Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Readout electronic'

2012/2013
La tecnologia dei sistemi micro-elettro-meccanici (MEMS) ha dimostrato d’avere grandi potenzialità in molti campi, in particolare nei sistemi bio-medicali. Essa si basa infatti su processi di fabbricazione ad altro volume produttivo, permettendo una considerevole riduzione dei costi per dispositivo. Un ulteriore beneficio di questa tecnologia risiede nella possibilità di dimensionare i dispositivi fino a raggiungere l’ordine del submicron, così da consentire l’integrazione e il monitoraggio in tempo reale di sistemi sensibili a biomarker di tipo medicale e biologici. Tra gli obiettivi futuri dei MEMS biomedicali (BioMEMS) vi è la realizzazione di dispositivi in grado di interfacciarsi direttamente con il paziente e definirne lo stato di salute grazie alla rilevazione del livello di centinaia di diversi biomarker (siano essi chimici o fisici). La medicina assumerebbe in questa visione una configurazione ad personam nella quale al paziente verrebbe prontamente somministrato un quantitativo di medicinale adatto alle risposte del suo organismo. A tale scopo i dispositivi MEMS devono essere in grado di effettuare analisi multiple operando in un ambiente liquido. Tuttavia è proprio l’ambiente liquido a comportare la riduzione di sensibilità e, quindi, di performance dei sensori MEMS. La presente ricerca si pone lo scopo di sviluppare nuovi sistemi elettronici di misurazione e attuazione di due distinte tipologie di BioMEMS risonanti operanti in liquido, i cantilever e i pillar. In particolare verrano trattati tre argomenti: la realizzazione di setup ottici per applicazione dei MEMS in liquido ed in aria, la progettazione di sistemi elettronici di attuazione e lettura di singoli pillar nel loro comportamento in frequenza e lo sviluppo di un software LabVIEW in grado di programmare un FPGA ed ottenere un PLL digitale da impiegarsi nell’analisi in tempo reale del comportamento in frequenza di RF-MEMS. Il primo progetto è stato sviluppato in collaborazione l'Università di Kaiserslautern (Germania) e prevedeva la realizzazione di sistemi microfluidici e setups ottici, interfacciati in modo tale da permettere la rilevazione della risposta in frequenza di molteplici MEMS operanti in parallelo. Nel secondo progetto l’obiettivo era la realizzazione di un sistema elettronico in grado di integrare in un unico dispositivo i sistemi di attuazione e lettura dei pillar. In particolare siamo stati in grado di modulare l’ampiezza di risonanza dei nostri dispositivi risonanti mediante l’applicazione della forza di polarizzazione Kelvin mentre lo sviluppo del sistema di lettura richiede ulteriore lavoro di indagine. Infine, nell'ultimo progetto è stato realizzato un sistema PLL digitale con 10 MHz di banda passante utilizzando la tecnologia della National Instruments (FlexRIO NI5781R). Mediante questo PLL si è potuto identificare la frequenza di risonanza di diverse tipologie di MEMS e se ne è seguite le variazioni in tempo reale . Le attività di ricerca sperimentale sono state eseguite presso il laboratorio CNR- IOM a Trieste.
XXVI Ciclo
1985

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Several advances are made toward a microelectromechanical (MEMS) acoustic direction-finding sensor based on the Ormia ochracea fly’s ear. First, linear elastic stiffness models are presented and then validated by using a nanoindenter to measure the sensor’s stiffness directly. The measured stiffness is highly linear, and the resonant frequencies are correctly predicted by the models presented. Additional nanoindenter results suggest that the sensor can be exposed to at least 162 decibel sound pressure level with no loss of function. Next, an improved capacitive readout system using branched comb fingers is presented. This design is shown to double electrical sensitivity to motion. Finally, it is shown that residual stress-induced curvature in the sensors greatly reduces their sensitivity by effectively shrinking the readout capacitors. A simple model of this curvature is presented and then verified by measurements. This model offers an extremely straightforward means of predicting curvature in similarly fabricated structures. It is also shown that perforations in the sensor’s structure have no effect on curvature. The results presented here provide several essential tools for the continued development of the MEMS acoustic direction-finding sensor.

Locating sound sources has been of interest to the military, especially in locating sniper fire in an unconventional operational theater. Today, there are such systems to localize snipers, but they are bulky, heavy and do not employ networking, which can greatly improve the performance in terms of accuracy and reliability. Hence, there is a need to design a system that is small, compact, distributed, and reliable. In this project, an electronic readout system was designed and integrated for a directional Micro Electro-Mechanical (MEMS) sound sensor that is being developed in Naval Postgraduate School, Physics department. It is composed of the hardware and software components to process sensor signals such as amplitudes and frequencies, to aid in determining the direction of the sound. To keep the system small and compact, the electronics readout was integrated to the sensor system on the same platform. Such electrical and mechanical system integration minimizes the parasitic capacitances and enhances the sensitivity. The measured sensor response using the integrated electronics showed an improvement of nearly a factor of four larger as compared to that using an external circuit board.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58).
There's not much that can be done to make research easier - but excitement and passion are two key elements of success, and two of the many things I have learned from my advisor, Scott Manalis. It has been (and will continue to be) an awesome opportunity that I am especially thankful for, to work in nanoscale sensing with him. Perhaps the next best thing to a great advisor is having friends to work with who are equally as excited as me, more experienced, and many times smarter. I am forever indebted to all the members of the lab who have contributed to my biggest asset - knowledge. Special respect to those who bestow humour with the facts: Nebojsa, Johnson, Mike, Phil, and of course Thomas without whom I would have been in the lab a lot longer and in Europe a lot less. Thanks for coming to lab with a smile and for helping me leave with one. Places like MIT are excellent institutions, mostly because of their students. I am thankful to all of the graduate students in other labs which are always glad to give some words of advice or spend a few hours explaining something not so trivial to me. Especially to those in Professor Rahul Sarpeshkar's laboratory, especially Soumya and Scott. I am also very lucky to have great friends outside of the lab, for constant support, empathy and for bettering my overall well-being. Also to those who have come into my life and left at some point, I have gained so many more things from you than you may realize. Finally, to those who have probably contributed the most to my research success - without a single formula or circuit diagram, my family: Habibullah, Rosemin and Alizahra. You made me realize that as with life, struggle is the meaning of research. Defeat or victory is in the hands of God, but struggle itself is man's duty and should be his joy.
by Rumi Chunara.
S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-120).
Microfabricated transducers have enabled new approaches for detection of biomolecules and cells. Integration of electronics with these tools simplify systems and provide platforms for robust use outside of the laboratory setting. Suspended microchannel resonators (SMRs) are sensitive microfluidic platforms used to precisely measure the buoyant mass of single cells and monolayers of protein in fluid environments. Conventionally, micro cantilever deflection is measured by the optical-lever technique, wherein a laser beam is reflected off the cantilever onto a position sensitive photodiode. This thesis introduces microchannel resonators with electronic readout, eliminating the use of external optical components for resolving the sensor's resonant frequency. Piezo resistors have been fabricated on SMRs through ion implantation integrated with the existing SMR fabrication process. We fabricated two designs: one with a cantilever length of 210 pm and resonant frequency of -347 kHz, and the other with a cantilever length of 406 pm and resonant frequency of ~92 kHz. The work here builds upon knowledge of signal transduction from static and dynamic cantilever based sensors because the piezo resistors are implemented on vacuum encapsulated devices containing fluid. Electronic readout is shown to resolve the microchannel resonance frequency with an Allan variance of 5 x 10-18 (210 pm) and 2 x 1017 (406 pm) using a 100ms gate time, corresponding to a mass resolution of 0.1 and 0.4 fg respectively. This mass resolution calculated from piezoresistive readout frequency stability, is approximately 3X better than optical readout for the 210 pm device and 1.3X for the 406 pm device using the same gate time. Resolution is expected to improve with further optimization of the system. To demonstrate the readout, histograms of the buoyant masses of a mixture of size standard polystyrene beads (with nominal diameters 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 pm) and budding yeast cells were made.
Ph.D.

Hall effect magnetic sensors have gradually gained dominance in the market of magnetic sensors during the past decades. The compatibility of Hall sensors with conventional CMOS technologies makes monolithic Hall sensor microsystem possible and economic. An attractive application is the contactless current sensor by using Hall sensors to measure the magnetic field generated by the electrical current. However, Hall sensors exhibit several non-idealities, i.e., offset, noise and sensitivity drift, which limit their precision. Therefore, effective techniques to reduce these imperfections are desired. This thesis presents the design of a new readout scheme for Hall magnetic sensor with low offset, low noise and low sensitivity drift. The Hall sensor is realized in N-well as Hall plate and modeled in Verilog-A for the purpose of co-simulation with interface circuits. The self-calibrated system is composed of two identical Hall plates, preamplifiers and a first-order ΣΔ modulator, which can be fully integrated monolithically. Four-phase spinning current technique and chopper stabilization technique have been employed to reduce the offset and 1/fnoise of Hall platesand OTA, respectively. Integrated coils are used to generate the reference magnetic field for calibration. The preamplifiers amplify the signal and separate the Hall voltage and reference voltage. The ΣΔ modulator reduces the thermal drift by using Hall voltage as the modulator input and reference voltage as the DAC output. This new calibration technique also compensates the thermal drifts of the biasing current and readout circuits. The overall system is implemented in NXP140nm CMOS process with 1.8V supply. The Virtuoso/Spectre simulation results show residual drifts lower than 10ppm/ ̊C, which are 3-5 times lower than the state of the art. The input magnetic field and temperature range are ±100mT and -40 ̊C to 120 ̊C, respectively.

Over the last decade, electronics operating at high temperatures have been increasingly demanded to support in situ sensing applications such as automotive, deep-well drilling and aerospace. However, few of these applications have requirements above 460 °C, as the surface temperature of Venus, which is a specific target for the seismic sensing application in this thesis. Due to its wide bandgap, Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a promising candidate to implement integrated circuits (ICs) operating in such extreme environments. In this thesis, various analog and mixed-signal ICs in 4H-SiC bipolar technology for high-temperature sensing applications are explored, in which the device performance variation over temperatures are considered. For this purpose, device modeling, circuit design, layout design, and device/circuit characterization are involved. In this thesis, the circuits are fabricated in two batches using similar technologies. In Batch 1, the first SiC sigma-delta modulator is demonstrated to operate up to 500 °C with a 30 dB peak SNDR. Its building blocks including a fully-differential amplifier, an integrator and a comparator are characterized individually to investigate the modulator performance variation over temperatures. In the succeeding Batch 2, a SiC electromechanical sigma-delta modulator is designed with a chosen Si capacitive sensor for seismic sensing on Venus. Its building blocks including a charge amplifier, a multiplier and an oscillator are designed. Compared to Batch 1, a smaller transistor and two metal-interconnects are used to implement higher integration ICs in Batch 2. Moreover, the first VBIC-based compact model featured with continuous-temperature scalability from 27 to 500 °C is developed based on the SiC transistor in Batch 1, in order to optimize the design of circuits in Batch 2. The demonstrated performance of ICs in Batch 1 show the feasibility to further develop the SiC readout ICs for seismic sensor system operating on Venus.

