TARGET: A multi-channel digitizer chip for very-high-energy gamma-ray telescopes

Abstract

The next-generation very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observatory, the Cherenkov Telescope Array, will feature dozens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs), each with thousands of pixels of photo-sensors. To be affordable and reliable, reading out such a mega-channel array requires event recording technology that is highly integrated and modular, with a low cost per channel. We present the design and performance of a chip targeted to this application: the TeV Array Readout with GSa/s sampling and Event Trigger (TARGET). This application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) has 16 parallel input channels, a 4096-sample buffer for each channel, adjustable input termination, self-trigger functionality, and tight window-selected readout. We report the performance of TARGET in terms of sampling frequency, power consumption, dynamic range, current-mode gain, analog bandwidth, and cross talk. The large number of channels per chip allows a low cost per channel ($\10 to $\20 including front-end and back-end electronics but not including photosensors) to be achieved with a TARGET-based IACT readout system. In addition to basic performance parameters of the TARGET chip itself, we present a camera module prototype as well as a second-generation chip (TARGET~2), both of which have been produced.

16 pages, 15 figures, version 3 (matches version published in Astroparticle Physics)

References in corpus (5)

• Design Concepts for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Wide field aplanatic two-mirror telescopes for ground-based gamma-ray astronomy
• The first version Buffered Large Analog Bandwidth (BLAB1) ASIC for high luminosity collider and extensive radio neutrino detectors
• The readout system of the MAGIC-II Cherenkov Telescope
• VERITAS Data Acquisition

Cited by in corpus (23)

• A 15 GSa/s, 1.5 GHz Bandwidth Waveform Digitizing ASIC
• Analysis techniques and performance of the Domino Ring Sampler version 4 based readout for the MAGIC telescopes
• Detection of the Crab Nebula with the 9.7 m Prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope
• Neutrino mass hierarchy determination and other physics potential of medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation experiments
• MACHETE: A transit Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope to survey half of the Very High Energy $\gamma$-ray sky
• TARGET 5: a new multi-channel digitizer with triggering capabilities for gamma-ray atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes
• Letter of Intent: The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE)
• Development of a SiPM Camera for a Schwarzschild-Couder Cherenkov Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Characterisation and Testing of CHEC-M - a camera prototype for the Small-Sized Telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Invited Article: miniTimeCube
• Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• An overdetermined linear equations-based time calibration method for fast sampling ASICs
• Characterization of SiPM Optical Crosstalk and its Dependence on the Protection-Window Thickness
• Expression of Interest: The Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE)
• TARGET: toward a solution for the readout electronics of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• CTC and CT5TEA: an advanced multi-channel digitizer and trigger ASIC for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes
• A Time-to-Digital Converter-based Correction Method for Charge Measurement through Area Integration
• Testing of Front-End Readout Prototype ASICs Designed for WCDA in LHAASO
• Silicon Photomultiplier Camera for Schwarzschild-Couder Cherenkov Telescopes
• FIPSER: Performance Study of a Readout Concept With Few Digitization Levels for Fast Signals
• Construction of a Medium-Sized Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: Implementation of the Cherenkov-Camera Data Acquisition System
• Prototype of a transient waveform recording ASIC
• The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array