A NOVEL ASIC FOR READOUT ELECTRONICS IN SEMICONDUCTOR GAMMA-RAY DETECTION

A low-power low-noise multichannel integrated circuit is implemented i n 1.2 mu m CMOS technology. This circuit is designed for space gamma-r ay spectrometer using arrays of CdTe radiation detectors in the 20-750 keV range. The space environment needs rad-tolerant specifications fo r the technology like 20 krad of total integrated dose and consumption limited to 2 mW/channel. Each channel includes a low-noise charge-sen sitive preamplifier, fitted band-pass filters, peak amplitude and rise -time measurements; these enable a remote rise-time corrected gamma-ra y energy spectral analysis. The circuit includes an associated logic b lock, dedicated to the internal timing, functional organization, exter nal communication and data transfer.