A low-noise preamplifier to perform a derivative of photogenerated signals
is proposed. The novel structure is based on an inductive feedback preampli
fier which performs preamplification and a derivative of the photogenerated
current in a single stage. A breadboard circuit implementation and noise m
easurements are presented. Comparative noise measurements show that the pro
posed architecture is competitive with the classical differentiator preampl
ifier (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)01004-7].