GaAs cryogenic readout electronics for high impedance detector arrays for far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength region

We have been developing cryogenic readout integrate circuits (ROICs) for high impedance submillimeter and far-infrared detectors: Our ROICs are constructed from SONY GaAs-JFETs, which have excellent performance even at less than 1 K. We designed ROICs consisting of analog readouts and digital circuits for 32-element SIS photon detectors fabricated in RIKEN. The analog readout is ac-coupled capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA), which is composed of the two-stage amplifier. Some initial test results of the ac-coupled CTIA gave us the following performance; open loop gain of >740, power consumption ≈1.4 μW. The input referred noise is ≈4 μV/ at 1 Hz. These results suggest that low power and high sensitive cryogenic readout electronics are successfully developed for high impedance detectors.     

Ultralow-noise readout circuit with an avalanche photodiode: toward a photon-number-resolving detector

The charge-integration readout circuit was fabricated to achieve an ultralow-noise preamplifier for photoelectrons generated in an avalanche photodiode with linear mode operation at 77 K. To reduce the various kinds of noise, the capacitive transimpedance amplifier was used and consisted of low-capacitance circuit elements that were cooled with liquid nitrogen. As a result, the readout noise is equal to 3.0 electrons averaged for a period of 40 ms. We discuss the requirements for avalanche photodiodes to achieve photon-number-resolving detectors below this noise level.     

Very Low Noise Multiplexing with SQUIDs and SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for Readout of Large Superconducting Bolometer Arrays

This paper presents an ultra low noise instrumentation based on a standard BiCMOS SiGe 0.35 μm ASIC operating at cryogenic temperatures. The main functions of the electronic circuit are the readout and the multiplexing of SQUIDs/TES. We report the cryogenic operation of the ASIC dedicated to the readout of a 2×4 pixel demonstrator array. We particularly emphasize on the development and the test phases of an ultra low noise ( ) cryogenic amplifier designed with two multiplexed inputs. The cryogenic SiGe amplifier coupled to a SQUID in a FLL operating at 4.2 K is also presented.     

Fast bipolar front-end for binary readout of silicon strip detectors

A very fast low-noise low-power 64-channel front-end chip for binary readout of silicon microstrip detectors (FABRIC) has been designed and manufactured using the full-custom bipolar process SHPi by Tektronix. The circuit consists of a preamplifier, a shaper and a discriminator. A noise level of 476 e⁻ + 63 e⁻/pF has been obtained for the amplifier peaking time of 15 ns. The walk time of the discriminator is less than 5 ns for input signals ranging from 2 fC to 8 fC at a discriminator threshold of 1 fC. The dead time for two minimum ionizing particle signals is 40 ns. The above parameters have been obtained with a low power consumption of 1.3 mW per channel.     

Cryogenic SiGe ASICs for readout and multiplexing of superconducting detector arrays

This paper presents an ultra low noise instrumentation based on cryogenic electronic integrated circuits (ASICs: Application Specific Integrated Circuits). We have designed successively two ASICs in standard BiCMOS SiGe 0.35 μm technology that have proved to be operating at cryogenic temperatures. The main functions of these circuits are the readout and the multiplexing of TES/SQUID arrays. We report the cryogenic operation of a first ASIC version dedicated to the readout of a 2 × 4 pixel demonstrator array. We particularly emphasize on the development and the test phases of an ultra low white noise (0.2 nV/sqrtHz) cryogenic amplifier designed with two multiplexed inputs. The cryogenic SiGe amplifier coupled to a SQUID in a FLL operating at 4.2 K is also presented. We finally report on the development of a second version of this circuit to readout a 3 × 8 detectors array with improved noise performances and upgraded functionalities.     

Microwave SQUID Multiplexer for the Readout of Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters

We have realized a frequency-domain multiplexing technique for the readout of large metallic magnetic calorimeter detector arrays. It is based on non-hysteretic single-junction SQUIDs and allows for a simultaneous readout of hundreds or thousands of detectors by using a single cryogenic high electron mobility transistor amplifier and two coaxial cables that are routed from room-temperature to the detector array. We discuss the working principle of the multiplexer and present details about our prototype multiplexer design. We show that fabricated devices are fully operational and that characteristic SQUID parameters such as the input sensitivity of the SQUID or the resonance frequency of the readout circuit can be predicted with confidence. Our best device so far has shown a magnetic flux white noise level of 1.4 m ${\Phi _0}/\sqrt{Hz}$ which can in future be reduced by an optimization of the fabrication processes as well as an improved microwave readout system.     

