AM06: the Associative Memory chip for the Fast TracKer in the upgraded ATLAS detector

Annovi, A.; Beretta, M.; Calderini, G.; Crescioli, F.; Frontini, Luca; Liberali, V.; Shojaii, J.; Stabile, A.

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/12/04/c04013

Cited by 24 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The pattern matching step can be made very fast by using a subset of the available detector hit positions, a coarser resolution, or both. ATLAS is currently commissioning a hardware track trigger, the Fast TracKer (FTK) [12], which performs the pattern matching in AM chips [13]. This technology has been used in a wide variety of applications outside of particle physics, such as network switches and artificial neural networks.…”

Section: Pattern Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of two hardware-based hit filtering methods for trackers in high-pileup environments

Gradin¹,

Martensson²,

Brenner³

2018

J. Inst.

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A: As experiments in high energy physics aims to measure increasingly rare processes, the experiments continually strive to increase the expected signal yields. In the case of the High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC, the luminosity is raised by increasing the number of simultaneous proton-proton interactions, so-called pile-up. This increases the expected yields of signal and background processes alike. The signal is embedded in a large background of processes that mimic that of signal events. It is therefore imperative for the experiments to develop new triggering methods to effectively distinguish the interesting events from the background.We present a comparison of two methods for filtering detector hits to be used for triggering on particle tracks: one based on a pattern matching technique using Associative Memory (AM) chips and the other based on the Hough transform. Their efficiency and hit rejection are evaluated for proton-proton collisions with varying amounts of pile-up using a simulation of a generic silicon tracking detector. It is found that, while both methods are feasible options for an efficient track trigger, the AM based pattern matching produces a lower number of hit combinations with respect to the Hough transform whilst keeping more of the true signal hits. We also present the effect on the two methods when increasing the amount of support material in the detector and introducing inefficiencies by deactivating detector modules. The increased support material has negligable effects on the efficiency for both methods, while dropping 5 % (10 %) of the available modules decreases the efficiency to about 95 % (87 %) for both methods, irrespectively of the amount of pile-up.

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Section: Pattern Matchingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of two hardware-based hit filtering methods for trackers in high-pileup environments

Gradin¹,

Martensson²,

Brenner³

2018

J. Inst.

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“…An overview of the system is presented in figure 4. The system conceptually consists of three parts: pattern matching using Associative Memory (AM) chips [6], track fitting of the full-resolution hits using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and selection of the best track candidates based on track parameters and the χ 2 of the fit. The results …”

Section: The Regional Track Triggermentioning

confidence: 99%

The design and simulated performance of a fast Level 1 track trigger for the ATLAS High Luminosity Upgrade

Martensson

2017

EPJ Web Conf.

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Abstract. The ATLAS experiment at the High Luminosity LHC will face a fivefold increase in the number of interactions per bunch crossing relative to the ongoing Run 2. This will require a proportional improvement in rejection power at the earliest levels of the detector trigger system, while preserving good signal efficiency. One critical aspect of this improvement will be the implementation of precise track reconstruction, through which sharper trigger turn-on curves can be achieved, and b-tagging and tau-tagging techniques can in principle be implemented. The challenge of such a project comes in the development of a fast, custom electronic device integrated in the hardware based first trigger level of the experiment. This article will discuss the requirements, architecture and projected performance of the system in terms of tracking, timing and physics, based on detailed simulations. Studies are carried out using data from the strip subsystem only or both strip and pixel subsystems.

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“…The AM-chip is a large digital chip dedicated to real-time pattern recognition using Content Addressable Memory (CAM) architecture [1]. The last version (AM06) has been designed in 65 nm CMOS [2], and employs a CAM cell called ''XORAM'', which combines a conventional 6T SRAM with a XOR gate [3]. The FTK system does not operate close to the particle beam, so radiation tolerance is not required, and the AM chip is not radiation hard.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An innovative radiation hardened CAM architecture

Anagnostou

Liberali

Mews

et al. 2019

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

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A B S T R A C TAn innovative Content Addressable Memory (CAM) cell with radiation hardened (RH) architecture is presented. The RH-CAM is designed using a commercial 28 nm CMOS technology. The circuit has been simulated in worstcase conditions, and the effects due to single particles have been analyzed by injecting a current pulse into a circuit node. The proposed architecture is suitable for real-time pattern recognition tasks in harsh environments, such as front-end electronics in the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and in space applications.

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AM06: the Associative Memory chip for the Fast TracKer in the upgraded ATLAS detector

Cited by 24 publications

References 9 publications

Comparison of two hardware-based hit filtering methods for trackers in high-pileup environments

Comparison of two hardware-based hit filtering methods for trackers in high-pileup environments

The design and simulated performance of a fast Level 1 track trigger for the ATLAS High Luminosity Upgrade

An innovative radiation hardened CAM architecture

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