An Analog-to-Digital Converter Module with Signal Shape Digitization for the VES Experiment

Abstract—

A 32-channel 12-bit ADC-32ATC analog-to-digital conversion module with signal shape digitization at 40 MHz, which was been developed for the VES experiment at the U-70 accelerator, is presented. The analog shapers for this module, the measurement methods, the data-processing techniques, and the experience gained in using this module in the VES experiment are described. The module is intended to register single pulses with a stable shape or a linear combination of a few such pulses with positive coefficients. It can be used for calorimeters, as well as for Cherenkov and scintillation counters, in fixed-target experiments in high-energy physics.

THE LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

(VES) vertex spectrometer is the experiment with a fixed target on the U-70 accelerator, which operates on the secondary beam of negatively charged pions with a momentum of 29 GeV/c;

(ADC) analog-to-digital converter;

(SADC) sampling ADC;

(IADC) integrating ADC;

(FPGA) field programmable gate array, one of the possible programmable logic architectures;

(CPU) central processor unit;

(DDR SDRAM) double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory;

(DDR2 SDRAM) DDR SDRAM version 2;

(DMA) direct memory access;

(EEPROM) electrically erasable programmable read-only memory;

(Flash ROM) flash read-only memory, one of the EEPROM types;

(GPIO) general purpose input/output, a general purpose signal;

(ECC) error correcting code;

(IRQ) interrupt request;

(JTAG) IEEE 1149.1 boundary scan interface;

(LAB) logic array block, a structural unit of a Cyclone III FPGA;

(SPI) serial peripheral interface;

(USB) universal serial bus;

(TDL) tapped delay line;

(MC) microcontroller;

(DAQ) data acquisition system;

(PLL) phase locked loop;

(EMC) electromagnetic calorimeter.