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-mm by 4.7-mm silicon substrate. It is designed for use in the straw based central tracking system of the SDC detector. Competing requirements for short measurement time (≈5 ns), good double pulse resolution (≈20 ns), low power (≈15 mW/channel), and low operational threshold (≈1 fC) lead 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