in harsh radiation environments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel radiation-hardened, high-dynamic-range delta-sigma current digitizer with dual channels, achieving sub-picoampere resolution and robustness up to 100 Mrad radiation dose.

Findings

Achieves over 200 dB dynamic range in a radiation environment.

Maintains performance with no significant degradation up to 100 Mrad.

Provides effective resolution from 1 mA to 1 pA with fast response.

Abstract

This manuscript describes a radiation-hardened current-mode delta-sigma ADC fabricated in a standard 130 nm CMOS technology and qualified for total ionizing doses up to 100 Mrad. The operational signal range achieved with a 100 s integration window exceeds 200 dB. The converter is designed for beam loss monitoring applications in high-energy physics, where it must handle input currents spanning nine decades, from 1 mA down to 1 pA, while providing a fast 10 us response time for machine protection. To meet these conflicting requirements, the architecture exploits the inherent trade-off between resolution and acquisition time provided by delta-sigma conversion: a first-order architecture, sampling at 20 MHz, delivers 11-bit effective resolution within the critical 10 us window for critical currents around 1 mA. Integration times above 10 s enable the sub-picoampere resolution required for precise beam alignment and background monitoring. The chip integrates two independent channels, consumes 25 mW from a 1.2 V supply, and relies on radiation-hardening techniques such as triple-redundant digital logic, custom ESD protections, and manual enclosed layout for critical analog transistors. Post-irradiation measurements up to 100 Mrad show no significant performance degradation, and the uncalibrated integral nonlinearity remains within [+4, -5] LSBs over the 1 mA to 5 uA range. The converter's flexibility and radiation tolerance make it suitable not only for the HL-LHC beam loss monitoring upgrade but also for other precision current measurement applications in harsh environments.