A method to correct differential nonlinearities in subranging analog-to-digital converters used for digital γ-ray spectroscopy

The influence on γ-ray spectra of differential nonlinearities (DNL) in subranging, pipelined analog-to-digital converts (ADCs) used for digital γ-ray spectroscopy was investigated. The influence of the DNL error on the γ-ray spectra, depending on the input count-rate and the dynamic range has been investigated systematically. It turned out that the DNL becomes more significant in γ-ray spectra with larger dynamic range of the spectroscopy system. An event-by-event offline correction algorithm was developed and tested extensively. This correction algorithm works especially well for high dynamic ranges.