QC 20170911

This thesis describes the design, implementation, and verification of a USB 3.0 readout system for Timepix3 detectors. Timepix3 is a hybrid pixel detector consisting of a 256x256 pixel matrix with a 55 μm pitch and a timing resolution of 1.56ns. It allows to measure energy and time simultaneously utilising an event-driven data stream with a maximum data rate of up to 5.12 Gb/s or up to 85 million hits per second. Our aim is to implement a readout system that allows to add processing algorithms into the firmware, reducing the amount of data and the post-processing time. USB 3.0 was selected as an interface, because it provides a sufficient data rate and is present on all modern computers. Furthermore, the selected Opal Kelly XEM6310 development board provides a framework handling the communication between the FPGA and the host computer, FPGA components, and an API. We implemented a hardware adapter board in collaboration with the University of Glasgow connecting the development board to the detector chip board converting the detector’s output signals from SLVS to LVDS signals. Moreover, we implemented FPGA firmware consisting of a detector interface, USB interface, and a core including a processing interface. A multi-platform desktop library was implemented in C/C++ using Qt, which is used to configure the readout system and handles high speed data streaming. Data analysis and verification is conducted using custom build Python scripts. Simulations of the firmware showed the expected behaviour. The firmware and library were verified by configuring the detector, reading back the configuration, and measurements with an Americium source. An equalisation and a global and per-pixel energy calibration have been done successfully. Moreover, the system has been used to create and correct an X-ray image. Furthermore, the USB 3.0 data streaming performance was evaluated and it could be shown that the system can sustain a stream of around 380 MB/s. The proposed readout system has been implemented and was verified in simulation and experiments with X-ray radiation. USB 3.0 data streaming performed better than anticipated reaching higher speeds as stated by Opal Kelly. Furthermore, the firmware and the library function as intended. The hardware adapter requires some changes to accommodate higher data speeds and the data chan- nels have to be moved to different pins to allow synchronisation to an external clock.
Denna avhandling beskriver utveckling och verifikation av ett USB 3.0 baserad utläsningssytem för Timepix3 detektorer. Timepix3 är en hybridpixeldetektor som består av en 256x256 pixelmatris med en pixelstorlek av 55μm2 och som klarar en tidsupplösning av 1.56ns. Detektorn tillåter att mäta energi och tidsinformation samtidigt och använder en händelsedriven dataström med en maximal datahastighet på 5,12 Gb/s som motsvarar ca. 85 miljoner träffar per sekund. Vårt mål är att detta systemet tillåter databehandling i FPGA:n alltså minskar datamängden och efterbehandlingstid. Vi valde USB 3.0 för att det ger en nytsad datahastighet och för att det finns på alla moderna datorer. Dessutom föll valet på ett XEM6310 kort från Opal Kelly som utvecklingsplatform. Opal Kelly erbjuder ett ramverk som hanterar kommunikationen mellan FPGA:n och datorn. Ramverket innehåller FPGA-komponenter och en API. Adapterkort utvecklades i samarbete med University of Glasgow som kopplar vårt utvecklingskort till detektorkortet där detektorutgångssignaler vandlas från SLVS till LVDS signaler. Dessutom implementerade vi FPGA-firmware som består av ett detektorgränssnitt, ett USB-gränssnitt, och en kärna med ett databehandlingsgränssnitt. Ett multi-platform bibliotek utvecklades och implementerades i C/C++ med användning av Qt. Bibliotektet används för att konfigurera utläsningssystemet, konfigurera detektorn, och hantera dataströmmning från och till detektorn. Dataanalys och verifiering utfördes med hjälp av självutvecklade Python-verktyg. Simuleringar av firmware visade det färväntade beteendet. Firmware och bibliote- ket verifierades genom att konfigurera detektorn, läsa tillbaka konfigurationen, och mätningar med en Americiumkälla. Ekvalisering, global energikalibration, och per-pixel-kalibration utfördes också. Dessutom har systemet använts för att ta röntenbilder. Analys av USB 3.0 dataströmming visade att biblioteket och utläsningssystemet kan upprätthålla en ström av upp till 380 MB/s från FPGA:n till datorn. Det beskrivna utläsningssystemet implementerades och verifierades i simulering och experimentellt med hjälp av strålkällar. Dataströmmning med USB 3.0 utförde sig bättre än förväntat och visade högre hastigheter som visas as Opal Kelly. Firmware och biblioteket fungerar som förväntat. Adapterkortet fungerar men kräver vissa ändringar för att tillåta högra datahastigheter. Dessutom måste datakanalerna flyttas till olika ingångar för att synkronisera datakanalerna till en extern klocka.

This thesis reports the development of advanced readout and control electronics for MEMS gyroscopes developed at METU. These gyroscope electronics are separated into three main groups: high sensitive interface circuits, drive mode amplitude controlled self oscillation loops, and sense mode phase sensitive amplitude demodulators. The proposed circuits are first implemented with discrete components, and then integrated on CMOS chips. A self oscillation loop enabling constant amplitude drive mode vibrations independent of sensor parameters and ambient conditions is developed. A fully functional angular rate system, which is constructed by employing this advanced control electronics together with the transresistance amplifier type interfaces and sense mode electronics, is implemented on a dedicated PCB having 5.4x2.4 cm2 area. This system demonstrates an impressive performance far better than the best performance achieved by any angular rate system developed at METU. Bias instability and angle random walk values are measured as 14.3 º
/hr and 0.126 º
/&
#8730
hr, respectively. The scale factor of the system is found as 22.2 mV/(º
/sec) with a nonlinearity of 0.01%, and a zero rate output of 0.1 º
/sec, in ±
50 º
/sec measurement range. CMOS unity gain buffer (UGB) and transimpedance amplifier (TIA) type resistive and capacitive interfaces are characterized through AC, transient, and noise tests. It is observed that on chip biasing mechanisms properly DC-bias the high impedance nodes to 0 V potential. UGB type capacitive interfaces demonstrate superior performance than TIA counterparts due to stability problems associated with TIA interfaces. CMOS differential drive mode control and sense mode demodulation electronics give promising results for the future performance tests.

This thesis reports the development of high performance readout electronics for resistive microbolometer detector arrays that are used for uncooled infrared imaging. Three different readout chips are designed and fabricated by using a standard 0.6 µ
m CMOS process. Fabricated chips include a conventional capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) type readout circuit, a novel readout circuit with dynamic resistance nonuniformity compensation capability, and a new improved version of the CTIA circuit. The fabricated CTIA type readout circuit uses two digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with multiple analog buses which compensate the resistance nonuniformity by adjusting the bias currents of detector and reference resistors. Compensated detector current is integrated by a switched capacitor integrator with offset cancellation capability followed by a sample-and-hold circuit. The measured detector referred current noise is 47.2 pA in an electrical bandwidth of 2.6 KHz, corresponding to an expected SNR of 530. The dynamic nonuniformity compensation circuit uses a feedback structure that dynamically changes the bias currents of the reference and detector resistors. A special feature of the circuit is that it provides continuous compensation for the detector and reference resistances due to temperature changes over time. Test results of the fabricated circuit show that the circuit reduces the offset current due to resistance nonuniformity 42.5 times. However, the calculated detector referred current noise is 360 pA, which limits the circuit SNR to 70. The improved CTIA type readout circuit introduces a new detector biasing method by using an additional auxiliary biasing transistor for better current controllability. The improved readout circuit alleviates the need for high resolution compensation DACs, which drastically decreases the circuit area. The circuit occupies an area of one seventh of the first design. According to test results, the current compensation ratio is 170, and the detector referred current noise is 48.6 pA in a 2.6 KHz bandwidth.

This thesis reports the development of various high performance readout and control electronics for implementing angular rate sensing systems using MEMS gyroscopes developed at METU. First, three systems with open loop sensing mechanisms are implemented, where each system has a different drive-mode automatic gain controlled (AGC) self-oscillation loop approach, including (i) square wave driving signal with DC off-set named as OLS_SquD, (ii) sinusoidal driving signal with DC off-set named as OLS_SineD, and iii) off-resonance driving signal named as OLS_OffD. A forth system is also constructed with a closed loop sensing mechanism where the drive mode automatic gain controlled (AGC) self-oscillation loop approach with square wave driving signal with DC off-set named as CLS_SquD. Sense and drive mode electronics employ transimpedance and transresistance amplifiers as readout electronics, respectively. Each of the systems is implemented with commercial discrete components on a dedicated PCB. Then, the angular rate sensing systems are tested with SOG (Silicon-on-Glass) gyroscopes that are adjusted to have two different mechanical bandwidths, more specially 100 Hz and 30 Hz. Test results of all of these cases verify the high performance of the systems. For the 100 Hz bandwidth, the OLS_SquD system shows a bias instability of 4.67 &
#730
/hr, an angle random walk (ARW) 0.080 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 22.6 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 30 Hz bandwidth, the OLS_SquD system shows a bias instability of 5.12 &
#730
/hr, an ARW better than 0.017 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 49.8 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 100 Hz bandwidth, the OLS_SineD system shows a bias instability of 6.92 &
#730
/hr, an ARW of 0.049 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 17.97 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 30 Hz bandwidth, the OLS_SineD system shows a bias instability of 4.51 &
#730
/hr, an ARW of 0.030 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 43.24 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 100 Hz bandwidth, the OLS_OffD system shows a bias instability of 8.43 &
#730
/hr, an ARW of 0.086 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 20.97 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 30 Hz bandwidth, the OLS_OffD system shows a bias instability of 5.72 &
#730
/hr, an ARW of 0.046 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 47.26 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 100 Hz bandwidth, the CLS_SquD system shows a bias instability of 6.32 &
#730
/hr, an ARW of 0.055 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 1.79 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 30 Hz bandwidth, the CLS_SquD system shows a bias instability of 5.42 &
#730
/hr, an ARW of 0.057 &
#730
/&
#8730
hr, and a scale factor of 1.98 mV/(&
#730
/sec). For the 100 Hz bandwidth, the R2 nonlinearities of the measured scale factors of all systems are between 0.0001% and 0.0003% in the ±
100 &
#730
/sec measurement range, while for the 30 Hz bandwidth the R2 nonlinearities are between 0.0002% and 0.0062% in the ±
80&
#730
/sec measurement range. These performance results are the best results obtained at METU, satisfying the tactical-grade performances, and the measured bias instabilities and ARWs are comparable to the best results in the literature for a silicon micromachined vibratory gyroscope.

