University of Milano

Department of Physics and INFN

HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE LOW-NOISE

PREAMPLIFICATION OF NUCLEAR
SIGNALS
A. Pullia, F. Zocca, C. Boiano, R. Bassini, S. Riboldi, D. Maiocchi

Department Conference “Highlights in Physics 2005” October 14, 2005

 AGATA: an Advanced GAmma-ray Tracking Array

AGATA detector array

 40 cm

 Proposed for high resolution γ-ray spectroscopy with exotic beams

 Employing highly segmented HPGe detectors, newly developed
pulse-shape analysis and tracking methods
 The new nuclear experiments with exotic beams pose
challenging requirements to the front-end electronics

HPGe segmented detector

charge preamplifier
RF

Core From
detector CF
Second
segment stage
Anti-
alias ADC

Background of
energetic Segments
particles
charge loop
 10 cm

Individual highly energetic events

or bursts of piled-up events could
easily cause ADC SATURATION
and introduce a significant Besides having a LOW NOISE,
SYSTEM DEAD TIME an extremely HIGH DYNAMIC
RANGE is required !
 New mixed reset Ideal non-saturated

technique:
output without
pulsed-reset Saturated
output without
continuous + pulsed pulsed-reset

ADC overflow voltage level

Preamplifier output with

continuous-reset (50s Output with
decay time constant) pulsed-reset

A pulsed-reset mechanism could

An ADC overflow condition
permit a fast recovery of the
would saturate the system
output quiescent value, so
for a long while
minimizing the system dead time
 Implemented mixed reset technique:
a time-variant charge preamplifier
Circuit architecture: fast de-saturation of the 2nd stage

Cold part of Warm part of

preamplifier preamplifier

1st stage 2nd stage 3rd stage

1 Output

-1 /Output
From Charge loop Passive P/Z Amplification
detector

Capacitance to
be discharged
to de-saturate
2nd stage
Discharge
De-saturation current
Schmitt trigger From
comparator
circuitry ADC OVR
(optional)

Noise is not at risk as no new path is connected to the input node !

 1st stage output voltage swing
The realized pulsed-reset technique does not act on the 1st stage and so
can’t “protect” it against saturation

The architecture of the 1st stage has been studied

to provide a large output voltage swing ( 10 V) and
so to a prevent a risk of an overflow condition

Signal acquired at 1st stage output… …and at preamplifier output

 Triple AGATA segment preamplifier on
alumina substrate (Mod. “PB-B1 MI” – Milano)
MDR26 connectors

Top
view

PZ
trimmers

Bottom
view

Segment Segment
preamplifiers Core preamplifiers
preamplifier
Mechanical dimensions:
57x56x5 mm
 Action of pulsed-reset device

In a first approximation, a directly Curve (1)-(10) = from 5 to 50 MeV

proportional relationship exists Curve (11) = 100 MeV
between the pulsed-reset time T
and the event energy ET 4

11

dET I  CF 3 10
 
9
I 8

Amplitude [V]
dT C q C 5
6
7
2 4
3

I = reset current 2
1
 = 55 mV/MeV (1st stage conversion gain)
1
C = 2nd stage capacitance (to be discharged)
0
CF = feedback capacitance 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Ψ = 2.92 eV/pair (for HPGe) Time [µs]

Es: CF=1pF, C=4.7nF, I=2mA dET / dT = 7.8 MeV/μs

Event energy = 100 MeV : Reset time  13μs !

 Detailed analysis of the reset transient
Passive P/Z stage: pole  P  C  R1  R2 
superposition theorem :
 t
P
1) large signal: v01 ( t )  H e
 t
P
2) tail of previous events: v02 ( t )  h e
3) reset current:
  t 
v03 ( t )   I R1  R2  1  e  P 
 

sum of the three contributions:

expression of the reset transient
 t
VPZ ( t )  h  H  I R1  R2  e P
 I R1  R2
for t  0, T 

by equating to zero at t=T, we derive

the relationship between the total
signal amplitude and the reset time :

H  h  I R1  R2  e  P  1 
 T

 
 “Reset time-energy” relationship
If we convert the voltage amplitudes H and h in the equivalent energies Es
and Ec (by using the conversion gain ), we obtain the relationship
T = reset time
 T P  ET = equivalent total energy subjected to reset
ET  E S  EC   R1  R2   e
I
 1
   ES = energy of the large signal
EC = equivalent energy of the tail of previous
signals

We can expand the exponential term with

no loss of accuracy since T<<τP :
I I
ET  E S  EC  T T 2  ...
C 2  C P
I I
ES  T T 2  ...  EC
C 2  C P

large signal energy Es estimated from the

reset time T and the tail contribution Ec
Energy estimate of a large individual event
from the measurement of the reset time

I I
ES  T T 2  ...  EC
C 2 C  P

Contribution of the tail

of previous events

E S  b1T  b2T 2  k1 V1  V2   EO

ES = energy of the individual large event

T = reset time
V1 , V2 = pre- and post-transient baselines
b1 , b2 , k1 , E0 = fitting parameters
Tests of the large-signal
measurement technique
performed with a
prototype of the circuit
and a bulky HPGe reset device

detector
(Padova, July 2004)

A spectroscopy-grade pulser injects a

large pulse at the preamplifier input

A 60Co source provides a background of

lower events which destroys the large
signal resolution if no correction is made
 Measurement of large pulses from reset time
* ES = equivalent energy release
ES  b1T  b2T  k1 V1  V2   EO
2
T = reset time
b1, b2, k1, E0 = fitting parameters

Rate of 60Co events = 32 kHz V1, V2 = pre- and post-pulse baselines

Rate of 60Co
Resolution @ 10 MeV
background
in Ge (FWHM)
events
1 kHz 0.26 %
2 kHz 0.32 %
4 kHz 0.30 %
8 kHz 0.37 %
16 kHz 0.57 %
32 kHz 0.56 %

Measurement performed at Padova with HPGe detector (courtesy of D. Bazzacco and R. Isocrate)
Zocca, ”A new low-noise preamplifier for g-ray sensors with smart device for large signal management”, Laurea
*F.

Degree Thesis, University of Milano, October 2004 (in Italian). See http://topserver.mi.infn.it/mies/labelet_iii/download_file/capitolo6.doc
Extending the energy range by reconstruction of
the large signals from reset time

122 keV

344 keV
+ pulser
1408 keV

2.02 keV fwhm

Extended range

Energy range in
normal mode ~ 2MeV
 Future developments

 Tests of the pulsed-reset device with a triple

AGATA preamplifier coupled to an AGATA HPGe
segmented detector

 Tests of the large-signal measurement technique

when applied to measure the energy of real highly
energetic events (photons or energetic particles in
the 10-50 MeV range)