A fast multichannel analyzer for radiation detection applications

Author

Lima, Herman P., Jr. ; Guedes, Germano P. ; Barbosa, Ademarlaudo F. ; Seixas, Jose M.

Author_Institution

CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Volume

53

Issue

2

fYear

2004

fDate

4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

378

Lastpage

383

Abstract

This work reports on the development of a multichannel analyzer (MCA) circuit for use in radiation detection. The MCA is based on a fast analog-to-digital converter (ADC) plus a digital circuitry programmed on a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). The ADC digitizes the input signals with high accuracy and low nonlinearity while the CPLD performs the histogramming process of the acquired voltage amplitudes. The MCA basic operations are carried on by a logic state machine implemented in the CPLD, triggered by a 20-MHz clock. This approach has allowed us to reduce the circuit dead time to 200 ns. Other performance parameters are related to the used ADC chips. Results are shown that illustrate competitive results as compared to commercially available MCAs.

Keywords

analogue-digital conversion; nuclear electronics; position sensitive particle detectors; programmable logic devices; pulse height analysers; radiation detection; 20 MHz; 200 ns; ADC; CPLD; MCA; analog-to-digital converter; complex programmable logic device; discriminator; fast multichannel-analyzer; histogramming; logic state machine; multichannel analyzer; position-sensitive detector; radiation detection; voltage amplitudes; Analog-digital conversion; Clocks; Data acquisition; Logic devices; Microprocessors; Position sensitive particle detectors; Programmable logic devices; Radiation detector circuits; Radiation detectors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIM.2003.822721

Filename

1284868