Introduction

Charge Sensitive Amplifiers (CSA) are used as front-end interfaces in every system where the information is represented by a charge delivered by a sensor. In such systems, the fidelity of the information through the transmission chain, is mostly demanded to the performances of this first stage. The presented invention, discloses a solution aimed to the optimization of the CSA in terms of Equivalent Noise Charge (ENC), reducing the noise contribution coming from undesired electrical parasitism inside the device.

Technical features

The proposed solution allows to optimize the noise performance in terms of Equivalent Noise Charge (ENC), and reliability of Charge Sensitive Amplifiers (CSA) realized in integrated technologies (CMOS, BiCMOS or BCD) by means of the reduction of the noise contribution coming from parasitic capacitances present inside the device itself, without the need for any modification in the technologic process. The disclosed intention allows an additional improvement of the detection system, thanks to the possibility of increasing the conversion gain (voltage/charge) of the CSA, with respect to the available solutions.

The implementation is most suitable for those systems that make use of low capacity detectors, such as Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs), or pixelated detectors.

Possible Applications

• Instrumentation for nuclear and particle physics experiments (synchrotron, accelerators, etc.);
• Instrumentation for astrophysics research;
• Medical and scientific instrumentation for radiography and X-γ spectroscopy.

Advantages

• Reduction of the preamplifier ENC, with consequent improvement of the energy and timing resolution of systems in which the preamplifier is integrated;
• Applicable on standard CMOS low-cost technologies, used for production of CSAs.