====== Short history ======

[ __[[vlsi:home|Home]]__ ]

First microelectronics activities in Turin started in the early '90s with contributions 
of the //[[Giancarlo Bonazzola]]//'s group to the development of the front-end electronics
chip named **FABRIC** [1] devoted to the readout of the silicon strips of the **NA50** experiment at CERN.
The first chip prototype entirely designed using local resources only, named **TOA16** (a 16 channels 
chip for the read out of silicon microstrip detectors for particle tracking) has been produced in 1994.
Systematic design activities began in 1995 with the development of the front-end electronics for the //Silicon Drift Detector (SDD)// of the **ALICE (A Large Ion Collider
Experiment)** apparatus at CERN and of the electronics for //medical dosimetry// within the **TERA** hadrontherapy foundation.






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**References** \\


====== FABRIC and CPD  ======


FABRIC chip (Wladyslaw Dabrowsk, Giancarlo Bonazzola)

   * full-custom bipolar bipolar process by Tektronix 
   * 64 channels (one channel per strip)
   * binary readout
   * analog amplification/shaping + DISC (hit/no hit) 


CPD (Clock Driven Pipeline) chip (Joel DeWitt) [2]

   * CMOS 
   * RAM-based digital readout for FABRIC outputs  


//Design and testing of fast, low-power, low-noise amplifier-comparator VLSI circuits// 1992


//Radiation hardness measurements on components of a full custom bipolar process// 1993 \\



[1] //Fast bipolar front-end for binary readout of silicon strip detectors// 1993   \\
W. Dabrowski, G. Bonazzola, P. De Remigis, P. Giubellino   \\
[[http://cds.cern.ch/record/261878/files/ppe-94-055.pdf]]


[2] //A pipeline and bus interface chip for silicon strip detector read out// 1993 \\
J. DeWitt   \\
[[http://www.researchgate.net/publication/224271964_A_Pipeline__Bus_Interface_Chip_For_Silicon_Strip_Detector_Read-out]]



//A fast high-granularity silicon multiplicity detector for the NA50 experiment at CERN//



//Radiation damage of silicon strip detectors in the NA50 experiment//


//DEVELOPMENT OF THE SILICON MULTIPLICITY DETECTOR FOR THE NA50 EXPERIMENT AT CERN//

====== The OLA chip ======

Technology: SHPi full-custom bipolar process by Tektronix



//OLA, A low-noise bipolar amplifier for the readout of silicon drift detectors// 1995 \\
W. Dabrowski, W. Bialas, G. Bonazzola, V. Bonvicini, F. Ceretto, P. Giubellino, M. Idzik,
M. Prest, L. Riccati, N. Zampa


//Low-noise monolithic bipolar front-end for silicon drift Detectors// 1999   \\
W. Bialas, G. Bonazzola, W. Bonvicini, L. Casati, F. Ceretto, P. Giubellino, 
M. Prest, L. Riccati and N. Zampa 





//Design and operation of a fast high-granularity silicon detector system in a high-radiation environment// 1998



====== TERA 1.0 ======

[[http://totlxl.to.infn.it/NewSite/vlsi_chip.html]]

   * CMOS 1.8 um technology
   * 14 channels

Several version of the ASIC have been already designed and used since 1996.

//Performances of a VLSI wide dynamic range current-to-frequency
converter for strip ionisation chambers// 1997   \\
G. Bonazzola, R. Cirio, M. Donetti, F. Marchetto, G. Mazza, C. Peroni and A. Zampieri \\

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Last update: [[pacher@NOSPAMto.infn.it|Luca Pacher]] - Jul 23, 2014
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