Characterization results and first applications of KLauS - an ASIC for SiPM charge and fast discrimination readout

KLauS is an ASIC produced in the AMS 0.35μm SiGe technology to read out the charge signals from silicon photomultipliers. Developed as an analog front end for future calorimeters with high granularity as pursued by the AHCAL concept in the CALICE collaboration, the ASIC is supposed to measure the charge signal of the sensors in a large dynamic range and with a high precision. In order to compensate bias and temperature fluctuations of each sensor individually, an 8-bit DAC to tune the voltage at the input terminal is implemented. Using an integrated fast comparator with low jitter, the time information can be measured with sub-nanosecond resolution. The low power consumption of the ASIC can be further decreased using power gating techniques. Future versions of KLauS are under development and will incorporate an ADC with a resolution of up to 12 bit together with blocks for digital data transmission. Most recent characterization results for the KLauS chip are presented as well as results from a KLauS-based test setup developed for mass characterization of scintillator tiles used in the AHCAL test beam program.