This thesis presents the development of CMOS readout electronics for microbolometer type infrared detector arrays. A low power output buffering architecture and a new bias correction digital-to-analog converter (DAC) structure for resistive microbolometer readouts is developed
and a 384x288 resistive microbolometer FPA readout for 35 µ
m pixel pitch is designed and fabricated in a standard 0.6 µ
m CMOS process. A 4-layer PCB is also prepared in order to form an imaging system together with the FPA after detector fabrication. The low power output buffering architecture employs a new buffering scheme that reduces the capacitive load and hence, the power dissipation of the readout channels. Furthermore, a special type operational amplifier with digitally controllable output current capability is designed in order to use the power more efficiently. With the combination of these two methods, the power dissipation of the output buffering structure of a 384x288 microbolometer FPA with 35 µ
m pixel pitch operating at 50 fps with two output channels can be decreased to 8.96% of its initial value. The new bias correction DAC structure is designed to overcome the power dissipation and noise problems of the previous designs at METU. The structure is composed of two resistive ladder DAC stages, which are capable of providing multiple outputs. This feature of the resistive ladders reduces the overall area and power dissipation of the structure and enables the implementation of a dedicated DAC for each readout channel. As a result, the need for the sampling operation required in the previous designs is eliminated. Elimination of sampling prevents the concentration of the noise into the baseband, and therefore, allows most of the noise to be filtered out by integration. A 384x288 resistive microbolometer FPA readout with 35 &
#956
m pixel pitch is designed and fabricated in a standard 0.6 &
#956
m CMOS process. The fabricated chip occupies an area of 17.84 mm x 16.23 mm, and needs 32 pads for normal operation. The readout employs the low power output buffering architecture and the new bias correction DAC structure
therefore, it has significantly low power dissipation when compared to the previous designs at METU. A 4-layer imaging PCB is also designed for the FPA, and initial tests are performed with the same PCB. Results of the performed tests verify the proper operation of the readout. The rms output noise of the imaging system and the power dissipation of the readout when operating at a speed of 50 fps is measured as 1.76 mV and 236.9 mW, respectively.

Una delle pi\`u importanti strutture al mondo per lo studio della natura su scala nucleare e subnucleare \`e il Laboratorio Thomas Jefferson, situato in Virginia negli Stati Uniti d'America (JLAB), il quale ha recentemente rinnovato il suo acceleratore di elettroni (CEBAF, Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator) per raggiungere l'energia di 12 GeV/c. Il principale obiettivo del CEBAF e delle sue quattro sale sperimentali \`e quello di descrivere come le propriet\`a stabili della materia nucleare, quali lo spin semi-intero dei nucleoni, possano essere spiegate in termini dei gradi di libert\`a dei suoi costituenti quali quark e gluoni. Un innovativo rivelatore ad anelli cherenkov (RICH) \`e stato progettato per lo spettrometro di larga accettanza del CEBAF (CLAS12) allo scopo di migliorare l'identificazione adroni carichi presenti nello stato finale delle degli esperimenti di diffusione e contribuire cos\'i alla complessa rappresentazione multidimensionale del modello attuale. La tesi descrive l'apparato basilare di CLAS12 dedito alla identificazione delle particelle e presenta il nuovo RICH insieme alla sua struttura e ai suoi principi di funzionamento. La trattazione mette in evidenza gli aspetti tecnologici innovativi, adottati per soddisfare i requisiti di fisica in modo affidabile, ad un costo accettabile e in tempi compatibili con le operazioni gi\`a calendarizzate. In particolare si sofferma su raffinate valvole fotomoltiplicatrici multianodiche sensibili al singolo fotone (MAPMT) e sulla elettronica di lettura loro associata che \'e stata appositamente sviluppata nell'ambito della progetto di tesi e la cui validazione ha costituito la maggior mole del lavoro. La descrizione dei circuiti di processamento del segnale, sia analogici che digitali, precede la presentazione delle funzionalit\`a del sistema e la descrizione di come questo sar\`a integrato nella sofisticata architettura di acquisizione dati di CLAS12. Le prove condotte su banco con generatori di impulsi dimostrano una eccellente sensibilit\`a per segnali la cui ampiezza sia grande solo qualche percento di quella del segnale medio corripondente al singolo fotone. Inoltre sono state utili a sviluppare gli algoritmi di correzione della risposta temporale la cui precisione pu\`o raggiungere il nanonsecondo sull'intero intervallo in carica prodotto dai sensori. Ulteriori prove con i MAPMT ed una sorgente laser hanno permesso di verificare le prestazioni dell'intera catena, consentito di ottimizzare le procedure e di portare a compimento lo sviluppo della libreria software. I risultati ottenuti dimostrano la capacit\`a del sistema di accedere alla fenomenologia dei sensori con grande dettaglio (e.g. il crosstalk ottico ovvero la separazione della valanga elettronica tra pixel vicini). Tali peculiari\`a saranno sfruttate durante il ciclo di vita dell'esperimento per controllare lo stato del rivelatore e calibrare i parametri di configurazione utilizzando anche le emissioni termiche dette correnti di buio. Gli argomenti sono presentati con ordine di complessit\`a crescente con l'ultima parte della tesi dedicata alle prove in condizioni reali. I risultati della campagna di validazione condotta per stabilire la tolleranza alle radiazione delle schede elettroniche cos\'i come i veri e propri esperimenti realizzati con prototipi del RICH di piccola scala sono presentati alla fine. In conclusione la elettronica sviluppata per il nuovo RICH di CLAS12 \`e stata progettata, realizzata e validata per il suo scopo. Le sue caratteristiche di compattezza, sensibilit\`a e precisione temporale sono potenzialmente interessanti per altre applicazione di imaging in settori diversi quali lo sviluppo di nuovi rivelatori e la medicina nucleare.
One of the world leading facilities for the study of nature at nuclear and sub-nuclear scales is the Thomas Jefferson Laboratory in Virginia, USA (JLAB) where the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) has been recently upgraded to reach 12 GeV energy. The main objective of CEBAF and its four experimental halls is to investigate how the stable properties of the matter, like the semi-integer spin of the nucleons, can be explained in terms of degrees of freedom of its constituents, quarks and gluons. An innovative Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector (RICH) has been designed for the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS12) to improve the identification of the charged hadrons produced in the final state of scattering experiments and help in the representation of the complex multi-dimensional structure of the current model. The thesis describes the CLAS12 baseline particle identification system and introduces the new RICH module together with its layout and its operating principles. The dissertation highlights the innovative technological aspects adopted to satisfy the physics requirements at a reasonable cost, in a timely manner and to fit in spectrometer with minimum impact. In particular the thesis treats the single photon sensitive Multi Anode PhotoMultiplier Tubes (MAPMT) and associated custom electronics that has been developed in the thesis project and whose validation has constituted the largest effort of the thesis work. The description of the analog and digital signal processing circuits proceeds the presentation of the functionalities of system the description of its integration in the CLAS12 data acquisition architecture. The tests conducted on bench with pulse generators demonstrate an excellent sensitivity for signal of amplitude just a few percent of the typical photoelectron signal. Moreover they have been used to develop time response correction algorithms that allow to achieve one nanosecond precision over the entire charge interval spanned by the light sensor output. Further tests with MAPMTs and a laser source allowed to verify the full chain performance, optimize the procedures and complete the development of the software library. The obtained results demonstrate the capability of the system to access the detector phenomenology with great detail (e.g. optical crosstalk which is the charge spill over between adjacent pixels). Those peculiarities will be exploited during the life cycle of the experiment to monitor the status of the detector and calibrate the configuration parameters using the dark current of the tubes. The argument are presented in increasing complexity order with the last part dedicated to real condition testing. The results of the validation campaign conducted to asses the radiation tolerance of the electronics board as well the as small scale complete experiment with RICH prototypes are presented in the end. In conclusion the readout electronics of the new RICH of CLAS12 was designed, implemented and validate for its scope. For its compactness, sensitivity and time resolution it can be potentially interesting for other imaging application like the development of new detectors and nuclear medicine.

There are two major types of detectors for IR imaging and sensing: photon detector and thermal detector. Photon detector converts photon energy directly into electrical signal. Thermal detector, on the other hand, has a temperature-sensitive electrical property and its temperature can be easily altered by incident IR radiation. To reduce noise, both photon detector and previous generation bolometer require cooling. A new generation of uncooled bolometer emerged recently and will be the focus of this study.
Micromachining processes were used to fabricate bolometers and bolometric material test vehicles. Both surface micromachining and bulk micromachining were attempted. The surface micromachined bolometers were created by the MUMPs process. The material of the bolometer structures was polysilicon. From the measurements carried out, it was shown that the present polysilicon bolometers have a TCR of 0.123%/K and a thermal conductivity of 2 * 10-6 W/K.
For the bulk micromachined bolometers, Bismuth bolometers were deposited on silicon dioxide membranes on top of a silicon wafer. The silicon dioxide membranes were made by overetching the bulk. A TCR of -0.21%/K, thermal conductance of 4.58 * 10-5 W/K and a responsivity of 0.4 V/W were measured.
A 4 by 4 readout circuit was fabricated by TSMC 0.35 mum CMOS process. It consists of pixel biasing, pixel selection, and output amplifying stage. Two do voltage offset correction methods were proposed and examined. The proposed do voltage offset correction methods could minimize the offset voltage to 113 muV.

EBEX (the E and B Experiment) is a balloon-borne telescope with 8' resolution primarily designed to detect the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which would represent strong evidence for the inflationary period of the universe. EBEX will also characterize the galactic dust and the gravitational lensing. During a 11 day long duration science flight over Antarctica scheduled for the Austral Summer of 2012-2013, EBEX will operate 872, 436 and 256 spider-web transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers at 150, 250 and 410 GHz, respectively, and observe a 350 square degree patch of sky.The EBEX engineering flight in June 2009 over New Mexico and Arizona provided the first usage of both a large array of TES bolometers and a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) based multiplexed readout system in a space-like environment. The sensors were read out with a new SQUID-based digital frequency domain multiplexed (DfMUX) readout system that was designed to meet the low noise, low power consumption and robust autonomous operation requirements presented by a balloon experiment. The DfMUX readout system successfully tuned, monitored and operated the EBEX camera at float. This successful demonstration increases the technology readiness level of these bolometers and the associated readout system for future space missions.In preparation for the science flight, the bolometer specifications to optimize the sensitivity of the EBEX camera have been calculated and verified to provide EBEX with the required sensitivity to meet its science goals. A series of bolometer wafers were produced at University of California, Berkeley, and characterized at McGill University and University of Minnesota. From these wafers, 14 have been selected for integration for the EBEX long duration balloon flight. The multiplexing factor of the DfMUX readout system has also been demonstrated to be improved from 8 to 16. An algorithm allowing for the monitoring of the camera setup and the camera performance at float has been developed. The camera operator will use this algorithm to the camera during flight in order to optimize both the observing time of the telescope and the sensitivity of the camera. EBEX is ready to perform its long-duration science flight.
EBEX ("E and B Experiment") est un télescope maintenu en haute altitude par un ballon stratosphérique. Ce télescope conçu pour détecter la polarisation de type B du rayonnement cosmologique fossile possède une résolution de 8'. Une telle détection représenterait une évidence forte de la période inflationniste de l'univers. EBEX caractérisera également la poussière galactique ainsi que l'effet de lentille gravitationnelle. Pendant un vol de 11 jours prévu pendant l'été austral 2012-2013 au dessus de l'Antarctique, EBEX opérera 872, 436 et 256 bolomètres en transition supraconductrice dans les bandes de fréquence 150, 250 et 410 GHz, respectivement. EBEX observera une région du ciel de 350 degrés carrés.Le vol d'essai de EBEX a eu lieu en juin 2009 au dessus du Nouveau-Mexique et de l'Arizona. Lors de ce vol d'essai, des bolomètres en transition supraconductrice ainsi qu'un système digital de lecture de données multiplexé en fréquence (DfMUX) avec amplificateurs supraconducteurs à interférence quantique (SQUID) ont été exploités avec succès dans un environnement spatial chacun pour la première fois. Le système DfMUX a été conçu pour permettre la lecture de bolomètres tout en respectant les exigences de produire peu de bruit électronique, de consommer peu d'énergie et de permettre une opération fiable des détecteurs. Ces exigences sont requises pour opérer un tel télescope en haute atmosphère. Lors de ce vol, le système DfMUX a mis au point et a vérifié avec succès le bon fonctionnement de la caméra de EBEX. Cette démonstration prépare le terrain pour l'utilisation des bolomètres en transition supraconductrice ainsi que le système DfMUX dans le cadre de futures missions spatiales. En préparation pour le vol scientifique de EBEX, les paramètres des bolomètres permettant d'optimiser la sensibilité de la caméra ont été calculés. La sensibilité calculée permettra à EBEX d'atteindre ses buts scientifiques. Parmi les dizaines de gaufres de détecteurs fabriquées à l'Université de la Californie, Berkeley, et caractérisées à l'Université McGill et à l'Université du Minnesota, 14 ont été sélectionnées pour l'intégration de l'instrument EBEX précédent le vol de longue durée. L'amélioration du facteur de multiplexage du système DfMUX de 8 à 16 a également été démontrée. Un algorithme permettant de surveiller la mise au point ainsi que la performance en vol de la caméra a été élaboré. L'opérateur de la caméra utilisera cet algorithme pendant le vol afin d'optimiser le temps d'observation du télescope ainsi que le sensibilité de la caméra. EBEX est prêt à entreprendre son vol scientifique.

