An Integrated Circuit for Signal Processing of the AMS RICH Photmultipliers Tubes

TL;DR

This paper presents a low-power, integrated analog circuit designed for signal processing of AMS RICH photomultiplier tubes, capable of handling over 100 in dynamic range with built-in gating and calibration features.

Contribution

It introduces a novel three-channel gated integrator chip in BiCMOS technology that simplifies signal processing for RICH detectors without external delays.

Findings

Processes PMT pulses over a 100+ dynamic range

Includes on-chip gating and calibration features

Demonstrates integration with a DSP-based acquisition system

Abstract

An analog integrated circuit has been designed, in a BiCMOS 0.8 micron technology, for the feasability study of the signal processing of the AMS RICH photomultiplier tubes. This low power, three channel gated integrator includes its own gate and no external analog delay is requiered. It processes PMT pulses over a dynamic range of more than 100. A logic output that indicates whether the analog charge has to be considered is provided. This gated integrator is used with a compact DSP based acquisition system in a 132 channels RICH prototype. The charge calibration of each channel is carried out using a LED. The pedestal measurement is performed on activation of a dedicated input. The noise contribution study of the input RC network and amplifiers is presented.