NALU SCIENTIFIC, LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 29b

Description

In this project Nalu Scientific will design, develop, and make commercially available the “AODS”, a fast measurement tool to readout high speed signals generated by particles in particle and high energy physics experiments. Detection of individual charged particles and photons and estimation of their properties, momentum, and direction of arrival is the basis for a wide range of scientific and commercial applications from high-energy, nuclear and astro- physics to medical imaging and diagnosis and LIDAR. We are targeting the data acquisition market for medium to large scientific experiments in the energy or intensity frontiers. These complex experiments require hundreds to thousands of recording channels capable of fast data acquisition and signal processing. The AODS allows for timing resolutions on the order of 100s of picoseconds, which will translate to highly accurate estimates of charged particles and their tracks. This requires design and development of custom electronic equipment to highly integrate functionality and performance and bring the cost per channel down. Low cost, low power designs are especially attractive for experiments with thousands of recording channels. We propose to design and make commercially available the “AODS”: a low-cost, low-power and high density waveform sampling chip capable of analog signal conditioning, fast waveform sampling, and integrated readout with high dynamic range mode and signal processing. The AODS device will also have calibration and monitoring circuitry in addition to a deep sampling buffer making it suitable for large Particle Physics and High Energy Physics experiments with potentially long trigger delays. Design and development of the advanced AODS is built by (i) enhanced integration of the readout ASIC with the transmission line bearing the signal and redesigning the analog input stage for increased bandwidth and linearity, (ii) seamless integration of analog input with the sampling cells and subsequently the storage cells, (iii) increasing Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) by increasing sampling resolution through optimizing the digitizing comparators, and (iv) extreme care in the design of the timebase circuit stability. This device can be used by scientists in high energy and nuclear physics experiments for fast analog data acquisition. It also has applications in high end general purpose instrumentations and medical/PET imaging, as well as automotive and remote sensing (self-driving vehicles) applications with LIDAR. We anticipate the ability to sell the device as an OEM manufacturer, provide associated design services or license it to a larger device manufacturer due to the low cost and low power nature of the design which will give us a competitive edge.