Digital column readout architecture for the ATLAS pixel 0.25 μm front end IC

A fast low noise, limited power, radiation-hard front-end chip was developed for reading out the Atlas Pixel Silicon Detector. As in the past prototypes, every chip is used to digitize and read out charge and time information from hits on each one of its 2880 inputs. The basic column readout architecture idea was adopted and modified to allow a safe transition to quarter micron technology. Each pixel cell, organized in a 160 x 18 matrix, can be independently enabled and configured in order to optimize the analog signal response and to prevent defective pixels from saturating the readout. The digital readout organizes hit data coming from each column, with respect to time, and output them on a low-level serial interface. A considerable effort was made to design state machines free of undefined states, where single-point defects and charge deposited by heavy ions in the silicon could have led to unpredicted forbidden states.