Highly integrated readout electronics were developed and produced for the 182 000 channels of the four TPCs of the NA49 heavy-ion fixed target experiment at the CERN SPS. The large number of channels, the high packing density and required cost minimization led to the choice of a custom electronics system. The requirements, the design and the performance of the electronics components are described.
A fully integrated CMOS pulse shaping amplifier has been developed at LBL. All frequency dependent networks are included on the chip. Provision is made for tuning to compensate for process variations. The overall architecture and details of the circuitry are discussed. Test results are presented. >