Damien Prêle, Manuel Gonzalez, L. Horacio Arnaldi, Si Chen, Bernard Courty, Eugenio Dambrauskas, Alain Givaudan, Maël Le Cam, Jean Lesrel, Michael Punch
KEYWORDS: Cryogenics, Time division multiplexing, Interference (communication), Frequency response, Analog electronics, Signal to noise ratio, Performance modeling, Feedback signals
The ATHENA space mission will be the next generation X-ray observatory. The X-ray integral field unit (X-IFU) is ATHENA’s cryogenic spectro-imager, observing the sky with thousands of superconducting microcalorimeters. The detectors are based on transition edge sensors (TES) in time-division multiplexing (TDM). A warm front-end electronics (WFEE) demonstrator model (DM) has been developed for the low noise biasing and readout of X-IFU’s cryogenic detection chain. After extensive testing, it has been delivered to the French space agency (CNES) for integration in the full detection chain DM. The WFEE DM is capable of reading out and biasing 8 TDM channels. Different configurations were chosen for some of the channels in order to find the best performance after testing of the whole demonstrator readout chain. Design and measured noise performances are discussed.
ATHENA will be ESA’s next generation X-ray space observatory. The X-ray integrated field unit (X-IFU) instrument will be ATHENA’s cryogenic spectro-imager. In this work, we present total ionizing dose (TID) tests performed on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed for X-IFU’s warm front-end electronics (WFEE). In particular, space environment ionizing particles could cause an increase of flicker noise, affecting the performances of such a detection chain readout. We present low frequency noise measurements of the main components of the WFEE (low noise amplifier and slow current DAC) and the effect of total ionizing dose (TID). Five ASICs were irradiated up to 200 krad with a 60Co source. We discuss the impact on the noise of such radiation effects beyond the life-time of a space mission as ATHENA.
In the context of the ATHENA X-ray space mission, the X-ray Integral Field Unit’s (X-IFU) Warm Front- End Electronics (WFEE) is a multichannel differential readout sub-system. As part of the verification of the performance several measurements are carried out, initially on the demonstrator model of X-IFU’s WFEE, and later for the production models. The transfer function from the 8 channels included in a demonstrator are measured, for excitation from a few tens of Hz up to 50 MHz. Over the same frequency range, the inter-channel coupling and cross-talk are measured at a level below −80 dB. We can also measure the power supply rejection ratio. For these purposes, a lock-in amplifier is used in differential mode, especially to extract the small crosstalk signals which are at the same frequency as the input excitation. We discuss the design of the demonstrator model, mitigating cross-talk, and our measurement of the residual coupling between differential channels.
KEYWORDS: Design, Digital electronics, Transceivers, Time division multiplexing, Transistors, Simulations, Application specific integrated circuits, Analog electronics, Amplifiers, Radiation effects
This paper gives a review of the ASIC design evolutions of the WFEE in the context of the ATHENA mission. The development follows the evolutions of the X-IFU instrument detection chain and secures the ASIC technology access continuity by using an ST SiGe 130 nm technology instead of the previous use of an AMS SiGe 350 nm node. First ASIC prototypes based on this ST 130 nm SiGe technology have been developed to answer these technical challenges and meet the new requirements. This paper will give a brief review of these ASICs dedicated to the WFEE.
KEYWORDS: Analog electronics, Power supplies, Cryogenics, Quantum reading, Time division multiplexing, Sensors, Quantum detection, Digital electronics, Resistors, Cosmic microwave background
CMB-S4 is the next generation, ground-based, cosmic microwave background (CMB) observatory. It is designed to explore the scientific potential contained in the CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies. The goal of CMB-S4 is to observe the mm sky with about 500,000 transition edge sensors (TES). These cryogenic detectors are read out using time division multiplexing (TDM). Two stages of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) are used at cryogenic temperatures for multiplexing and amplifying the signals coming from the TESs. This imposes stringent noise requirements to the electronics for readout. In this paper, we discuss the developments and the first tests of an analog front-end differential electronics daughter board. The board is based on an SiGe application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), the AwaXe v3, developed for the readout of ATHENA’s X-IFU instrument. It provides low-noise amplification (LNA) after the cryogenic multiplexer and supplies the low noise current biasing for the two SQUID stages and TESs. This front-end electronics is expected to improve the noise performances of the CMB-S4 readout chain and help moving towards a differential and compact design.
