Design and characterization of the PREC (Prototype Readout Electronics for Counting particles)

The design, tests and performance of a novel, low noise, acquisition system-the PREC (Prototype Readout Electronics for Counting particles) is presented in this article. PREC is a system developed using discrete electronics for particle counting applications using RPCs (Resistive Plate Chamber) detectors. PREC can, however, be used with other kind of detectors that present fast pulses, e.g. Silicon Photomultipliers. The PREC system consists in several Front-End boards that transmit data to a purely digital Motherboard. The amplification and discrimination of the signal is performed in the Front-End boards, making them the critical component of the system. In this paper, the Front-End was tested extensively by measuring the gain, noise level, crosstalk, trigger efficiency, propagation time and power consumption. The gain shows a decrease with the working temperature and an increase with the power supply voltage. The Front-End board shows a low noise level (<= 1.6 mV at 3 sigma level) and no crosstalk is detected above this level. The s-curve of the trigger efficiency is characterized by a 3 mV gap from the region where most of the signals are triggered to almost no signal is triggered. The signal transit time between the Front-End input and the digital Motherboard is estimated to be 5.82 ns. The maximum power consumption is 3.372 W for the Motherboard and 3.576 W and 1.443 W for each Front-End analogue circuitry and digital part, respectively.