Gain calibration of n-XYTER 1.0 - a prototype readout ASIC for the silicon tracking system of the CBM experiment

n-XYTER is a 128-channel readout ASIC which measures both the integral signal charge and the time of occurance. Due to its self-triggering design, high gain, high rate capability and bipolar front-end, the chip has found a use as a prototype readout for the Silicon Tracking System, Muon and Cherenkov detectors of the CBM experiment. It is also going to be applied in other projects in Darmstadt, Heidelberg and Dubna. To perform gain calibration of n-XYTER, reference charge pulses of a very small (down to 3000 e-), yet precisely known amplitude had to be generated. This was achieved by attenuating a voltage step to a sub-millivolt level and passing it through a tiny (1 pF) capacitor. Special care had to be taken to check for possible systematic errors in the measurements of the attenuation factor and of the coupling capacitance. In addition, the system had to be well shielded against RF pickup, the parasitic capacitances had to be minimized and ensured to stay invariable. Correct estimate of the systematic error was confirmed by performing a measurement with a different signal source - a planar silicon detector, exposed to γ-radiation of 241Am. Finally, the dominating error came from the channel-to-channel gain variation.