A DIGITAL FRONT-END AND READOUT MICROSYSTEM FOR CALORIMETRY AT LHC - THE FERMI PROJECT

We present a digital solution to the front-end electronics for calorim etric detectors at future supercolliders based on high speed A/D conve rters, a fully programmable pipeline/digital filter chain and local in telligence. Questions of error correction, fault-tolerance and system redundancy are also considered. A system integration of a multichannel device in a multichip, Silicon-on-Silicon Microsystem hybrid will be used. This solution allows a new level of integration of complex analo g and digital functions, with an excellent flexibility in mixing techn ologies for the different functional blocks. This type of VLSI multich ip integration allows a high degree of programmability at both the fun ction and the system level, and offers the possibility of customizing the microsystem with detector-specific functions.