二元并行CdZnTe探测器读出电路及信号处理方法

本文为CdznTe(CZT)二元并行探测器设计并制作了信号处理系统电路,包括前置放大电路,差分放大电路,极零相消电路,滤波成形电路,微调电路和基线恢复电路和加和电路.137Cs(662keV)辐射下的信号,经过差分放大,极零相消和滤波成形电路的输出,信号持续时间在10μs内,幅度为260mV,两路信号相加后信噪比大于15:1.能谱测试初步结果表明:采用这个信号处理系统,二元CZT并行探测器对137Cs(662keV)源的探测效率分别是单元器件的1.74和2.2倍,能量分辨率接近于单元器件.     

Design of a high-resolution gamma-ray detector module for tomography applications

We present a modular gamma-ray detector design for gamma-ray tomography applications. As a key electronic component we use the APD array S8550 of Hamamatsu Corp. with 4×8 single APD elements each of 1.6 mm×1.6 mm size. For this APD array we tested and evaluated different configurations of 2 mm wide lutetium yttrium orthosilicate scintillation crystals. Emphasize was given to high counting efficiency and low dead time in order to secure applicability of the detector to tomography of objects with highly attenuating materials. For electronic processing, we designed a low-cost low-power charge-sensitive preamplifier circuit using commercially available operational amplifier ICs. The modular design of the detectors allows us to build up larger line or arc detectors.     

Development of a Broadband NbTiN Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifier for MKID Readout

The sensitivity of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) using dissipation readout is limited by the noise temperature of the cryogenic amplifier, usually a HEMT with \(T_n \sim \) 5 K. A lower noise amplifier is required to improve NEP and reach the photon noise limit at millimeter wavelengths. Eom et al. have proposed a kinetic inductance traveling wave (KIT) parametric amplifier (also called the dispersion-engineered travelling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier) that utilizes the nonlinearity with very low dissipation of NbTiN. This amplifier has the promise to achieve quantum limited noise, broad bandwidth, and high dynamic range, all of which are required for ideal MKID dissipation readout. We have designed a KIT amplifier which consists of a 2.2 m long coplanar waveguide transmission line fabricated in a double spiral format, with periodic loadings and impedance transformers at the input/output ports on a 2 by 2 cm Si chip. The design was fabricated with 20 nm NbTiN films. The device has shown over 10 dB of gain from 4 to 11 GHz. We have found the maximum gain is limited by abrupt breakdown at defects in the transmission line in the devices. By cascading two devices, more than 20 dB of gain was achieved from 4.5 to 12.5 GHz, with a peak of \(\sim \) 27 dB.     

A Method of Measuring the Peak Value of a Narrow Impulse by the Use of a Voltage-Forced Pulse-Lengthener Circuit

A method for measuring the peak voltage of a narrow impulse is described. The circuit uses a pulse-lengthener circuit with a preamplifier. The use of the amplifier reduces the charging time constant of the pulse-lengthener circuit to improve the speed capability of the circuit. An experimental circuit which employed a microwave transistor amplifier was capable of detecting an impulse as short as 14 ns in duration. The meter deflection was held constant for easy readout by A/D and D/A converters until the A/D converter was reset.     

高灵敏度测氡脉冲电离室前置放大器设计

针对主流的商用测氡仪器在测量低浓度氡时精度低的问题,基于新型离子脉冲电离室输出信号特点,设计了一种基于集成运算放大器TL071的高灵敏前置放大电路.该前置放大器由电流电压转换、放大电路以及时间常数相同的CR-RC积分、微分滤波成形电路构成.使用Multisim10对其增益、幅频特性、失真度、信噪比以及输入阻抗等性能进行仿真与测试,结果表明:此前置放大器能将pA级的电流信号转换为电压信号并放大到V级,输入阻抗约为105 MΩ,电路失真度理论值可以达到O％,信噪比可达到100 dB.     