The miniaturization of a sound detection system is of great interest to applications such as sniper location. Current systems in use are larger and do not provide for the unencumbered movement of the warfighter. Inspiration for a smaller MEMS based sensor is therefore taken from the aural system of the fly Ormia ochracea. The focus of this thesis is the design of an integrated and miniaturized device utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf readout electronics with the biologically inspired sensor. An analysis of previously used techniques is presented along with a novel fully-integrated miniaturized design. Specific investigations include integration with external readout electronics, a hybrid discrete component design, and the fully-integrated single package design. Results include successful operation at all levels of integration and a more thorough analysis of the performance of the fully-integrated design.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN laboratory was designed to study the elementary particles and forces and search for new physics.  Detectors at LHC were designed to observe proton-proton collisions with center of mass energies up to 14 TeV, seven times higher than previously possible. One of the largest of these is the general purpose detector ATLAS. After almost 20 years of planning and construction, LHC and its detectors were finished in 2008. Since then ATLAS has produced valuable data, which contributed to the discovery of the 1964 postulated Higgs-particle and thus to the Nobel prize in physics in 2013. To expand the searches, LHC and its detectors will undergo several upgrades to the increase luminosity at least by a factor of 5 and to exploit the full potential of the machine. In order to adapt the detector to the resulting increasing event rates and radiation levels, new electronics have to be developed. This thesis describes the development process of a new upgraded digital readout system for one of the sub-detectors in ATLAS, the scintillating Tile Calorimeter (TileCal), and more specifically one of its key components, the high-speed data link DaughterBoard. Starting from the idea of transferring all recorded information of the detector using high speed serial optical links and the concept of using re-programmable logic for the readout electronics, completely new on-detector electronics were designed to be used as a core component for communication, control and monitoring. The electronics was tested, electrical characterized and proven to work in a setup similar to the upgraded readout electronics. The DaughterBoard is the Stockholm University contribution to the ATLAS upgrade in 2023.

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the heavy-ion experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. As an important part of its upgrade plans, the ALICE experiment will schedule the installation of a new Inner Tracking System (ITS) during the Long Shutdown 2 (LS2) of the LHC. The new ITS layout will consist of seven concentric layers, ¿ 12.5 Gigapixel camera covering about 10m2 with Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS). This choice of technology has been guided by the tight requirements on the material budget of 0.3% X/X0 per layer for the three innermost layers and backed by the significant progress in the field of MAPS in recent years. The technology initially chosen for the ITS upgrade is the TowerJazz 180 nm CMOS Technology. It offers a standard epitaxial layer of 15 - 18 µm with a resistivity between 1 and 5 k¿ cm¿1 and a gate oxide thickness below 4 nm, thus being more robust to Total Ionizing Dose (TID). The main subject of this thesis is to implement a novel digital pixel readout architecture for MAPS. This thesis aims to study this novel readout architecture as an alternative to the rolling-shutter readout. However, this must be investigated through the study of several chip readout architectures during the R&D phase. Another objective of this thesis is the study and characterization of TowerJazz, if it meets the Non-Ionizing Energy Loss (NIEL) and Single Event Effects (SEE) of the ALICE ITS upgrade program. Other goals of this thesis are: ¿ Implementation of the top-down flow for this CMOS process and the design of multiple readouts for different prototypes up to the assembly of a full-scale prototype. xvii Abstract ¿ Characterization of the radiation hardness and SEE of the chips submitted to fabrication. ¿ Characterization of full custom designs using analog simulations and the generation of digital models for the simulation chain needed for the verification process. ¿ Implementation and study of different digital readouts to meet the ITS upgrade program in integration time, pixel size and power consumption, from the conceptual idea, production and fabrication phase. Chapter 1 is a brief overview of CERN, the LHC and the detectors complex. The ALICE ITS will be explained, focusing on the ITS upgrade in terms of detector needs and design constraints. Chapter 2 explains the properties of silicon detectors and the detector material and the principles of operation for MAPS. Chapters 3 and 4 describe the ALPIDE prototypes and their readout based on MAPS; this forms the central part of this work, including the multiple families of pixel detectors fabricated in order to reach the final design for the ITS. The ALPIDE3/pALPIDE3B chip, the latest MAPS chip designed, will be explained in detail, as well focusing in the matrix digital readout. In chapter 5 the noise measurements and its characterization are presented including a brief summary of detector response to irradiation with soft X-rays, sources and particle beams.
El sub detector ITS (Inner Tracking System) del detector ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) es un detector de vértice y es el detector mas cercano al punto de interacción. Se encuentra conformado por 3 tipos de subdetectores, dos capas de pixel de silicio (Silicon Pixel Detectors), 2 capas de acumulación de silicio (Silicon Drift Detectors) y 2 capas de banda de Silicio (Silicon Strip Detectors). La función primaria del ITS es identificar y rastrear las partículas de bajo momentum transversal. El detector ITS en sus dos capas más internas están equipadas con sensores de silicio basados en píxeles híbridos. Para reemplazar esta tecnología de Píxeles, el detector ITS actual será reemplazado por un nuevo detector de una sola tecnología, ampliando su resolución espacial y mejorando el rastreo de trazas. Este nuevo detector constará de siete capas de sensores de píxeles activos monolíticos (MAPS), las cuales deberán satisfacer los requerimientos de presupuesto de materiales y ser tolerantes a mayores niveles de radiación para los nuevos escenarios de incrementos de luminosidad y mayores tasas de colisiones. Los sensores MAPS que integran el sensor de imagen y los circuitos de lectura se encuentran en la misma oblea de silicio, tienen grandes ventajas en una buena resolución de posición y un bajo presupuesto material en términos de bajo coste de producción. TowerJazz ofrece la posibilidad de una cuádruple-WELL aislando los transistores pMOS que se encuentran en la misma nWELL evitando la competencia con el electrodo de recolección, permitiendo circuitos mas complejos y compactos para ser implementados dentro de la zona activa y además posee una capa epitaxial de alta resistividad. Esta tecnología proporciona una puerta de óxido muy delgado limitando el daño superficial por la radiación haciéndolo adecuado para su uso denxiii Resúmen tro del experimento ALICE. En los últimos cuatro años se ha llevado a cabo una intensiva I+D en MAPS en el marco de la actualización del ITS de ALICE. Varios prototipos a pequeña escala se han desarrollado y probado exitosamente con rayos X, fuentes radioactivas y haces de partículas. La tolerancia a la radiación de ALICE ITS es moderada con una tolerancia de irradiación TID de 700 krad y NIEL de 1 × 1013 1 MeV neqcm¿2 , MAPS es una opción viable para la actualización del ITS. La contribución original de esta tesis es la implementación de una nueva arquitectura digital de lectura de píxeles para MAPS. Esta tesis presenta un codificador asíncrono de direcciones (arquitectura basada en la supresión de ceros transmitiendo la dirección de los píxeles excitados denominada PADRE) para la arquitectura ALPIDE, el autor también hizo una contribución significativa en el ensamblaje y veri- ficación de circuitos. PADRE es la principal investigación del autor, basada en un codificador de prioridad jerárquica de cuatro entradas y es una alternativa a la arquitectura de lectura rolling-shutter. Además de los prototipos a pequeña escala, también se han desarrollado prototipos a escala completa a las necesidades del detector ITS (15 mm y 30 mm) empleando un nuevo circuito de lectura basado en la versión personalizada del circuito PADRE. El pALPIDEfs fue el primer prototipo a escala completa y se caracterizó obteniendo un tiempo de lectura de la matriz por debajo de 4 µs y un consumo de energía en el orden de 80 mWcm¿2 . En general, los resultados obtenidos representan un avance significativo de la tecnología MAPS en cuanto al consumo de energía, velocidad de lectura, tiempo de recolección de carga y tolerancia a la radiación. El sensor pALPIDE2 ha demostrado ser una opción muy atractiva para el nuevo detector ITS, satisfaciendo los requerimientos en términos de eficiencia de detección, fake-hit rate y resolución de posición, ya que su rendimiento no puede alcanzarse mediante prototipos basados en la arquitectura de lectura tradicionales como es
El subdetector ITS (Inner Tracking System) del detector ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) és un detector de vèrtex i és el detector mes proper al punt d'interacció. Es troba conformat per 3 tipus de subdetectors, dues capes de píxel de silici (Silicon Pixel Detectors), 2 capes d'acumulació de silici (Silicon Drift Detectors) i 2 capes de banda de Silici (Silicon Strip Detectors). La funció primària del ITS és identificar i rastrejar les partícules de baix moment transversal. El detector ITS en les seues dues capes més internes estan equipades amb sensors de silici basats en píxels híbrids. Per a reemplaçar aquesta tecnologia de Píxels, el detector ITS actual serà reemplaçat per un nou detector d'una sola tecnologia, ampliant la seua resolució espacial i millorant el rastreig de traces. Aquest nou detector constarà de set capes de sensors de píxels actius monolítics (MAPS), les quals hauran de satisfer els requeriments de pressupost de materials i ser tolerants a majors nivells de radiació per als nous escenaris d'increments de lluminositat i majors taxes de col·lisions. Els sensors MAPS que integren el sensor d'imatge i els circuits de lectura es troben en la mateixa hòstia de silici, tenen grans avantatges en una bona resolució de posició i un baix pressupost material en termes de baix cost de producció. TowerJazz ofereix la possibilitat d'una quàdruple-WELL aïllant els transistors pMOS que es troben en la mateixa nWELL evitant la competència amb l'elèctrode de recol·lecció, permetent circuits mes complexos i compactes per a ser implementats dins de la zona activa i a més posseeix una capa epitaxial d'alta resistivitat. Aquesta tecnologia proporciona una porta d'òxid molt prim limitant el dany superficial per la radiació fent-ho adequat per al seu ús dins de l'- experiment ALICE. En els últims quatre anys s'ha dut a terme una intensiva R+D en MAPS en el marc de l'actualització del ITS d'ALICE. Diversos prototips a petita escala s'han desenvolupat i provat ix Resum reeixidament amb rajos X, fonts radioactives i feixos de partícules. La tolerància a la radiació d'ALICE ITS és moderada amb una tolerància d'irradiació TID de 700 krad i NIEL d'1× 1013 1MeV neqcm¿2 , MAPS és una opció viable per a l'actualització del ITS. La contribució original d'aquesta tesi és la implementació d'una nova arquitectura digital de lectura de píxels per a MAPS. Aquesta tesi presenta un codificador asíncron d'adreces (arquitectura basada en la supressió de zeros transmetent l'adreça dels píxels excitats denominada PADRE) per a l'arquitectura ALPIDE, l'autor també va fer una contribució significativa en l'assemblatge i verificació de circuits. PADRE és la principal recerca de l'autor, basada en un codificador de prioritat jeràrquica de quatre entrades i és una alternativa a l'arquitectura de lectura rolling-shutter. A més dels prototips a petita escala, també s'han desenvolupat prototips a escala completa a les necessitats del detector ITS (15 mm i 30 mm) emprant un nou circuit de lectura basat en la versió personalitzada del circuit PADRE. El pALPIDEfs va ser el primer prototip a escala completa i es va caracteritzar obtenint un temps de lectura de la matriu per sota de 4 µs i un consum d'energia en l'ordre de 80 mWcm¿2 . En general, els resultats obtinguts representen un avanç significatiu de la tecnologia MAPS quant al consum d'energia, velocitat de lectura, temps de recol·lecció de càrrega i tolerància a la radiació. El sensor pALPIDE2 ha demostrat ser una opció molt atractiva per al nou detector ITS, satisfent els requeriments en termes d'eficiència de detecció, fake-hit rate i resolució de posició, ja que el seu rendiment no pot aconseguir-se mitjançant prototips basats en l'arquitectura de lectura tradicionals com és el rolling-shutter dissenyat en la mateixa tecnologia. Per aquesta raó, la R+D en els prototips ALPIDE ha continuat amb l'objectiu d'optimitza
Marín Tobón, CA. (2017). PADRE pixel read-out architecture for Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor for the new ALICE Inner Tracking System in TowerJazz 180 nm technolog [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/86154
TESIS

