A low-power and high-gain frontend for GHz application using trans-impedance amplifier for fast particle detection

Abstract

In this paper, we present a front-end for gigahertz applications, FGATI, which utilizes a transimpedance amplifier design to amplify the current signal from a diamond particle detector. The transimpedance amplifier design adopts a flipped-voltage-follower-based current-mirror (FVF-CM) topology as the input stage, offering advantages such as low power consumption, large transimpedance gain, gigahertz bandwidth, and reasonable noise levels. The FVF-CM topology was realized to improve noise reduction with a fully differential output configuration. The design was implemented as an ASIC chip using 65 nm CMOS silicon technology. The bandwidth measurement of the FGATI prototype demonstrated a 3-dB bandwidth of 1.2 GHz. Furthermore, the amplifier's power consumption is low, drawing only 7.2 mW/channel from a 1.2 V power supply, including the buffer stage. The measurement of the FGATI output signal indicated an excellent transimpedance gain of 79.2 dBΩ and a noise level of 6.7 mVrms. These findings highlight the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed front-end design in high-frequency applications.