A FAST, LOW-POWER, AMPLIFIER-SHAPER-DISCRIMINATOR FOR HIGH-RATE STRAW TRACKING-SYSTEMS

The ASD-8 is a bipolar integrated circuit that provides eight channels of amplifier, shaper and discriminator on a 2.8 by 4.7mm silicon substrate. It was designed for use in the straw based Central Tracking System of the SDC detector. Competing requirements for short measurement time (almost-equal-to 5ns), good double pulse resolution (almost-equal-to 20ns), low power (almost-equal-to 15m W/channel), and low operational threshold (almost-equal-to 1fC) led to the choice of a largely differential circuit that includes detector tail compensation. Tests of parts from a recent prototype run indicate excellent yield and stable operation with little or no internal crosstalk.