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Characterization of FEEWAVE, a low-power waveform digitizer ASIC with 15-ps time resolution

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Abstract

Purpose

FEEWAVE is a chip with a waveform digitizer based on a switched capacitor array (SCA). A SCA uses capacitor arrays to store waveforms and exhibits low-power consumption and high time resolution performance. However, the limitations of the chip manufacturing process induce sampling interval and digitization deviations between different cells, which affects the performance of the chip.

Methods

Calibration was performed on the SCA sampling part on the FEEWAVE chip to obtain more accurate digitized output and time intervals between the sampling cells. Experiments were carried out according to the proposed amplitude and time calibration methods, and the time resolution of the chip was further improved by a fitting algorithm.

Results and conclusion

Through the calibration algorithm, the time resolution of the SCA sampling part of the chip reached 9.0 ps after calibration. In the self-test of the electronics time performance, the time measurement after leading-edge fitting and calibration was approximately 12.3 ps. In the joint test with silicon photomultiplier detectors, the time resolution of the SCA part was low and comparable to the resolution of the oscilloscope after calibration algorithm and waveform fitting.

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Acknowledgements

The FEEWAVE chip mentioned in this work was designed on the basis of the previous version of the waveform sampling chip, which was realized by the JUNO cooperation of the Institute of High Energy, Tsinghua University, and University of Science and Technology of China. This work was supported by the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO)—the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA10010200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11505205), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y201905).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19B Yuquan Rd, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China

    Yu-sheng Wang, Jia-yi Ren, Wei Wei, Jie Zhang, Pei-ran Ye, Xiao-shan Jiang & Zheng Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics of China, 19B Yuquan Rd, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China

    Yu-sheng Wang, Wei Wei, Jie Zhang, Pei-ran Ye, Xiao-shan Jiang & Zheng Wang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Rd, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China

    Yu-sheng Wang & Pei-ran Ye

  4. Spallation Neutron Source Science Center, Zhongziyuan Road, Dalang, Dongguan, 523803, China

    Jia-yi Ren

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  1. Yu-sheng Wang
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Correspondence to Jia-yi Ren.

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Wang, Ys., Ren, Jy., Wei, W. et al. Characterization of FEEWAVE, a low-power waveform digitizer ASIC with 15-ps time resolution. Radiat Detect Technol Methods 7, 410–417 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41605-023-00400-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41605-023-00400-5

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