High-resolution timing electronics for fast pixel sensors

Abstract

Detectors based on pixels with timing capabilities are gaining increasing importance in the last years. Next-to-come high-energy physics experiments at colliders requires the use of time information in tracking, due to the increasing levels of track densities in the foreseen experimental conditions. Various different developments are ongoing on solid state sensors to gain high-resolution performance at the sensor level, as for example LGAD sensors or 3D sensors. Intrinsic sensor time resolution around 20 ps have been recently obtained. The increasing performance on the sensor side strongly demands an adequate development on the front-end electronics side, which now risks to become the performance bottle-neck in a tracking or vertex-detecting system. This paper aims to analyse the ultimate possible performance in timing of a typically-used front-end circuit, the Trans-Impedance Amplifier, considering different possible circuit configurations. Evidence to the preferable modes of operation in sensor read-out for timing measurement will be given.