A 10MS/s 8-bit charge-redistribution ADC for hybrid pixel applications in 65m CMOS
The design and measurement results of an 8-bit SAR ADC, based on a charge-redistribution DAC, are presented. This ADC is characterized by superior power efficiency and small area, realized by employing a lateral metal–metal capacitor array and a dynamic two-stage comparator. To avoid the need for a highspeed clock and its associated power consumption, an asynchronous logic was implemented in a logic control cell. A test chip has been developed in a 65 nm CMOS technology, including eight ADC channels with different layout flavors of the capacitor array, a transimpedance amplifier as a signal input structure, a serializer, and a custom-made LVDS driver for data transmission. The integral (INL) and differential (DNL) nonlinearities are measured below 0.5 LSB and 0.8 LSB, respectively, for the best channel operating at a sampling frequency of 10 MS/s. The area occupies 40 μm 70 μm for one ADC channel. The power consumption is estimated as 4 μW at 1 MS/s and 38 μW at 10 MS/s with a supply rail of 1.2 V. These excellent performance features and the natural radiation hardness of the design, due to the thin gate oxide thickness of transistors, are very interesting for front-end electronics ICs of future hybrid-pixel detector systems. & 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

title: Test results of the Data Handling Processor for the DEPFET Pixel Vertex Detector
abstract: In the new Belle II detector, which is currently under construction at the SuperKEKB accelerator, a two layer pixel detector will be introduced to improve the vertex reconstruction in a ultra high luminosity environment. The pixel detector will be produced using the DEPFET technology. A new ASIC (Data Handling Processor or DHP) designed to steer the readout process, pre-process and compress the raw data has been developed. The DHP will be directly bump bonded to the balcony of the all-silicon DEPFET module. The current chip prototype has been produced in CMOS 90 nm. Its test results, including the data processing quality, the signal integrity of the gigabit transmission lines will be presented here. For the final chip, which will be produced using CMOS 65 nm, single event upset (SEU) cross sections were measured. An additional chip, containing memory blocks to be tested, was submitted and produced using this technology.

title: Search for nonpointing and delayed photons in the diphoton and missing transverse momentum final state in 8 TeV pp collisions at the LHC using the ATLAS detector
abstract: A search has been performed, using the full 20.3 fb(-1) data sample of 8 TeV proton-proton collisions collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, for photons originating from a displaced vertex due to the decay of a neutral long-lived particle into a photon and an invisible particle. The analysis investigates the diphoton plus missing transverse momentum final state, and is therefore most sensitive to pair production of long-lived particles. The analysis technique exploits the capabilities of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter to make precise measurements of the flight direction, as well as the time of flight, of photons. No excess is observed over the Standard Model predictions for background. Exclusion limits are set within the context of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models, with the lightest neutralino being the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decaying into a photon and gravitino with a lifetime in the range from 250 ps to about 100 ns.

title: A serial powering scheme for the ATLAS pixel detector at sLHC
abstract: Powering concepts, such as serial powering and DC-DC conversion, are in development for the silicon trackers at sLHC to achieve an efficient power distribution with a minimum volume of cables. This paper will describe the serial powering scheme developed for the upgraded ATLAS pixel detector, with focus on the scheme architecture and on the main components involved: the Shunt-LDO regulator and the protection scheme. Issues connected to system aspects will be discussed, and the advantages in terms of material reduction provided by the proposed serial powering scheme will be presented.

title: DMAPS: a fully depleted monolithic active pixel sensor—analog performance characterization
abstract: Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) have been developed since the late 1990s based on silicon substrates with a thin epitaxial layer (thickness of 10–15 μm) in which charge is collected on an electrode, albeit by disordered and slow diffusion rather than by drift in a directed electric field. As a consequence, the signal of these conventional MAPS is small (≈1000 e−) and the radiation tolerance is limited. In this paper, the development of a fully Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (DMAPS) based on a high resistivity substrate allowing the creation of a fully depleted detection volume is presented. This concept overcomes the inherent limitations of charge collection by diffusion in the standard MAPS designs. We present results from a prototype chip EPCB01 designed in a commercial 150 nm CMOS technology. The technology provides a thin (≈50 μm) high resistivity n-type silicon substrate as well as an additional deep p-well which allows to integrate full CMOS circuitry inside the pixel. Different matrix types with several variants of collection electrodes and pixel electronics have been implemented. Measurements of the analog performance of this first implementation of DMAPS pixels are presented.