KEYWORDS: Field programmable gate arrays, Time division multiplexing, Sensors, Analog to digital converters, Clocks, Optimal filtering, Multiplexers, Detector arrays, X-rays, Signal processing
We are developing space-flight room-temperature readout electronics for the Line Emission Mapper (LEM) Microcalorimeter Spectrometer (LMS) of the LEM mission. The LEM mission is an x-ray probe mission designed to study the physics of galaxy formation. The LMS is optimized for low-energy (0.2 to 2 keV) x-ray emission from extremely diffuse gas. The detector is a hybrid transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter array with a 33′ outer array and a 7 ′ × 7 ′ inner subarray. The outer array consists of 12,736 square pixels on a square grid with a 290 μm pitch but in a close-packed hexagonal shape. The inner subarray consists of 784 TES sensors arranged in a square area in the center of the outer array with the same pixel pitch. The outer array uses a sensor with 2 × 2 thermal multiplexing known as “Hydra,” and the inner array consists of a single absorber per TES. The baselined readout technology for the 3968 TES sensors is time-division multiplexing (TDM), which divides the sensors into 69 columns × 60 rows. The components of the room temperature readout electronics are the three boxes of the warm front-end electronics (WFEE) and the six boxes of the digital electronics and event processor (DEEP). The WFEE is an interface between the cold electronics and the DEEP, and the DEEP generates signals for the TDM and processes x-ray events. We present the detailed designs of the WFEE and DEEP. We also show the estimated power, mass, and size of the WFEE and DEEP flight electronics. Finally, we describe the performance of the TRL-6 prototypes for the WFEE and DEEP electronics.
The X-IFU is one of the two instruments of the ESA ATHENA mission, offering an unprecedented high spectral resolution. In the detection and readout chain of the X-IFU, the first warm stage is the WFEE subsystem. It mainly includes low-noise amplifiers and current sources to read out and bias cryogenic stages. Based on the development of four previous versions of the ASICs dedicated to the WFEE, a new version has been recently developed to transfer analogue functions to a thinner SiGe technology node of 130 nm. This paper updates the development of this new ASIC.
The x-ray integral field unit (X-IFU) is one of the two instruments of ESA’s ATHENA space mission. It is a cryogenic x-ray spectro-imager with an unprecedented 2.5 eV resolution up to 7 keV. We present the development of the demonstrator model (DM) of X-IFU’s warm front-end electronics (WFEE). X-IFU will have around 2400 cryogenic micro-calorimeters divided into 72 time-division multiplexed (TDM) channels. The main functions of the WFEE are providing the biasing currents for the detectors and two SQUID stages and to amplify the SQUIDs output signals. Each channel requires 5 current sources (quasi-DC DACs) and a fully differential low-noise voltage amplifier (LNA). The DACs can be written and read via an I2C bus. The active component of the WFEE is the AwaXe ASIC, which was specifically designed for this project and integrates current DACs and LNAs for two TDM channels. The WFEE has also to provide housekeeping signals for power supply voltage, and on-chip ASIC temperature. Both, the final expected performances of the instrument and the general specifications of a space mission, impose strong requirements on the WFEE in terms of thermal stability, mechanical design, radiation hardness, raw performance and reliability. To validate some of these requirements, a demonstrator model of the WFEE is currently being developed to be integrated in a full readout chain for lab testing. In this paper we will discuss the PCB and mechanical assembly designs of the WFEE demonstrator model in preparation of the ATHENA space mission.