This thesis presents the development of high resolution, wide dynamic range sigma-delta type readout circuits for capacitive MEMS accelerometers. Designed readout circuit employs fully differential closed loop structure with digital output, achieving high oversampling ratio and high resolution. The simulations of the readout circuit together with the accelerometer sensor are performed using the models constructed in Cadence and Matlab Simulink environments. The simulations verified the stability and proper operation of the accelerometer system. The sigma-delta readout circuit is implemented using XFab 0.6 µ
m CMOS process. Readout circuit is combined with Silicon-On-Glass (SOG) and Dissolved Wafer Process (DWP) accelerometers. Both open loop and closed loop tests of the accelerometer system are performed. Open loop test results showed high sensitivity up to 8.1 V/g and low noise level of 4.8 µ
g/&
#61654
Hz. Closed loop circuit is implemented on a PCB together with the external filtering and decimation electronics, providing 16-bit digital output at 800 Hz sampling rate. High acceleration tests showed ±
18.5 g of linear acceleration range with high linearity, using DWP accelerometers. The noise tests in closed loop mode are performed using Allan variance technique, by acquiring the digital data. Allan variance tests provided 86 µ
g/&
#61654
Hz of noise level and 74 µ
g of bias drift. Temperature sensitivity tests of the readout circuit in closed loop mode is also performed, which resulted in 44 mg/º
C of temperature dependency. Two different types of new adaptive sigma-delta readout circuits are designed in order to improve the resolution of the systems by higher frequency operation. The two circuits both change the acceleration range of operation of the system, according to the level of acceleration. One of the adaptive circuits uses variation of feedback time, while the other circuit uses multi-bit feedback method. The simulation results showed micro-g level noise in closed loop mode without the addition of the mechanical noise of the sensor.

MEMS accelerometers are quickly approaching navigation grade performance and navigation market for MEMS accelerometer systems are expected to grow in the recent years. Compared to conventional accelerometers, these micromachined sensors are smaller and more durable but are generally worse in terms of noise and dynamic range performance. Since MEMS accelerometers are already dominant in the tactical and consumer electronics market, as they are in all modern smart phones today, there is significant demand for MEMS accelerometers that can reach navigation grade performance without significantly altering the developed process technologies. This research aims to improve the performance of previously fabricated and well-known MEMS capacitive closed loop &Sigma
&Delta
accelerometer systems to navigation grade performance levels. This goal will be achieved by reducing accelerometer noise level through significant changes in the system architecture and implementation of a new electronic interface readout ASIC. A flexible fourth order &Sigma
&Delta
modulator was chosen as the implementation of the electro-mechanical closed loop system, and the burden of noise shaping in the modulator was shifted from the mechanical sensor to the programmable electronic readout. A novel operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) was also designed for circuit implementation of the electronic interface readout. Design and fabrication of the readout was done in a standard 0.35 µ
m CMOS technology. With the newly designed and fabricated readout, single-axis accelerometers were implemented and tested for performance levels in 1g range. The implemented system achieves 5.95 µ
g/sqrt Hz, 6.4 µ
g bias drift, 131.7 dB dynamic range and up to 37.2 g full scale range with previously fabricated dissolved epitaxial wafer process (DEWP) accelerometers in METU MEMS facilities. Compared to a previous implementation with the same accelerometer element reporting 153 µ
g/sqrtHz, 50 µ
g bias drift, 106.8 dB dynamic range and 33.5 g full scale range
this research reports a 25 fold improvement in noise, 24 dB improvement in dynamic range and removal of the deadzone region.

In preparation for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN, the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Detector is undergoing a series of upgrades to its existing infrastructure, and is adding in several completely new subdetector systems. The first of these new systems, called GE1/1, is a series of 144 gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors, arranged as 36 two-detector "superchambers" in each of the muon endcaps of CMS. These detectors are a subtype of micropattern gas detectors, and consist of three layers of "GEM foils", thin sheets of polyimide coated with 5 um of copper on each side and chemically etched with holes of 50 - 70 um diameter at a pitch of 140 um. These layers are stacked on top of a printed circuit board (PCB) readout and sealed within a gastight volume that is filled with Ar:CO2 70:30, and a high voltage is applied to the foils to create electric fields within the GEM detectors. When a muon enters the detector and ionizes the gas within, the ionized electrons encounter these fields and multiply in Townsend avalanches at each successive foil layer, until they are read out at the readout PCB at a gain of ~10^4. In early 2017, a demonstrator system known as the "slice test" was installed into the negative endcap. Consisting of 10 GEM detectors, the two-year-long slice test served as both a proof of concept for the GE1/1 system and an invaluable learning experience that would permanently impact not only the GE1/1 project, but future GEM systems GE2/1 and ME0 as well. During the slice test, it was observed that readout channels were being lost in the course of operation to such a degree that the operational lifetime of the system was in serious jeopardy. These losses were attributed to damage to the front-end readout ASIC (VFAT) inputs, caused propagating electrical discharges within the detectors, and a dedicated campaign to study the discharges was launched. The results of this study will be presented in this dissertation. A campaign to mitigate these discharges and their resulting damage was launched. In order to protect the sensitive VFAT from damage, several external protection circuits were proposed and thoroughly tested. The results of these tests, which are presented herein, determined that a series of resistors totaling 470 Ohms would be installed on the VFAT hybrid. When coupled with an additional 200 kOhm resistor on the HV filter, this reduced the probability of damage following a discharge from 93% to 3% As GE2/1 and ME0 are not due to be installed for another few years, more complex discharge-prevention measures can be put into place. As such, the following measures have been examined, and results will be discussed herein: A new, larger VFAT hybrid is being manufactured, whose larger surface area can accommodate more robust protection circuits than those considered and used for GE1/1. As well, double-segmented GEM foils, in which both the top and bottom of each foil is segmented into < 100 cm^2 sectors that are separated by resistors, were examined for use in the detectors. These double-segmented foils were found to introduce a cross-talk signal in the detectors that results in false signals being treated as true signals, which causes a saturation of the GEM bandwidth and results in unwanted dead time. These cross-talk signals, as well as the compromises made to reduce the cross-talk while maintaining robust discharge prevention, will be discussed.
Doctorat en Sciences
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study presents a CMOS integrated sensor chip suitable for sensing biological samples like DNA. The sensing part of the chip consists of a 32 X 32 pixel array with a 15 µ
m pixel pitch. Pixels have 5 µ
m X 5 µ
m detector electrodes implemented with the top metal of the CMOS process, and they are capable of detecting charge transferred or induced on those electrodes with a very high sensitivity. This study also includes development of an external electronics containing ADC for analog to digital data conversion. This external circuitry is implemented on a PCB compatible with the Opal Kelly XM3010 FPGA that provides data storage and transfer to PC. The measured noise of the overall system is 6.7 e- (electrons), which can be shrunk down to even 5.1 e- with an over sampling rate. This kind of sensitivity performance is very suitable for DNA detection, as a single nucleotide of a DNA contains 1 or 2 e- and as 10 to 20 base pair long DNA&rsquo
s are usually used in microarray applications. The measured dynamic range of the system is 71 dB, in other words, at most 24603 e- per frame (20 ms) can be detected. The measured leakage is 31 e-/frame, but this does not have a dramatic effect on the sensitivity of the system, noting that the leakage is a predictable quantity. DNA detection tests are performed with the chip in addition to electronic performance measurements. The surface of the chip is covered with a nitride passivation layer to prevent the pixel crosstalk and is modified with an APTES polymer for suitable DNA immobilization. DNA immobilization and hybridization tests are performed with 5&rsquo
-TCTCACCTTC-3&rsquo
probe and its complementary 3&rsquo
-AGAGTGGAAG-5&rsquo
target sequences. Hybridization performed in 1 pM solution is shown to have a larger steady state leakage than the immobilization in a 13 µ
M solution, implying the ability to differentiate between the full match and full mismatch sequences. To best of our knowledge, the measured pM sensitivity has not yet been reported with any label free CMOS DNA microarrays in literature, and it is comparable with the sensitivity of techniques like QCM or the fluorescence imaging. The 1 pM sensitivity is not a theoretical limit of the sensor, since theoretically the sensitivity level of 6.7 e- can offer much better results, down to the aM level, as far as the noise of electronics is considered, nevertheless the sensitivity is expected to be limited by DNA immobilization and hybridization probabilities which are determined by the surface modification technique and applied protocol. Improving those can lead to much smaller detection limits, such as aM level as stated above.

