GERO: a general SCA-based readout ASIC for micro-pattern gas detectors with configurable storage depth and on-chip digitizer

The paper presents GEneral ReadOut (GERO), a general readout ASIC based on a switched capacitor array for micro-pattern gas detectors. It aims at providing general readout electronics for low-to-medium event-rate gas detectors with high sampling frequency, configurable storage depth, and data digitalization. The first prototype GERO chip integrates 16 channels and was fabricated using a 0.18-µm CMOS process. Each channel consists of a sampling array working in a ping-pong mode, a storage array with a 1024-cell depth, and 32 Wilkinson analog-to-digital converters. The detailed design and test results are presented in the paper.

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