Nuclear Science and Techniques

Abstract: A novel front-end circuit designed for PMT signals processing considering the solution of “Time Walk” correction is discussed in this paper. We are trying to apply the TOT (Time over Threshold) technique to our research. Different from traditional ways, where amplitude is measured, time width is measured for slew correction here, which takes the advantage of TDC. Expensive fast ADCs are abandoned and the whole time measurement electronics design becomes more effective and economical. Test boards have been developed and a convenient method is introduced to evaluate our TOT technique. Results have shown that a 10ps slew correction resolution is achieved throughout the amplitude range from -108mV to -2000mV for negative signals of both 5 ns leading and trailing edge with 10 ns 50%-50% pulse width.

Key words: Time over threshold, Time measurement, Slew correction, PMT, HPTDC, Variable thresholds discrimination