Optimum Design of DACs for Threshold Correction in Multichannel Processors for Radiation Detectors

Abstract

This work is intended to provide a set of guidelines for the design of digital-to-analog converters enabling the reduction of threshold dispersion in multichannel readout circuits for radiation detectors. The design criteria are first established through a theoretical approach and then confirmed by means of a simulation tool based on Monte Carlo methods. This latter tool provides a fast and flexible way to predict the performance of a DAC for threshold correction, also accounting for possible non-idealities, such as differential and integral non linearities and gain and offset errors. The proposed guidelines have been validated through simulations on front-end circuits for a real application, the silicon vertex tracker for the SuperB Factory, and through comparison with data available in the literature.