arXiv subjects

Salvatore Bruno

Publications and source records attributed to Salvatore Bruno.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

A monolithic ASIC demonstrator for the Thin Time-of-Flight PET scanner

Time-of-flight measurement is an important advancement in PET scanners to improve image reconstruction with a lower delivered radiation dose. This article describes the monolithic ASIC for the TT-PET project, a novel idea for a high-precision PET scanner for small animals. The chip uses a SiGe Bi-CMOS process for timing measurements, integrating a fully-depleted pixel matrix with a low-power BJT-based front-end per channel, integrated on the same 100 $μ m$ thick die. The target timing resolution is 30 ps RMS for electrons from the conversion of 511 keV photons. A novel synchronization scheme using a patent-pending TDC is used to allow the synchronization of 1.6 million channels across almost 2000 different chips at picosecond-level. A full-featured demonstrator chip with a 3x10 matrix of 500x500 $μ m^{2}$ pixels was produced to validate each block. Its design and experimental results are presented here.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Design a TDC in SiGe for RPC's electronics Front-end for the use in a high-rate experiment

With the new generation of the RPC, it is possible to work with induced signals of hundreds $μV$, hence the front-end electronics is an important and delicate part of the detector in order to get a detectable signal. The electronic chain is made up of an amplifier, a discriminator, a TDC. The new front-end is realized with the use of silicon-germanium (SiGe) components, provided by IHP microelectronics. With this technology we can implement BJT and CMOS transistors on the same chip. The benefit of this improvement is to minimize: power consumption of the channels ($2 ÷3$ $ \frac{mW}{ch}$), noise (500 $e^-$ r.m.s), radiation hardness (10 kGy,$10^3$ $\frac{n}{cm}$) and it maximizes the speed of response electronics. In this work I will highlight the first TDC prototypes' results. The TDC uses a local oscillator, that has an oscillation range between $0.6 ÷3 $ GHz, and a the temporal jitter of 15 ps. The data output from the TDC are presented in binary in order to lighten data processing to the acquisition system. Moreover, we are studying a way to minimize system latency. This optimization involves the addition of a serializer (PISO) that sends the TDC data output to the acquisition system at 2 GHz.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Development of a new Front End electronics in Silicon and Silicon-Germanium technology for the Resistive Plate Chamber detector for high rate experiments

The upgrade of the Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detector, in order to increase the detector rate capability and to be able to work efficiently in high rate environment, consists in the reduction of the operating voltage along with the detection of signals which are few hundred μV small. The approach chosen by this project to achieve this objective is to develop a new kind of Front End electronics which, thanks to a mixed technology in Silicon and Silicon-Germanium, enhance the detector performances increasing its rate capability. The Front End developed is composed by a preamplifier in Silicon BJT technology with a very low inner noise (1000 $e^{-}$ rms) and an amplification factor of 0.3-0.4 mV/fC and a new kind of discriminator in SiGe HJT technology which allows a minimum threshold of the order of 0.5 mV. The performances of this kind of Front End will be shown. The results are obtained by using the CERN H8 beamline with a full-size RPC chamber of 1 mm gas gap and 1.2 mm thickness of electrodes equipped with this kind of Front End electronics.

physics.ins-det↗