Design and characterization of an analogue amplifier for the readout of micro-pattern gaseous detectors

This doctorate deals with the development of integrated analog preamplifiers for the readout of micro pattern gaseous detectors. Because of the small detector signals the noise performance of the readout electronics is of greatest significance. The design of analog preamplifiers constitutes a trade-off between bandwidth, noise, power consumption, radiation hardness and chip area. A prototype IC consisting of 12 channels was produced in a 0.13 um CMOS technology. Each channel is comprised of a single ended preamplifier followed by a fully differential shaping amplifier that produces a 4th order semi Gaussian pulse. Channels with different peaking time, conversion gain and preamplifier architectures were implemented. Among these a novel rail to rail preamplifier architecture for low voltage operation. Part of the thesis work was the design of a printed circuit test board and the characterization of the prototype ICs. The measurements show very good correlation with the simulated values and the circuit fulfills all given specifications. New R&D is needed to develop cost-effective single chip solutions with a higher degree of integration and programmability and reduction of power consumption. Starting from the prototype IC, a programmable 16 channel preamplifier/shaping amplifier was designed as analog frontend for a general purpose charge readout chip.