Title :
Design of Low-Noise High-Gain CMOS Transimpedance Amplifier for Intelligent Sensing of Secondary Electrons
Author :
Joon Huang Chuah ; Holburn, David
Author_Institution :
Dept. of EngineeringElectrical Eng. Div., Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Abstract :
This paper presents a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) which was optimized for detecting very weak signals generated for microscopy imaging in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). This high-performance TIA was designed using a nomograph approach. The TIA was constructed and fabricated in an Austriamicrosystems 0.35-μm CMOS technology. The circuit, connected to an integrated photodiode with a junction capacitance of 10 pF, exhibited a transimpedance gain of 107.3 dBQ, a bandwidth of 12.5 MHz, an input-referred noise of 3.54 × 10-12 A/√Hz, and an SNR of 8, which manifested that the design is suitable for integration into a multipixel CMOS photon detector to perform intelligent sensing of secondary electrons in the SEM.
Keywords :
CMOS analogue integrated circuits; intelligent sensors; low noise amplifiers; operational amplifiers; photodetectors; photodiodes; scanning electron microscopy; capacitance 10 pF; integrated photodiode; intelligent sensing; junction capacitance; low-noise high-gain CMOS transimpedance amplifier; microscopy imaging; multipixel CMOS photon detector; scanning electron microscope; secondary electrons; size 0.35 mum; transimpedance gain; Bandwidth; CMOS integrated circuits; Capacitance; Noise; Photodiodes; Transistors; CMOS; Low-noise; high-gain; noise minimisation; nomograph; optimization; scanning electron microscope; secondary electron sensing; transimpedance amplifier;
Journal_Title :
Sensors Journal, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/JSEN.2015.2452934