The NEXT experiment is one of the most innovative ones looking for the neutrinoless double beta decay, which finding will answer one of the most important questions in the last years physics: is the neutrino its own antiparticle? Or in other words, is it a Majorana particle? With that purpose NEXT uses a TPC (Time Projection Chamber) filled with enriched xenon gas at high pressure, and two photosensors planes, one on each end. The first plane contains PMTs (PhotoMultiplier Tube), that collect the light emitted by the xenon when an event happens and precisely measures its energy. The second plane is a SiPM (Silicon PhotoMultiplier) matrix that allows to 3D-reconstruct the event track. Both planes together allows NEXT to have a great background rejection, which makes a difference with the other experiments aiming for the neutrinoless double beta decay. In addition, SiPMs are a new technology which nowadays is evolving to, in the future, displace the classical PMTs. For that reason the study of these sensors starts from zero, as there were not previous uses as pixel-tracking, and lead a new path in the physics detectors, for both high and low energy. This thesis is focused on the study and design of the electronics involving the tracking plane, which includes some technical solutions related also with mechanical issues. From the sensors placed inside the detector, the SiPMs, to the front-end electronic boards, there are few elements on the chain; as the support boards for the SiPMs which must satisfy severe outgassing and radiopurity levels. Also the inner and outer cabling has been designed, focusing on obtaining the best signal-noise ratio; and also the feedthrough for the tracking plane, which solved at low cost the huge problem of taking out about 4000 lines from the pressurized xenon to the outside. Finally, one of the most important elements on this chain and the one that this thesis is focused on, is the front-end board. Starting with the experience acquired with the first prototype, NEXT-DEMO, the electronics have been improved, able to condition, integrate and digitize the signals from all the tracking plane SiPMs; allowing the further acquisition and processing through an ATCA-based system (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture). All the elements designed have been produced and assembled on the NEW detector, a large-scale prototype of the final detector, placed at the Laboratorio Subterra'neo de Canfranc, an underground laboratory at the aragonese Pyrenee.
El experimento NEXT es uno de los más innovadores en la búsqueda de la desintegración doble beta sin neutrinos, cuyo hallazgo daría con la respuesta a una de las cuestiones más importantes de la física en los últimos años: ¿es el neutrino su propia antipartícula? O dicho de otro modo, ¿es una partícula de Majorana? Para ello NEXT hace uso de una TPC (Time Projection Chamber) llena de gas xenón enriquecido a alta presión, y con dos planos de fotosensores, uno en cada extremo. El primero de ellos está formado por PMTs (Photo Multiplier Tube), que recogen la luz generada por el xenón cuando ocurre un evento, y miden la energía de éste. El segundo consiste en una matriz de SiPMs (Silicon PhotoMultipliers) que permiten reconstruir tridimensionalmente la traza de dicho evento. El conjunto de ambos planos de fotosensores otorga al experimento NEXT un gran rechazo a eventos de fondo, lo que marca la diferencia con otros experimentos en busca de la desintegración doble beta sin neutrinos. Además, los SiPMs son una tecnoloía de reciente aparición que en la actualidad está evolucionando a grandes pasos para, en un futuro, desplazar a los fotomultiplicadores clásicos. Por ello el estudio de estos fotosensores parte prácticamente desde cero, ya que no existen aplicaciones previas de su uso como pixel-tracking, y ha permitido abrir un nuevo camino en los detectores de física, tanto de alta como baja energía. Esta tesis doctoral tiene como objetivo el estudio y diseño de la electrónica involucrada en el plano de reconstrucción de trazas, y que involucran en menor medida dar solución a problemas técnicos de aspecto mecánico. Partiendo de los sensores ubicados dentro del detector, los SiPMs, hasta las tarjetas de front-end, se incluyen varios elementos de la cadena; como son las tarjetas empleadas como soporte para los SiPM en el interior de la cámara, las cuáles deben cumplir rigurosas medidas de radiopureza y degasificación. También se ha diseñado el cableado tanto interno como externo, haciendo énfasis en conseguir la mayor relación posible señal-ruido; y el pasamuros específico para el plano de reconstrucción de trazas, el cual ha resuelto a bajo coste el problema de extraer casi 4000 líneas desde la zona de xenón a alta presión hasta el exterior. Por último, uno de los elementos más importantes de esta cadena y en el cuál se centra principalmente esta tesis, es la tarjeta de front-end. Partiendo de la experiencia adquirida del primer prototipo del experimento, NEXT-DEMO, se ha perfeccionado una electrónica capaz de tratar, integrar y adquirir las señales de todos los SiPM del plano de reconstrucción de trazas, permitiendo su posterior adquisición y procesado mediante un sistema basado en la estructura ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture). Todos los elementos diseñados han sido ensamblados y puestos en marcha en el detector NEW, un prototipo a gran escala del detector final, que está ubicado en el Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, en el Pirineo Aragonés.
L'experiment NEXT és un dels més innovadors en la recerca de la desintegració doble beta sense neutrins, i aquesta troballa donaria amb la resposta a una de les quèstions més importants de la física en els últims anys: és el neutrí la seua pròpia antipartícula? O dit d'una altra manera, és una partícula de Majorana? Per açò NEXT fa ús d'una TPC (Time Projection Chamber) plena de gas xenó enriquit a alta presió, i amb dos plànols de fotosensors, un a cada extrem. El primer d'ells està format per PMTs (Photo Multiplier Tube), que arrepleguen la llum generada pel xenó quan ocorre un esdeveniment, i mesuren l'energía d'aquest. El segon consisteix en una matriu de SiPMs (Silicon PhotoMultipliers) que permeten reconstruir tridimensionalment la traça d'aquest esdeveniment. El conjunt de tots dos plànols de fotosensors atorga a l'experiment NEXT un gran rebuig a esdeveniments de fons, la qual cosa marca la diferència amb altres experiments a la recerca de la desintegració doble beta sense neutrins. A més, els SiPMs so'n una tecnología de recent aparició que en l'actualitat està evolucionant a grans passos per a, en un futur, desplaçar als fotomultiplicadors clàssics. Per això l'estudi d'aquests fotosensors part pràcticament des de zero, ja que no hi ha aplicacions prèvies del seu ús com a pixel-tracking, i ha permés obrir un nou camí en els detectors de física, tant d'alta com de baixa energia. Aquesta tesi doctoral té com a objectiu l'estudi i diseny de l'electrònica involucrada en el plànol de reconstrucció de traces, i que involucra en menor mesura donar solució a problemes tècnics d'aspecte mecànic. Partint dels sensors situats dins del detector, els SiPMs, fins a les targetes de front-end, s'inclouen diversos elements de la cadena; com són les targetes emprades com a suport per als SiPMs a l'interior de la càmera, les quals han de complir rigoroses mesures de radioactivitat i degasificació. També s'ha disenyat el cablejat tant intern com extern, fent èmfasi en aconseguir la major relació possible senyal-soroll; i el passamurs específic per al plànol de reconstrucció de traces, el qual ha resolt a baix cost el problema d'extraure quasi 4000 línies des de la zona de xenó a alta presió fins a l'exterior. Finalment, un dels elements més importants d'aquesta cadena i en el qual es centra principalment aquesta tesi, és la targeta de front-end. Partint de l'experiència adquirida del primer prototip de l'experiment, NEXT-DEMO, s'ha perfeccionat una electrònica capaç de tractar, integrar i adquirir les senyals de tots els SiPM del plànol de reconstrucció de traces, permetent la seua posterior adquisició i processament mitjançant un sistema basat en l'estructura ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture). Tots els elements disenyats han sigut muntats i engegats en el detector NEW, un prototip a gran escala del detector final, que està situat en el Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, al Pirineu Aragonés.
Rodríguez Samaniego, J. (2017). Study and design of the front-end and readout electronics for the tracking plane in the NEXT experiment [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/86285
TESIS

The High-luminosity upgrade of the LHC will deliver the dramatic increase in luminosity required for precision measurements and to probe Beyond the Standard Model theories. At the same time, it will present unprecedented challenges in terms of pileup and radiation degradation. The CMS experiment is set for an extensive upgrade campaign, which includes the replacement of the current Tracker with another all-silicon detector with improved performance and reduced mass. One of the most ambitious aspects of the future Tracker will be the ability to identify high transverse momentum track candidates at every bunch crossing and with very low latency, in order to include tracking information at the L1 hardware trigger stage, a critical and effective step to achieve triggers with high purity and low threshold. This thesis presents the development and the testing of the CMS Binary Chip 2 (CBC2), a prototype Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) for the binary front-end readout of silicon strip detectors modules in the Outer Tracker, which also integrates the logic necessary to identify high transverse momentum candidates by correlating hits from two silicon strip detectors, separated by a few millimetres. The design exploits the relation between the transverse momentum and the curvature in the trajectory of charged particles subject to the large magnetic field of CMS. The logic which follows the analogue amplification and binary conversion rejects clusters wider than a programmable maximum number of adjacent strips, compensates for the geometrical offset in the alignment of the module, and correlates the hits between the two sensor layers. Data are stored in a memory buffer before being transferred to an additional buffer stage and being serially read-out upon receipt of a Level 1 trigger. The CBC2 has been subject to extensive testing since its production in January 2013: this work reports the results of electrical characterization, of the total ionizing dose irradiation tests, and the performance of a prototype module instrumented with CBC2 in realistic conditions in a beam test. The latter is the first experimental demonstration of the Pt-selection principle central to the future of CMS. Several total-ionizing-dose tests highlighted no functional issue, but observed significant excess static current for doses < 1 Mrad. The source of the excess was traced to static leakage current in the memory pipeline, and is believed to be a consequence of the high instantaneous dose delivered by the x-ray setup. Nevertheless, a new SRAM layout aimed at removing the leakage path was proposed for the CBC3. The results of single event upset testing of the chip are also reported, two of the three distinct memory circuits used in the chip were proven to meet the expected robustness, while the third will be replaced in the next iteration of the chip. Finally, the next version of the ASIC is presented, highlighting the additional features of the final prototype, such as half-strip resolution, additional trigger logic functionality, longer trigger latency and higher rate, and fully synchronous stub readout.

