Comparative Analysis of Ultra-Low Current Measurement Topologies With Implementation in 130 nm Technology

Mohanan, Sarath Kundumattathil; Boukabache, Hamza; Perrin, D.; Pfeiffer, Ullrich R.

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3074464

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It was observed that with the same ESD structures the leakage current varied with the fab. The ASIC in [6] had the same ESD structure and had a leakage current of around −7 fA. It was fabricated in the 12 inch fab of the same technology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this ASIC, extra buffers are inserted at the output of the comparators to ensure steady output swing across different input currents to have fixed upper and lower threshold points. The comparator delay was found to be varying with the input current as the rise and fall time changed with the slope of the OTA output [6]. A non constant delay was difficult to be compensated during calibration.…”

Section: System Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A technology demonstrator chip in GLOBAL FOUNDRIES 22 nm technology established techniques of using thick gate transistors in the critical path to minimize leakage thus enabling the use of such technology nodes for low current measurements [5]. By following a similar approach, another ASIC in TSMC 130 nm was designed which compared different current measurement topologies and successfully demonstrated a measurement range from −1 fA to −1 μA [6]. Among the three architectures compared -it was found that the direct slope measurement method was the fastest and hence the best choice for current measurement in the femtoampere range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Towards the next generation of CERN radiation monitoring front end ASICs

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Radiation monitoring using ionisation chambers spans a wide spectrum of radiation fields from environmental monitors to ambient dose monitors near particle accelerators. Hence the output generated by these sensors can vary from few femtoamperes to microamperes. They require specific front-end electronics that can accurately measure the generated current across a wide dynamic range. This work presents the design of an ASIC that can measure currents from −6 fA to −20 μA without any band switching. By employing two different current measurement methodologies — direct slope measurement method and charge balancing based current to frequency converter method, an accuracy of ±6% is achieved across the entire measurement range. The ASIC was fabricated in the 8 inch fab of TSMC 130 nm technology. The designed ASIC aims to replace the front end electronics of radiation monitors at CERN.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: System Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Towards the next generation of CERN radiation monitoring front end ASICs

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The charge balancing method had the maximum dynamic range and could reach -1 µA. The detailed results from this study is elaborated in [7]. Using the similar techniques as in ACCURATE 0, ACCURATE 1 could demonstrate the required 1 fA sensitivity using TSMC 130 nm technology thus qualifying it for use in future versions of the front end.…”

Section: B Accurate Asic Front-endmentioning

confidence: 94%

30 Years of Electronics Evolution for CERN Safety Radiation Monitoring

Boukabache,

Mohanan,

Ducos

et al. 2024

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Radiation protection at CERN ensures a safe environment for the people working on site and for the general public by protecting against any unjustified exposure to ionizing radiation. One typical detector type used by the radiation monitoring system at CERN are ionization chambers. The ionizing radiation is detected by these sensors which produce a current proportional to the received radiation dose rate. The unavailability of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) radiation monitoring systems which can fulfill our requirements was the driving force for undertaking in-house development of our own solution. The various systems developed in the Radiation Protection (RP) group of CERN are presented in this paper. The legacy systems and the latest generation of installed radiation monitors are all based on discrete components. The management of such complex systems with thousands of components is a herculean task and there is the unavoidable risk of obsolescence of components. The solution currently applied is the procurement and storage of components that may be required in the foreseeable future. This approach, although temporarily helping to mitigate the obsolescence problem, nonetheless renders any fault repair or upgrade cumbersome. Hence, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) development was initiated by the RP group. This paper presents the architecture of the readout section of three systems developed through 30 years of CERN operation before getting into the details of an in-house developed ASIC for radiation monitoring systems that provides state-of-the-art performance, as well as avoids dependency on COTS systems and components.

show abstract

“…When considering methods for measuring the ionization current of ionization chambers, the most common concern is the accuracy of its determination, leaving aside the issues of frequency and the time resolution of the measurement. There are publications in the literature proposing the use of universal electrometers [ 1 , 8 , 19 ] as well as modified or new dedicated systems [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. However, no work is available that analyzes the time-dependent measurement capabilities of dosimetric systems based on gas detectors.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Sub-Picoampere Measurement Algorithm for Use in Dosimetry of Time-Varying Radiation Fields

Kuć,

Maciak,

Tulik

2024

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dosimetry based on gas detectors operating in the recombination and saturation region provides unique research opportunities but requires high-quality electrometers with a measuring range below 1 pA (10−12 A). The standard approach in electrometry is to strive to increase the accuracy and precision of the measurement, ignoring the importance of its duration. The article presents an algorithm for the measurement of low current values (from 100 fA) that allows both a fast measurement (with a step of 2.3 ms) and high accuracy (measurement error below 0.1%), depending on the measurement conditions and the expected results. A series of tests and validations of the algorithm were carried out in a measurement system with a Keithley 6517B electrometer and a REM-2 recombination chamber under conditions of constant and time-varying radiation fields. The result of the work is a set of parameters that allow for the optimisation of the operation of the algorithm, maximising the quality of the measurements according to needs and the expected results. The algorithm can be used in low current measurement systems, e.g., for dosimetry of mixed radiation fields using recombination methods and chambers.

show abstract

Comparative Analysis of Ultra-Low Current Measurement Topologies With Implementation in 130 nm Technology

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

Towards the next generation of CERN radiation monitoring front end ASICs

Towards the next generation of CERN radiation monitoring front end ASICs

30 Years of Electronics Evolution for CERN Safety Radiation Monitoring

A Sub-Picoampere Measurement Algorithm for Use in Dosimetry of Time-Varying Radiation Fields

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About