1. NIU Electronics' Group By Manuel I. Martin

2. NIU June 16, 20032 Long Term Goal Design a local DAQ system for the proposed DHC including the Front End electronics. Short Term Goal Design a Front End electronics (Pre Amplifier) suitable for running the “Catcher” and the HCAL in the test bean

3. NIU June 16, 20033 Preliminary Specifications Front End. –Preamplifier with sufficient bandwidth, dynamic range and S/N to be able to discriminate between dark current and 1MIP up to ~ 6MIP signals obtained from a SiPM Information Transfer –Be able to move selected events to the next level in few milliseconds (?). –Possibility of preliminary data manipulation. Zero suppression appears as a good candidate.

4. NIU June 16, 20034 Proposed Front End DIGITALCONVERSION Current Mirror Band Pass Amplifica tion Level Discriminators

5. NIU June 16, 20035 Challenges Front End. –The design is far from trivial –Need matched active elements –Parasitic Impedances are a real problem –It is a mixed technology circuit (Analog/Digital) –The design must be robust and inexpensive –The final implementation should (must) be in a chip handling multiple channels (minimum 16) Information Transfer –Choice of the proper interface between NICADD’s design and the Upper Level electronics.

6. NIU June 16, 20036 Design Cycle Preliminary design/analysis using SPICE models Build prototype and compare with SPICE predictions Tune-up design using powerful CAD tools capable to take into account parasitic and mixed technologies (Mentor Graphics) Transfer design to chip design (Mentor Graphics) Make short pre-production runs to compare theory with practice Tune-up design and be ready for production run To be able to successfully meet the challenges enumerated it will be necessary to follow a well structured design requiring special tools.

7. NIU June 16, 20037 Conclusions and Recommendations Because the design is complex and required complex tools, it is expected a relative steep learning curve. To accelerate the process, it is recommended to start with a simpler design which: –Uses some of the elements of the described pre-amplifier –Does not required stringed specifications –Can be designed/simulated using simpler SPICE driven tools –A working prototype can be built in short time These Recommendations will –Easy the learning curve of the complex CAD tools –Provide some early sense of accomplishment

8. NIU June 16, 20038 Conclusions and Recommendations After a lot of thought, the design of a current driver for a matrix of NxM LEDs whose light output could be easily controlled was chosen as the proper thing to do. Such design is also quite useful for testing and calibrating our own system. Dima and Tony will present the details for that design.