Dans le cadre de cette thèse, la conception, la construction et la mise en service de la plateforme de test LEETECH ont été réalisées. La performance de LEETECH, y compris le mode de fonctionnement à faible multiplicité a été démontrée. En fournissant des paquets d’électrons avec une énergie ajustable jusqu’à 3.5 MeV, une multiplicité ajustable à partir d’électrons simples et une durée des paquets jusqu’à 20ps, LEETECH prend sa place entre les faisceaux tests de hautes énergies et de coûts élevés d’un part et l’utilisation de sources radioactifs d’autre part. Dans la région, qui correspond à la particule d’ionisation minimale, la plateforme offre aux détecteurs de traces les conditions similaires aux celles de faisceaux des hautes énergies. Le mode de fonctionnement à faible multiplicité a été étudié en utilisant un détecteur diamant de grande surface. En plus une capacité d’un capteur diamant de résoudre des paquets à faible nombre des particules a été démontrée. Dans le cadre du développement de la chambre à projection temporelle (TPC) pour le projet ILC, une session de test a été dédiée à un détecteur Micromegas/InGrid de large surface. Pour la première fois les pertes d’énergie par un électron dans un mélange de gaz basée sur Helium ont été mesurées pour une énergie de quelques MeV. La résolution en dE/dx et un algorithme pour la reconstruction de traces ont été développés. Une caractérisation préliminaire du quartz barre lu par MCPPMT – un candidat pour le détecteur temps-de- vol (TOF) avec la mission de l’identification des hadrons chargés dans le futur usine tau-charm HIEPA – a été accomplie. La résolution temporelle de 50 ps obtenue pour le détecteur étudié met cette technologie prometteuse pour les études plus approfondies
Within the present thesis the design, construction and commissioning of a new test beam facility LEETECH have been performed. Performance of the new facility, including low-multiplicity operation mode has been demonstrated. A number of interesting detector tests, including large-area diamond, Micromegas/InGrid and quartz bar detectors have been performed. Development of new detector technologies for future high-energy physics collider experiments calls for selection of versatile test beam facilities, permitting to choose or adjust beam parameters such as particles type, energy and beam intensity, are irreplaceable in characterization and tests of developed instruments. Major applications comprise generic detector R&D, conceptual design and choice of detector technologies, technical design, prototypes and full-scale detector construction and tests, detector calibration and commissioning. A new test beam facility LEETECH (Low Energy Electron TECHnique) was designed, constructed and commissioned in LAL (Orsay) as an extension of existing PHIL accelerator. Providing electron bunches of adjustable energy (up to 3.5 MeV), intensity (starting from a few particles per bunch) and bunch time duration (down to 20 ps), LEETECH fills the gap between high-cost high-energy test beam facilities and use of radioactive sources. Covering a minimum-ionization particles region (electrons of energy above 1.6 MeV), LEETECH provides for tracking detectors similar conditions as high-energy facilities. Using LEETECH as an electron source, several types of detectors were investigated in order to study their performance or applications, also providing a characterization of the LEETECH performance. First studies of the LEETECH facility were performed with a plastic scintillator coupled to the Micro-channel plate photomultiplier. A low-multiplicity mode was investigated using the diamond sensor, at the same time demonstrating its ability to resolve bunches consisting of a few particles. In framework of Time Projection Chamber development for the ILC project, a session dedicated to a large-area Micromegas/InGrid module was performed. For the first time the electron energy losses in Helium-based gas mixtures were measured for the energies of few MeV. The dE/dx resolution was obtained and track reconstruction algorithm was developed. Being a candidate for the time-of- flight detector of the BESIII upgrade and future HIEPA tau-charm factories, a preliminary characterization of the quartz bar performed. The time resolution of the detector module of 50 ps was obtained, giving a promising results for the further detector studies

In modern medicine, the measurement of electrophysiological signals play a key role in health monitoring and diagnostics. Electrical activity originating from our nerve and muscle cells conveys real-time information about our current health state. The two most common and actively used techniques for measuring such signals are electrocardiography (ECG) and electroencephalography (EEG).

These signals are very weak, reaching from a few millivolts down to tens of microvolts in amplitude, and have the majority of the power located at very low frequencies, from below 1 Hz up to 40 Hz. These characteristics sets very tough requirements on the electrical circuit designs used to measure them. Usually, measurement is performed by attaching electrodes with direct contact to the skin using an adhesive, conductive gel to fixate them. This method requires a clinical environment and is time consuming, tedious and may cause the patient discomfort.

This thesis investigates another method for such measurements; by using a non-contact, capacitively coupled sensor, many of these shortcomings can be overcome. While this method relieves some problems, it also introduces several design difficulties such as: circuit noise, extremely high input impedance and interference. A capacitively coupled sensor was created using the bottom layer of a printed circuit board (PCB) as a capacitor plate and placing it against the signal source, that acts as the opposite capacitor plate. The PCB solder mask layer and any air in between the two acts as the insulator to create a full capacitor. The signal picked up by this sensor was then amplified by 60 dB with a high input impedance amplifier circuit and further conditioned through filtering.

Two measurements were made of the same circuit, but with different input impedances; one with 10 MΩ and one with 10 GΩ input impedance. Additional filtering was designed to combat interference from the main power lines at 50 Hz and 150 Hz that was discovered during initial measurements. The circuits were characterized with their transfer functions, and the ability to amplify a very low-level, low frequency input signal. The results of these measurements show that high input impedance is of critical importance for the functionality of the sensor and that an input impedance of 10 GΩ is sufficient to produce a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 9.7 dB after digital filtering with an input signal of 25 μV at 10 Hz.

Quantum entanglement and superposition, in addition to revealing interesting physics in their own right, can be harnessed as computational resources in a machine, enabling a range of algorithms for classically intractable problems. In recent years, experiments with small numbers of qubits have been demonstrated in a range of solid-state systems, but this is far from the numbers required to realise a useful quantum computer. In addition to the qubits themselves, quantum operation requires a host of classical electronics for control and readout, and current techniques used in few-qubit systems are not scalable. This thesis presents a series of techniques for control and readout of solid-state qubits, working towards scalability by integrating classical control with the quantum technology. Two techniques for reducing the footprint associated with readout of gallium arsenide spin qubits are demonstrated. Gate electrodes, used to define the quantum dot, are also shown to be sensitive state detectors. These gate-sensors, and the more conventional Quantum Point Contacts, are then multiplexed in the frequency domain, where three-channel qubit readout and ten-channel QPC readout are demonstrated. Two types of superconducting devices are also explored. The loss in superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators is measured, and a suppression of coupling to the parasitic electromagnetic environment is demonstrated. The thesis also details software for the simulation of Josephson-junction based circuits including features beyond what is available in commercial products. Finally, an architecture for managing control of a scalable machine is proposed where classical components are distributed throughout a cryostat and cryogenic switches route control pulses to the appropriate qubits. A simple implementation of the architecture is demonstrated that incorporates a double quantum dot, a gallium arsenide switch matrix, frequency multiplexed readout, and cryogenic classical computation.

Cette thèse porte sur la conception d'un circuit intégré CMOS pour l'électronique de lecture de capteurs bolométriques à base de semiconducteurs ou supraconducteurs haute-température. Dans ce manuscrit, une chaîne de traitement du signal est étudiée. Elle est composée d'un amplificateur différentiel à gain fixé pour des températures de 40 à 400K, ainsi que d'un filtre de fréquence passe-bas actif à haute dynamique. Une architecture optimale d'amplificateur est définie sans contre-réaction, permettant d'atteindre une large bande passante (17MHz pour un gain de 40dB), une consommation réduite (Iq = 2mA) et une haute impédance d'entrée. Afin de fixer le gain avec précision dans la structure CMOS, deux méthodes différentes sont présentées et vérifiées sur un circuit intégré. Par la suite, le comportement des filtres dans la bande d'atténuation est étudié afin d'augmenter la fréquence de coupure maximale. Deux structures avec une faible influence des éléments actifs « réels » sont conçues: le filtre Sallen-Key amélioré et la structure basée sur un convoyeur du courant CCII-. Enfin, nous présentons un CCII- intégré en CMOS ayant une très faible impédance de sortie.

This thesis presents the development of integrated readout electronics for diode type microbolometers and development of external camera electronics for microbolometers. The developed readout electronics are fabricated with its integrated 160x120 resolution FPA (Focal Plane Array) in the XFAB SOI-CMOS 1.0 &mu
m process. The pixels in the FPA have 70 &mu
m pixel pitch, and they are sensitive in the 8&ndash
12 &mu
m band of the infrared spectrum. Each pixel has 4 serially connected diodes, and diode turn on voltage changes as the temperature of the suspended and thermally isolated pixel increases due to the absorbed infrared power. Suspension of the pixels is obtained with a post-CMOS MEMS etching process, but this process requires no critical litography and/or deposition steps. This dramatically reduces the detector process cost, which makes this microbolometer FPA suitable for ultra low-cost applications such as automobile, security, and commercial applications. The readout electronics of the FPA include digital blocks such as timing and programming blocks as well as analog blocks such as a differential trans-conductance amplifier, a switched capacitor integrator, a sampleand- hold, and current DACs. This new readout design has reduced number of pins to simplify the external electronics and allows wafer-level vacuum packaging compared to the 128x128 FPA developed in a previous study at METU with the same approach. Both of these features further decrease the cost. Two kinds of external camera electronics are developed for two SOI type microbolometers. The first one is for the 128x128 SOI microbolometer previously designed in METU. The developed external camera electronics have 1.5mVrms noise, which is much less than the microbolometer noise. The overall system has an average NETD of 465 mK and a peak NETD of 320mK. The second developed external camera electronics are for the 160x120 SOI microbolometers that developed in the scope of this thesis. The developed external camera electronics has 0.55mVrms noise which is much less than the bolometer noise which is 5mVrms. The overall system has an average NETD of 820 mK and a peak NETD of 350 mK. Each of these external camera electronics include a custom designed PCB, an FPGA board with appropiate configurion and a software working on a PC. The custom designed PCB holds the external components for the microbolometer, an FPGA takes and processes the bolometer data and it sends to a PC, and a PC processes these data and forms a streaming video. These two external camera electronics allow to obtain human images verifying that the developed microbolometers can be used for security and automotive applications.

Questa tesi si riferisce principalmente al lavoro di design, sviluppo, produzione e validazione di una nuova scheda PCIe, chiamata Pixel-ROD (Pixel Read Out Driver), come naturale prosecuzione della precedente serie di schede di readout, oggi montate nel Pixel Detector di ATLAS. In modo particolare, questa scheda è stata pensata come evoluzione per l’elettronica off-detector presente ad ATLAS, la quale è principalmente composta da schede VME, conosciute come Back Of Crate (BOC) e Read Out Driver (ROD). Inoltre, tutte le schede ROD sono state commissionate e disegnate dal Laboratorio di Progettazione Elettronica dell’INFN e del DIFA a Bologna. Il progetto della scheda Pixel-ROD è cominciato due anni fa, poichè il trend generale per l’evoluzione dell’elettronica off-detector di LHC è quello di abbandonare la più vecchia interfaccia VME, per passare a quelle più nuove e veloci (come il PCIe). Inoltre, poichè i rivelatori di ATLAS e CMS saranno accomunati dallo stesso chip di readout che interfaccerà i futuri Pixel Detector, la Pixel-ROD potrebbe essere usata non solo per l’evoluzione di ATLAS ma anche per altri esperimenti. La caratteristica principale della Pixel-ROD è la possibilità di utilizzo sia come scheda di readout singola, sia in una catena reale di acquisizione dati, che si interfaccia con dispositivi di terze parti. Il lavoro che ho svolto in questa tesi si concentra principalmente sul design, lo sviluppo e l’ottimizzazione della scheda prima della sua fabbricazione. Dopo questa fase, utilizzando i prototipi prodotti, mi sono concentrato sul lavoro di test e validazione dei singoli componenti e delle singole interfacce montate sulla scheda. Questa fase non è ancora terminata e richiede molto tempo per essere svolta, a causa della complessità dell’elettronica che è presente sulla Pixel-ROD.

In the context of an intensive upgrade plan for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in order to provide proton beams of increased luminosity, a revision of the data readout electronics of the Liquid-Argon-Calorimeter of the ATLAS detector is scheduled. This is required to retain the efficiency of the trigger at increased event rates despite its fixed bandwidth. The focus lies on the early digitization and finer segmentation of the data provided to the trigger. Furthermore, there is the possibility to implement new energy reconstruction algorithms which are adapted to the specific requirements of the trigger. In order to constitute crucial design decisions, such as the digitization scale or the choice of digital signal processing algorithms, comprehensive simulations are required. High trigger efficiencies are decisive at it for the successful continuation of the measurements of rare StandardModel processes as well as for a high sensitivity to new physics beyond the established theories. It can be shown that a significantly improved resolution of the missing transverse energy calculated by the trigger is achievable due to the revised segmentation of the data. Various energy reconstruction algorithms are investigated in detail. It can be concluded that these will facilitate reliable trigger decisions for all expected working conditions and for the whole possible energy range.

