Integrated circuits-their characterization and use in experimental physics

Monolithic integrated circuits have made tremendous inroads into many areas of electronics during the past year. The purpose of this paper is to characterize some of the available circuits and to discuss the problems and the possible gains in applying them to instruments used in experimental physics. Toward this end, a series of instruments are described that have been designed and constructed and are in use at this laboratory. These include a 50 mc decade prescaler, a 10 mc systems-type decade scaler, a time interval counter, an integrating analog-digital converter, and a packaged data acquisition system with a tape perforator output. These instruments are examined with regard to economy and reliability of operation. Interfacing with existing experimental equipment is discussed and solutions to problems uniquely associated with the use of integrated circuits in physics experiments are defined.