By Center for Functional Nanomaterials Brookhaven
The Instrumentation Department’s Signal Processing and Electronics Group covers all aspects of detector system and electronic readout chain design and development. Our strength comes from the proximity with which we work alongside Department detector scientists, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designers, and data acquisition (DAQ) engineers to fulfill the unique requirements that our electronics must satisfy. This integrated approach is critical for modern instrumentation systems, in which the specifications for different aspects are deeply interlinked. Our Capabilities - Collaboration with scientists to define measurement phenomena for a variety of signal sources, including photons, electron clouds resulting from radioactive decay, and electrons ionized by scattered neutrons - Modeling and simulation of detector-readout systems to optimize the analog-signal transfer function, analog-to-digital converter sampling rate, digital signal processing filtering, and power consumption - Selection of materials and components best suited for each detector - Development of interconnection methods, such as wire and bump bonding - Evaluation of possible failure modes—for example, aging and electrostatic discharge—and methods to guarantee performance over expected detector lifetimes
