An analog front-end ASIC with programmable gain and timing for silicon photomultiplier arrays

Abstract

We present an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which is intended for readout and analog processing of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays' signals. The number of channels of the analog front-end ASIC as well as the types of their input stages depends on the application. The current version of the chip contains three current-input channels and three voltage-input channels. Each of the channels includes a programmable pre-amplifier, integrator with baseline holder, code-controlled amplifiers, amplitude discriminator, two programmable timers, low pass filter, peak detector, and output buffer with the baseline tuning circuitry. The device uses a serial interface for programming its configuration and parameters. It is implemented in 0.35 m CMOS technology.