A new analogue sampling readout system for the COMPASS RICH-1 detector

A new electronic readout for CsI-coated multiwire proportional chambers (MWPC), used as photon detectors in the COMPASS ring imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector, is described. A prototype system comprising more than 5000 channels has been built and tested in high-intensity beam conditions. It is based on the APV25-S1 analogue sampling chip, and replaces the GASSIPLEX chip readout used previously. The APV25 chip, although originally designed for Silicon microstrip detectors, is shown to perform well even with “slow” signals from an MWPC, maintaining a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 9. For every trigger the system reads out three consecutive amplitudes in time, thus allowing to extract information on both the signal amplitude and its timing. This information is used to reduce pile-up events in a high-rate environment. Prototype tests of the new readout electronics on a central RICH photocathode in nominal COMPASS beam conditions showed that the effective time window is reduced from more than for the GASSIPLEX to less than for the APV25 chip. This leads to a significant improvement of the signal-to-background ratio (SBR) with respect to the original readout. A gain by a factor of 5–6 was experimentally verified in the very forward region of phase space, where pile-up due to the muon beam halo is most significant. Owing to its pipelined architecture, the new readout system also considerably reduces the dead time per event, thus allowing to make use of trigger rates exceeding .     

A Very Low Offset Preamplifier for Voltage Measurements in the $muhbox{V}$ Range

A new topology for the implementation of a very low offset voltage preamplifier is presented. The new topology employs a time-varying resistance as a probe for detecting the sign and magnitude of the equivalent input offset of an operational amplifier in a series-shunt feedback configuration and allows for continuously correcting the offset voltage by means of a proper control feedback. The most remarkable feature of the approach we propose is the fact that the offset correction can continuously be performed with the signal voltage source connected to the circuit, as its presence and magnitude do not affect the offset detection circuit. At the same time, the offset cancellation circuit has minimum effect on the output voltage of the preamplifier in the bandwidth of the signal. An actual low-offset preamplifier based on the new approach we propose has been built and tested. While employing a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) input operational amplifier with a typical input offset of 100 $muhbox{V}$ (600- $muhbox{V}$ maximum), a voltage preamplifier with a gain of 201 and an equivalent input offset voltage below 100 nV is consistently obtained, which is independent, by design, of the temperature. While characterized by these excellent performances, the system employs quite standard low-cost components and does not require any calibration procedure.      

Noise optimised charge-sensitive CMOS amplifier for capacitive radiation detectors

A low-voltage, low-noise, charge-sensitive preamplifier (CSA) for particle tracking using a silicon strip detector was designed. The preamplifier was optimised in terms of the total output noise performance using a noise minimisation technique based on the MOSFET noise small signal equivalent circuit and readout front-end noise optimisation criteria valid in the strong inversion region. The preamplifier was designed and fabricated in a 0.35 m CMOS process by Austria Mikro Systeme for a specific silicon strip detector of 2 pF capacitance for X-ray spectroscopy. The circuit exhibits satisfactory performance compatible to the specific low-energy radiation detection application. Particularly, the CSA provides an equivalent noise charge of 254 e⁺13.5+e^-/pF, consumes 165 muW and achieves an output conversion gain equal to 2.81 mV/fC and a linearity <0.57 . Analysis is supported by extensive measurement results confirming the circuit characteristics and their flexibility to be used in a variety of readout applications.     

Experimental and numerical results of optical preamplification in alaser Doppler anemometer receiving head

The first application of a fiber amplifier in a laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) system is presented. Using an Nd-doped fiber amplifier as optical preamplifier in a conventional 1064-nm LDA, a small signal gain of 30 and 35 dB signal-to-noise (SNR) enhancement of the LDA radiation are achieved. The amplifier model, numerical, and experimental results are described     

Geant4 Simulations of the SuperCDMS iZIP Detector Charge Carrier Propagation and FET Readout

The SuperCDMS experiment aims to directly detect dark matter particles called WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). The detectors measure phonon and ionization energy due to nuclear and electron recoils from incident particles. The SuperCDMS Detector Monte Carlo group uses Geant4 to simulate electron-hole pairs ( \(e^-/h^+\) ) and low temperature phonons. We use these simulations in order to study energy deposition in the detectors. Phonons and electron-hole pairs are tracked in a crystal detector. Because of the band structure of the crystals, the electrons undergo oblique propagation. The charge electrodes on each side of the detector are biased at different voltages while the phonon sensors are grounded. This creates a nearly uniform electric field through the bulk of the detector, with a complex shape near the surfaces. The electric field is calculated from interpolating on a tetrahedral mesh. The resulting TES phonon readout, as well as the FET charge readout are simulated. To calculate the FET readout, the Shockley-Ramo theorem is applied to simulate the current in the FET. The goal of this paper is to describe the theory and implementation of calculating the electric field, performing the charge carrier propagation, and simulating the FET readout of the SuperCDMS detectors.     

