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