A fast, low power, amplifier-shaper-discriminator for high rate straw tracking systems

The ASD-8 is a bipolar integrated circuit that provides eight channels of amplifier, shaper and discriminator on a 2.8 by 4.7 mm silicon substrate. It was designed for use in the straw based Central Tracking System of the SDC detector. Competing requirements for short measurement time (∼ 5ns), good double pulse resolution (∼ 20ns), low power (∼ 15mW/channel), and low operational threshold (∼ line-integral C) led to the choice of a largely differential circuit that includes detector tail compensation. Tests of parts from a recent prototype run indicate excellent yield and stable operation with little or no internal crosstalk