A 2D imager for X-ray FELs with a 65 nm CMOS readout based on per-pixel signal compression and 10 bit A/D conversion

L. Ratti, D. Comotti, L. Fabris, M. Grassi, L. Lodola, P. Malcovati, M. Manghisoni, V. Re, G. Traversi, C. Vacchi, G. Rizzo, G. Batignani, S. Bettarini, G. Casarosa, F. Forti, M. Giorgi, F. Morsani, A. Paladino, E. Paoloni, L. PancheriG. F. Dalla Betta, R. Mendicino, G. Verzellesi, H. Xu, M. A. Benkechkache

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

A readout channel for applications to X-ray diffraction imaging at free electron lasers has been developed in a 65 nm CMOS technology. The analog front-end circuit can achieve an input dynamic range of 100 dB by leveraging a novel signal compression technique based on the non-linear features of MOS capacitors. Trapezoidal shaping is accomplished through a transconductor and a switched capacitor circuit, performing gated integration and correlated double sampling. A small area, low power 10 bit successive approximation register (SAR) ADC, operated in a time-interleaved fashion, is used for numerical conversion of the amplitude measurement. Operation at 5 MHz of the analog channel including the shaper was demonstrated. Also, the channel was found to be compliant with single 1 keV photon resolution at 1.25 MHz. The ADC provides a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 56 dB, corresponding to an equivalent number of bits (ENOB) of 9 bits, and a differential non linearity DNL<1 LSB at a sampling rate slightly larger than 1.8 MHz.

Funding

The research activity presented in this paper has been carried out in the framework of the PixFEL experiment funded by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN).

FundersFunder number
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare

    Keywords

    • CMOS technologies
    • Low noise amplifiers
    • Low power ADC
    • Non-linear circuits
    • X-ray imaging

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