The Detector System for the Stratospheric Kinetic Inductance Polarimeter (Skip)

The stratospheric kinetic inductance polarimeter is a proposed balloon-borne experiment designed to study the cosmic microwave background, the cosmic infrared background and Galactic dust emission by observing 1,133 deg \(^2\) of sky in the Northern Hemisphere with launches from Kiruna, Sweden. The instrument contains 2,317 single-polarization, horn-coupled, aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (Lekids). The Lekids will be maintained at 100 mK with an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The polarimeter operates in two configurations, one sensitive to a spectral band centered on 150 GHz and the other sensitive to 260 and 350 GHz bands. The detector readout system is based on the ROACH-1 board, and the detectors will be biased below 300 MHz. The detector array is fed by an F/2.4 crossed-Dragone telescope with a 500 mm aperture yielding a 15 arcmin FWHM beam at 150 GHz. To minimize detector loading and maximize sensitivity, the entire optical system will be cooled to 1 K. Linearly polarized sky signals will be modulated with a metal-mesh half-wave plate that is mounted at the telescope aperture and rotated by a superconducting magnetic bearing. The observation program consists of at least two, 5-day flights beginning with the 150 GHz observations.     

Calculation of ultrasonic transducer signal-to-noise ratios usingthe KLM model

This paper describes a method for adding thermal and amplifier noise to a KLM model for a transducer element. The model is used to compare the magnitudes of various noise sources in a 5 MHz array element typical of those used for linear array imaging with and without an amplifier. Fundamental signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) issues of importance to array and amplifier designers are explored, including the effect on SNR of effective dielectric constant of the piezoelectric material, individual element size, changing the number of elements, and adding an amplifier to an element before and after a cable. SNR is considered both for the case in which the acoustic output is limited by the maximum rarefactive pressure which is considered safe for a particular application (Mechanical Index limitation) and the case in which acoustic output is limited by the maximum transmit voltage than can he delivered by the imaging system or tolerated by the transducer. It is shown that the SNR performance depends on many controllable parameters and that significant improvements in SNR can be achieved through proper design. The implications for 1.5-D and 2-D array elements are discussed     

High impedance discrete delay-line readout circuit for silicon strip detector

A prototype 16-tap high impedance discrete delay-line readout circuit has been designed and fabricated for Si-strip detectors suitable for nuclear physics experiments involving moderate count rate applications. The delay-line offers a delay of 30 ns per tap with very good linearity. The energy resolution for -particles from ²⁴¹Am²³⁹Pu source is found to be satisfactory, when 16 strips are connected through the above readout circuit of a 32-strip Si-strip detector having a dead layer of 5 μm. This readout system is very useful where a large number of detectors are integrated in a compact space and accommodating their readout electronics is a cumbersome task.     

Hybrid multi/single layer array transducers for increased signal-to-noise ratio

In medical ultrasound imaging, two-dimensional (2-D) array transducers are necessary to implement dynamic focusing in two dimensions, phase correction in two dimensions and high speed volumetric imaging. However, the small size of a 2-D array element results in a small clamped capacitance and a large electrical impedance, which decreases the transducer signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We have previously shown that SNR is improved using transducers made from multi-layer PZT, due to their lower electrical impedance. In this work, we hypothesize that SNR is further increased using a hybrid array configuration: in the transmit mode, a 10 Omega electronic transmitter excites a 10 Omega multi-layer array element; in the receive mode, a single layer element drives a high impedance preamplifier located in the transducer handle. The preamplifier drives the coaxial cable connected to the ultrasound scanner. For comparison, the following control configuration was used: in the transmit mode, a 50 Omega source excites a single layer element, and in the receive mode, a single layer element drives a coaxial cable load. For a 5x102 hybrid array operating at 7.5 MHz, maximum transmit output power was obtained with 9 PZT layers according to the KLM transmission line model. In this case, the simulated pulse-echo SNR was improved by 23.7 dB for the hybrid configuration compared to the control. With such dramatic improvement in pulse-echo SNR, low voltage transmitters can be used. These can be fabricated on integrated circuits and incorporated into the transducer handle.