A new method for high speed nuclear ADCs using commercially available ADCs and DACs

This paper describes a new and simple method for high speed nuclear ADCs using commercially available high speed ADCs and monolithic DACs. The digital code corresponding to the input analog voltage, which is first determined with an accuracy of $\text{±}\text{1}\text{2}$ LSB using a commercial ADC (conversion time 2.5 μs), is corrected using a corrected monolithic DAC and external comparators to yield a DNL of better than ± 2% (without Gatti's scheme) with a total conversion time of 3.5 μs. The advantage of the method is the smaller size of the circuit and higher speed of operation compared with other methods. The recent improvements in speed, size and cost of commercial ($\text{±}\text{1}\text{2}\text{LSB}$) ADCs are directly utilized to improve the corresponding factors in nuclear ADCs. Use of Gatti's sliding scheme can further reduce the DNL to 0.2%.