title: Performance of a DEPFET prototype module for the ILC vertex detector
abstract: For the detection of secondary vertices of long lived bottom and charm quarks at the proposed International Linear Collider (ILC) a DEPFET pixel detector is one of the favored technology options. DEPFET pixel sensors, in which the amplifying transistor structure is contained in the pixel cell itself on a fully depleted bulk, are unique devices in terms of their large signal and low noise capability and their obtainable spatial resolution with very thin detectors. DEPFET pixel prototype modules with close to ILC specifications have been tested in the laboratory and, for the first time, in a 6 GeV electron test beam. The different noise sources have been calculated and compared with the measured value of ENC/spl ap/225 e/sup -/ for the entire readout chain.

title: Observations of Electromagnetically Coupled Dust in the Jovian Magnetosphere
abstract: We report on dust measurements obtained during the seventh orbit of the Galileo spacecraft about Jupiter. The most prominent features observed are highly time variable dust streams recorded throughout the Jovian system. The impact rate varied by more than an order of magnitude with a 5 and 10 hour periodicity, which shows a correlation with Galileo's position relative to the Jovian magnetic field. This behavior can be qualitatively explained by strong coupling of nanometer-sized dust to the Jovian magnetic field. In addition to the 5 and 10 h periodicities, a longer period which is compatible with Io's orbital period is evident in the dust impact rate. This feature indicates that Io most likely is the source of the dust streams. During a close (3,095 km altitude) flyby at Ganymede on 5 April 1997 an enhanced rate of dust impacts has been observed, which suggests that Ganymede is a source of ejecta particles. Within a distance of about 25 RJ(Jupiter radius, RJ= 71,492 km) from Jupiter impacts of micrometer-sized particles have been recorded which could be particles on bound orbits about Jupiter.

title: Jovian dust streams: A monitor of Io's volcanic plume activity
abstract: Streams of high speed dust particles originate from Jupiter's moon Io. After release from Io, the particles collect electric charges in the Io plasma torus, gain energy from the co-rotating electric field of Jupiter's magnetosphere, and leave the Jovian system into interplanetary space with escape speeds over 200 km s−1. The Galileo spacecraft has continuously monitored the dust streams during 34 revolutions about Jupiter between 1996 and 2002. The observed dust fluxes exhibit large orbit-to-orbit variability due to systematic and stochastic changes. After removal of the systematic variations, the total dust emission rate of Io has been calculated. It varies between 10−3 and 10 kg s−1, and is typically in the range of 0.1 to 1 kg s−1. We compare the dust emission rate with other markers of volcanic activity on Io like large-area surface changes caused by volcanic deposits and sightings of volcanic plumes.

title: Nuclear dependence of charm production
abstract: Using data taken by SELEX during the 1996–1997 fixed target run at Fermilab, we study the production of charmed hadrons on copper and carbon targets with Σ−, p, π−, and π+ beams. Parametrizing the dependence of the inclusive production cross section on the atomic number A as Aα, we determine α for D+, D0, Ds+, D+(2010), Λc+, and their respective anti-particles, as a function of their transverse momentum pt and scaled longitudinal momentum xF. Within our statistics there is no dependence of α on xF for any charm species for the interval 0.1<xF<1.0. The average value of α for charm production by pion beams is αmeson=0.850±0.028. This is somewhat larger than the corresponding average αbaryon=0.755±0.016 for charm production by baryon beams (Σ−, p).