A Charge-Sensitive Amplifier Associated with APD or PMT for Positron Emission Tomography Scanners

to be presented at the 32nd International Convention MIPRO (Microeectronics, Electronics, and Electronic Technology (MEET)), Opatija, Croatia, May 25-29 2009We present a Charge-Sensitive Amplifier (CSA) to be coupled with a 511-KeV 2-photon detector for positron emission tomography scanners. The circuit has been designed to be associated with an Avalanche Photodiode (APD) or Photo-Multiplier Tube (PMT) with large capacitance. It is a two-stage structure. The input stage consists of a foldedcascode fully-differential part and a common-mode feedback (CMFB) circuit. The output stage employs complementary source followers. The amplifier has been designed in a 0.35μm BiCMOS process with optimization of noise and speed performances to meet specific constraints. Its main characteristics evaluated by post-layout simulations are: 70-dB DC gain, 4.6-GHz GBW, 20-ns peaking time for pulsed stimulus, 3900-electron equivalent input noise charge (ENC), 135-mW power consumption at 3.5 V supply