A large associative memory system for the CDF level 2 trigger

Author

Bardi, A. ; Belforte, S. ; Cerri, A. ; Dell´Orso, M. ; Donati, S. ; Galeotti, S. ; Giannetti, P. ; Meschi, E. ; Morsani, F. ; Punzi, G. ; Ristori, L. ; Spinella, F.

Author_Institution

Ist. Nazionale di Fisica Nucl., Pisa, Italy

Volume

1

fYear

1998

fDate

1998

Firstpage

312

Abstract

A large Associative Memory system for on-line track reconstruction in a hadron collider experiment has been designed, prototyped and tested. This is the first such application of the Associative Memory concept and it is based on a full custom VLSI chip developed within this project. The Associative Memory is the heart of the Silicon Vertex Tracker, which is part of the Level 2 trigger of the CDF experiment, and is able to complete track finding in the CDF silicon vertex detector less then 1 μsec after detector readout is over. This system is a multi-board project running on a common 30 MHz clock, but critical parts multiply clock frequency to operate up to 120 MHz. The Associative Memory board architecture, design, implementation and test are described. The main characteristics of this project are the use of sophisticated clock distribution techniques and the high density of components

Keywords

VLSI; clocks; content-addressable storage; high energy physics instrumentation computing; semiconductor storage; silicon radiation detectors; trigger circuits; 30 to 120 MHz; CDF; Si; Si vertex detector; Silicon Vertex Tracker; VLSI chip; associative memory; clock distribution techniques; clock frequency; level 2 trigger; Associative memory; Clocks; Detectors; Frequency; Heart; Memory architecture; Prototypes; Silicon; System testing; Very large scale integration;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium, 1998. Conference Record. 1998 IEEE

Conference_Location

Toronto, Ont.

ISSN

1082-3654

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5021-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.1998.775151

Filename

775151