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Elektronika 2010-11.pdf - Instytut Systemów Elektronicznych ...

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The Time-over-Threshold based silicon strip<br />

detector readout<br />

(Odczyt do krzemowych detektorów paskowych oparty<br />

o metodę Time-over-Threshold)<br />

mgr KRZYSZTOF KASIŃSKI<br />

AGH-University of Science and Technology, Department of Measurement and Instrumentation, Kraków<br />

Silicon strip or pixel detector is built of an array of reverse-biased<br />

diodes on the common silicon bulk. Doped areas create<br />

strips (in strip detectors) or pixels (in pixel detectors) which<br />

are sensing areas. The geometry of the detector determines<br />

its ability to detect the interaction location in one or two dimensions.<br />

The strip detector for example allows for acquisition of<br />

single dimension picture with the resolution defined by the<br />

strip pitch (typical 25…100 µm) [1].<br />

Certain number of electron-hole pair (related to the photon<br />

energy) is generated in the depleted region as the result of<br />

photon interaction with the detector. For example, each of the<br />

17.4 keV X-ray photon (Molybdenum) would generate 4833<br />

electron-hole pairs. In the High Energy Physics applications,<br />

the particles do not stop in the detector. As they are crossing<br />

the detector they leave some part of their energy. For example<br />

a minimal ionizing particle (MIP) generates 77 e-h pairs<br />

for each 1 µm of its path in the detector (which gives 23000<br />

e-h pairs for the 300 µm thick silicon detector). The generated<br />

charge is then acquired at the detector strips creating a nanosecond<br />

range current pulse which is then measured at the detector<br />

readout electronics [2]. The very small strip (pixel) pitch<br />

and their quantity puts significant limitations on the area and<br />

the power of each channel of the readout circuitry and forces<br />

to develop multichannel integrated circuits in deep submicron<br />

technologies.<br />

The current pulse from the detector is integrated in the<br />

charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) which is the first stage of<br />

the readout circuit. As a result, the voltage step occurs at its<br />

output with the amplitude equal to the input charge (Q in<br />

) and<br />

feedback capacitance (C fb<br />

) ratio. The polarity of this step is<br />

related to the input charge polarity.<br />

In order to prevent the pulse pile-up at the CSA output the<br />

circuits removing the charge acquired in the feedback before<br />

the next pulse arrives are necessary (reset circuits). It can<br />

be a resistor connected parallel to the feedback capacitor<br />

discharging the output voltage step in the time related to the<br />

R fb<br />

C fb<br />

– dependent time constant (Fig. 1).<br />

There are three main architectures in the field of the amplitude<br />

spectrometry circuits:<br />

– Binary readout,<br />

– Regular ADC in each or one per several channels,<br />

– Wilkinson type ADC in each channel.<br />

The binary readout allows only detecting the fact of the<br />

charge deposition over the certain threshold. The regular<br />

ADC (analog to digital converter) would be the best choice<br />

but it is always a tradeoff between the current consumption,<br />

area required, resolution achieved and the operation speed.<br />

Tight requirements often prevent from finding the good choice<br />

and sometimes require using one ADC per several channels<br />

which significantly affects the time limits of the whole<br />

circuit. The Wilkinson-type ADC (also called the Time-over-<br />

Threshold (ToT) processing) can be a possible solution. If<br />

the input charge information could be derived from the discriminator<br />

output pulse it would be possible to obtain a reasonable<br />

resolution while keeping the power consumption<br />

and the area low.<br />

Motivation<br />

The purpose of this work was to design a silicon strip detector<br />

readout chain optimized for long strips (30 pF detector<br />

capacitance). The channel functionality should cover both<br />

charge measurement (electrons and holes) and the ability<br />

to timestamp each event. The nominal input charge range is<br />

0…16 fC, recovery time for the input charge of 4 fC should<br />

be in the order of one microsecond. Each channel should be<br />

supplied by an ADC allowing high speed operation. The power<br />

budget for the whole channel is 2 mW. The channel width should<br />

not exceed 50 µm.<br />

Solutions of the ToT for the strip detectors [3–5] usually<br />

use a charge amplifier with a resistor-type reset circuit and<br />

a shaper (special filter cascade) but their characteristics (pulse<br />

width vs. input charge) is not linear. The key to the linear<br />

characteristics in the Time-Over-Threshold architecture can<br />

be a feedback circuit which discharges the feedback capacitor<br />

by a constant current. Such architectures are already used<br />

in pixel readout chips but the detector capacitances there are<br />

much smaller [6, 7].<br />

Architecture<br />

Fig. 1. Principle of the Charge Sensitive Amplifier (CSA) operation<br />

Rys. 1. Zasada działania wzmacniacza ładunkowego<br />

The channel consists of the CSA supplied with two,<br />

switchable constant-current reset circuits (Fig. 2a). The<br />

amplifier is followed by the discriminator circuit. The discriminator<br />

differential threshold is set by Th1 and Th2 lines<br />

while the actual CSA output DC level spread due to the<br />

process variation can be compensated by the 6-bit digital to<br />

analog converter (DAC) placed in each channel. The circuit<br />

provides the positive output pulse which length is related to<br />

the input charge.<br />

<strong>Elektronika</strong> 11/<strong>2010</strong> 19

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