I started my Ph.D. at the Physics Department of the Universit`a degli Studi di Milano in November 2014. I carried out my research activity within the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, mainly focusing on the upgrade of the ATLAS Liquid Argon (LAr) electromagnetic calorimeter Phase-I trigger electronics. The main topic of my doctoral project is the implementation of VHDL firmware for the Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) of the new calorimeter trigger electronics. I spent the first of the three Ph.D. years working in Milano and the last two years at CERN, supported by a contract awarded from the ATLAS LAr calorimeter group. During the three years of activity, I contributed to the development and maintenance of the FPGA readout firmware for the LAr Phase-I demonstrator system, set up and installed in the ATLAS detector during summer 2014. The purpose of the system is to validate the energy reconstruction and collect real collision data using a pre-prototype of the future front-end and back-end electronics. In addition, I joined the group working on the firmware development for the FPGAs of the new Phase-I back-end boards. I was asked to be in charge of the firmware module for decoding the Timing Trigger and Control (TTC) signals coming from the LHC central trigger processor.

The aim of this thesis is to present a solution for the readout of Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) arrays improving currently implemented systems. Using as a starting point previous designs with similar objectives a novel current mode input stage has been designed and tested. To start with the design a valid model has been used to generate realistic output from the SiPMs depending on light input. Design has been performed in first place focusing in general applications for medical imaging Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and then using the same topology for a more constrained design in particle detectors (upgrade of Tracker detector at LHCb experiment). A 16 channel ASIC for PET applications including the novel input stage has demonstrated an excellent timing measurement with good energy resolution measurement and pile-up detection. This document starts with the analysis of the requirements needed to fit such a system, followed by a detailed description of the input stage and analog processing. Signal is divided in the input stage into three different signal paths: timing, energy and pileup. Every channel performs different signal analysis to deliver; a fast time signal output (digital edge), energy output (a linear time over threshold digital output) and a digital bit to signal pile-up. The time information is then ORed between all channels to generate a single timing output. All the pile-up bits are combined in a digital word ready to be readout for the 16 channels. Design has been optimized for reduced power consumption and no components needed to interface inputs and outputs. Digital slow control to tune the circuit behaviour is also included. The prototype measurements have proved to be a valid option for integration in a full system scanner. An adapted prototype of the input stage using different technology and adapted to the different constraints from a particle detector is also presented. Only simulation results are available since device is still under production. An analysis of the different requirements needed by the SciFi tracker design is summarized. Current specifications are still evolving since final sensor is still not defined, but other requirements and some tunable elements permits to design such prototypes.
L’objectiu d’aquesta tesi és presentar una solució per a la lectura de matrius de fotomultiplicadors de silici (SiPM) millorant les característiques de sistemes actuals. Amb aquesta finalitat s’ha dissenyat i provat el circuit d’una nova etapa d’entrada. En primer lloc s’ha dissenyat pensant en aplicacions genèriques i per a imatge mèdica, concretament per a escàners PET (Positron Emission Tomography). Però més endavant s’aplica la mateixa topologia per a una aplicació més concreta i específica com és un detector de partícules (l’actualització del Tracker a l’experiment LHCb). Els SiPM són uns dispositius electrònics relativament nous amb la possibilitat de comptar fotons i millorant algunes característiques dels sensors actuals, com serien la tensió d’operació més baixa, més guany o immunitat a camps magn`etics, mentre manté unes prestacions excel•lents respecte el guany, resolució temporal i rang dinàmic. Aquest tipus de dispositius es troben en constant evolució encara i una gran varietat de fabricants intenten millorar les prestacions, sobretot respecte la eficiència en la detecció de llum, reduir el corrent d’obscuritat, construir matrius més grans i augmentar l’espectre al qual són sensibles. En aquest document es presenta el disseny d’un circuit integrat específic amb les següents característiques: gran rang dinàmic, alta velocitat, multicanal, amb entrada en corrent i baixa impedància d’entrada, baix consum, control de la tensió de polarització del SiPM i amb les sortides de; temps, càrrega i apilament.

El Laboratori d'Altes Energies de La Salle és un membre d'un grup acreditat per la Generalitat. Aquest grup està format per part del Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria de la Facultat de Física de la Universitat de Barcelona, part del departament d'Electrònica de la mateixa Facultat i pel grup de La Salle. Tots ells estan involucrats en el disseny d'un subdetector en l'experiment de LHCb del CERN: el SPD (Scintillator Pad Detector).

El SPD és part del Calorímetre de LHCb. Aquest sistema proporciona possibles hadrons d'alta energia, electrons i fotons pel primer nivell de trigger. El SPD està format per una làmina centellejeadora de plàstic, dividida en 600 cel.les de diferent tamany per obtenir una millor granularitat aprop del feix. Les partícules carregades que travessin el centellejador generaran una ionització del mateix, a diferència dels fotons que no la ionitzaran. Aquesta ionització, generarà un pols de llum que serà recollit per una WLS que està enrotllada dins de les cel.les centellejadores. La llum serà transmesa al sistema de lectura mitjançant fibres clares. Per reducció de costos, aquestes 6000 cel.les estan dividides en grups, usant MAPMT (fotomultiplicadors multiànode) de 64 canals per rebre la informació en el sistema de lectura. El senyal de sortida dels fotomultilplicadors és irregular degut al baix nivell de fotoestadística, uns 20-30 fotoelectrons per MIP, i degut també a la resposta de la fibra WLS, que té un temps de baixada lent. Degut a tot això, el processat del senyal, es realitza primer durant la integració de la càrrega total i finalment per la correcció de la cua que conté el senyal provinent del PMT.

Aquesta Tesi està enfocada en el sistema de lectura de l'electrònica del VFE del SPD. Aquest, està format per un ASIC (dissenyat pel grup de la UB) encarregat d'integrar el senyal, compensar el senyal restant i comparar el nivell d'energia obtingut amb un llindar programable (fa la distinció entre electrons i fotons), una FPGA que programa aquests llindars i compensacions de cada ASIC i fa el mapeig de cada canal rebut en el detector i finalment usa serialitzadors LVDS per enviar la informació de sortida al trigger de primer nivell. En el disseny d'aquest tipus d'electrònica s'haurà de tenir en compte, per un costat, restriccions de tipus mecànic: l'espai disponible per l'electrònica és limitat i escàs, i per un altre costat, el nivell de radiació que deurà suportar és considerable i s'haurà de comprobar que tots els components superin un cert test de radiació, i finalment, també s'haurà de tenir en compte la distància que separa els VFE dels racks on la informació és enviada i el tipus de senyal amb el que es treballa en aquest tipus d'experiments: mixta i de poc rang.
El Laboratorio de Altas Energías de la Salle es un miembro de un grupo acreditado por La Generalitat. Este grupo está formado por parte del departamento de Estructura i Constituents de la Matèria de la Facultad de Física de la Universidad de Barcelona, parte del departamento de Electrónica de la misma Facultad y el grupo de La Salle. Todos ellos están involucrados en el diseño de un subdetector en el experimento de LHCb del CERN: El SPD (Scintillator Pad Detector).
El SPD es parte del Calorímetro de LHCb. Este sistema proporciona posibles hadrones de alta energía, electrones y fotones para el primer nivel de trigger.El SPD está diseñado para distinguir entre electrones y fotones para el trigger de primer nivel. Este detector está formado por una lámina centelleadora de plástico, dividida en 6000 celdas de diferente tamaño para obtener una mejor granularidad cerca del haz. Las partículas cargadas que atraviesen el centelleador generarán una ionización del mismo, a diferencia de los fotones que no la generarán. Esta ionización generará, a su vez, un pulso de luz que será recogido por una WLS que está enrollada dentro de las celdas centelleadoras. La luz será transmitida al sistema de lectura mediante fibras claras. Para reducción de costes, estas 6000 celdas están divididas en grupos, utilizando un MAPMT (fotomultiplicadores multiánodo) de 64 canales para recibir la información en el sistema de lectura. La señal de salida de los fotomultiplicadores es irregular debido al bajo nivel de fotoestadística, unos 20-30 fotoelectrones por MIP, y debido también a la respuesta de la fibra WLS, que tiene un tiempo de bajada lento. Debido a todo esto, el procesado de la señal, se realiza primero mediante la integración de la carga total y finalmente por la substracción de la señal restante fuera del período de integración.
Esta Tesis está enfocada en el sistema de lectura de la electrónica del VFE del SPD. Éste, está formado por un ASIC (diseñado por el grupo de la UB) encargado de integrar la señal, compensar la señal restante y comparar el nivel de energía obtenido con un umbral programable (que distingue entre electrones y fotones), y una FPGA que programa estos umbrales y compensaciones de cada ASIC, y mapea cada uno de los canales recibidos en el detector y finalmente usa serializadores LVDS para enviar la información de salida al trigger de primer nivel. En el diseño de este tipo de electrónica se deberá tener en cuenta, por un lado, restricciones del tipo mecánico: el espacio disponible para la electrónica en sí, es limitado y escaso, por otro lado, el nivel de radiación que deberá soportar es considerable y se tendrá que comprobar que todos los componentes usado superen un cierto test de radiación, y finalmente, también se deberá tener en cuenta la distancia que separa los VFE de los racks dónde la información es enviada y el tipo de señal con el que se trabaja en este tipo de experimentos: mixta y de poco rango.
Laboratory in La Salle is a member of a Credited Research Group by La Generatitat. This group is formed by a part of the ECM department, a part of the Electronics department at UB (University of Barcelona) and La Salle's group. Together, they are involved in the design of a subdetector at LHCb Experiment at CERN: the SPD (Scintillator Pad Detector).
The SPD is a part of LHCb Calorimeter. That system provides high energy hadrons, electron and photons candidates for the first level trigger.
The SPD is designed to distinguish electrons and photons for this first level trigger. This detector is a plastic scintillator layer, divided in about 6000 cells of different size to obtain better granularity near the beam. Charged particles will produce, and photons will not, ionisation on the scintillator. This ionisation generates a light pulse that is collected by a Wavelength Shifting (WLS) fibre that is twisted inside the scintillator cell. The light is transmitted through a clear fibre to the readout system.
For cost reduction, these 6000 cells are divided in groups using a MAPMT of 64 channels for receiving information in the readout system. The signal outing the SPD PMTs is rather unpredictable as a result of the low number of photostatistics, 20-30 photoelectrons per MIP, and the due to the response of the WLS fibre, which has low decay time. Then, the signal processing must be performed by first integrating the total charge and later subtracting to avoid pile-up.
This PhD is focused on the VFE (Very Front End) of SPD Readout system. It is performed by a specific ASIC (designed by the UB group) which integrates the signal, makes the pile-up compensation, and compares the level obtained to a programmable threshold (distinguishing electrons and photons), an FPGA which programs the ASIC thresholds, pile-up subtraction and mapping the channels in the detector and finally LVDS serializers, in order to send information to the first level trigger system.
Not only mechanical constraints had to be taken into account in the design of the card as a result of the little space for the readout electronics but also, on one hand, the radiation quote expected in the environment and on the other hand, the distance between the VFE electronics and the racks were information is sent and the signal range that this kind of experiments usually have.