A 32-channel front-end ASIC for GEM detectors used in beam monitoring applications

A multichannel, mixed-signal, front-end ASIC for GEM detectors, intended for beam monitoring in hadron therapy applications, has been designed and prototyped in a standard 0.35 mu m CMOS technology. The analog channels are based on the classic CSA + shaper processing chain, followed by a peak detector which can work as an analog memory, to simplifiy the analog-to-digital conversion of the peak voltage of the output pulse, proportional to the energy of the detected event. The available hardware resources include an 8-bit A/D converter and a standard-cell digital part, which manages the read-out procedure, in sparse or serial mode. The ASIC is self-triggered and transfers energy and address data to the external DAQ via a fast 100 MHz LVDS link. Preliminary characterization results show that the non-linearity error is limited to 5% for a maximum input charge of about 70 fC, the measured ENC is about 1400(-) and the time jitter of the trigger signal generated in response to an injected charge of 60 fC is close to 200 ps.