Integrated Time-based Signal Processing Circuits for Harsh Radiation Environments

This project will lay the circuit foundations for radiation tolerant, time-based, analog signal processing to support the needs of future nuclear systems like thermonuclear fusion reactors (e.g. ITER) and high-energy physics experiments (e.g. HL-LHC), where the electronic front-ends will be exposed to extreme levels of radiation up to 1000 times higher than current commercial radhard components can handle. Progressively scaled CMOS technologies have shown potential for high radiation tolerance. Unfortunately their lower operating voltage reduces the dynamic range of the signals. Therefore, it has become more interesting to process signals in the time domain where the analog information is stored in the zero transitions of a signal. Their accurate processing now requires radiation tolerant low-jitter circuits with ps-accuracy. This project will deliver sub-ps time-to-digital conversion and 16-bit time-based sensor readout with the required extreme radiation tolerance to make this possible.

Keywords:ionizing radiation, radiation hardening, chip design, nanoelectronics, Phase-locked loop, Time-to-Digital Conversion, integrated circuits, CMOS

Disciplines:Modelling, Biological system engineering, Signal processing