Design of a 64 channels current-to-frequency converter ASIC, front-end electronics for high intensity particle beam detectors

摘要

A new wide-input dynamic range, 64-channels current-to-frequency converter ASIC has been designed and is now under characterization. This chip, nicknamed TERA09, has been realized to equip the front-end readout electronics for the new generation of beam monitor chambers for particle therapy applications. In this field, the trend in the accelerator development is moving toward compact solutions providing high-intensity pulsed-beams. However, such a high intensity will saturate the present readout of the beam monitor chambers. In order to deal with the technology innovations in the particle therapy, the chip described in this work is able to cope with a higher maximum intensity while keeping high resolution by working on a six orders of magnitude conversion-linearity zone (hundreds of pA to hundreds of μA), with a gain spread in the order of 1-3% (r.m.s.), with a 200fC charge resolution.