Optimization of the front-end electronics of Drift Tube chambers for high-rate operation

Monitored Drift Tube (MDT) chambers account for the vast majority of precision tracking chambers in the Muon Spectrometer of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where they have to sustain unprecedentedly high background radiation. New, so-called sMDT chambers with reduced tube diameter have been developed for operation at even higher rates, expected after the upgrade of the LHC to high luminosities (HL-LHC). A new ASD chip is required for future upgrades of the MDT chamber front-end electronics and desirable for full exploitation of the rate capability of the sMDT chambers.