The X-IFU instrument is one of the payloads of the ESA ATHENA observatory, offering an unprecedented high spectral resolution of X-ray. In the readout chain of the X-IFU instrument, the first warm stage is the WFEE subsystem. It comprises low-noise amplifiers, current sources, a serial bus and housekeeping elements. Until now, three ASICs dedicated to this subsystem have been developed and fully characterised. They all use a 350 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The first version was to verify the feasibility of basic topologies and radiation robustness of the technology, that has already been reported in previous papers. Based on the results of the first version, the second version was for testing the low-noise amplifier, the serial bus and the thermometer and the third ASIC is a complete version integrating all the components of one WFEE FDM channel. This paper presents these two ASICs and their representative experimental results as an update on the WFEE microelectronics. Moreover, following the shift of the readout multiplexing scheme from FDM to TDM, a new version adapting to technical changes has also been developed and current manufacturing. It is discussed at the end of the paper.
The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) of the ATHENA space observatory is based on a 3 kilo-pixels array of superconducting micro-calorimeters, that is read out with the Warm Front-End Electronics (WFEE) and then followed by the Digital Readout Electronics (DRE) outside the cryostat. We have developed low-noise/lowdrift amplifiers for this readout as well as performed simulations and measured the noise, bandwidth, linearity, harmonic distortion and thermal drift. Here we are presenting a realistic model of these parameters. These characterizations and models of the WFEE are necessary in order to get a full ATHENA X-IFU readout chain simulator. Impact of the WFEE low-frequency noise and its limited bandwidth on the entire X-IFU detection chain in Time Domain Multiplexing will be introduced.
The X-IFU is one of the two instruments of the ESA ATHENA space mission, at present in feasibility phase (phase A). It is an X-Ray spectral imager designed to have an unprecedented 2.5 eV spectral resolution at 6 keV. In the readout chain of the X-IFU, the first stage working at room temperature is the WFEE subsystem, currently being developed at APC laboratory. It will include low-noise amplifiers, current sources, RS485/I2C digital interfaces and housekeeping elements. A first ASIC dedicated to this subsystem has been designed and tested. The basic functions of the main components of the WFEE and its radiation-hardened abilities have been evaluated. According to the measurement results, a second ASIC is being developed, aiming to comply with the WFEE requirements in the X-IFU readout chain.
The focal plane of the X-Ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument of the Advanced Telescope for High-Energy Astrophysics observatory is composed of 3840 microcalorimeters. These sensors, based on superconducting transition edge sensors (TES), are read out through a frequency multiplexer. A “base-band feedback” suppresses all the carriers of the multiplexed signal in the superconducting quantum interference devices input coil (cryogenic readout). However, the loop gain of this feedback is too small (less than 10 in the present baseline of the phase A mission) to strongly compensate the readout gain drifts. An onboard x-ray source is considered to calibrate the gain of the full instrument. However, in-flight calibration time must be minimized, which leads to a requirement on the gain stability larger than 10−4 over a long duration (between each calibration) to reach the challenging energy resolution goal of 2.5 eV at 6 keV of the X-IFU. A significant part of this gain is provided by a low-noise amplifier in the warm front-end electronics (WFEE). To reach such gain stability over more than a dozen minutes, this noncooled amplifier has to cope with the temperature and supply voltage variations. Moreover, mainly for noise reasons, a common large loop gain with feedback cannot be used. We propose a new amplifier topology using diodes as loads of a differential amplifier to provide a fixed voltage gain, independent of the temperature and of the bias fluctuations. This amplifier is designed using 350-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology and is part of an integrated circuit developed for the WFEE. Our simulations provide the expected gain and noise performances. Comparison with standard resistive loaded differential pair clearly shows the advantages of the proposed amplifier topology with a gain drift decreased by more than an order of magnitude. Performances of this diode loaded amplifier are discussed in the context of the X-IFU requirements.
The focal plane of the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument of the Athena observatory is composed of about 4000 micro-calorimeters. These sensors, based on superconducting Transition Edge Sensors, are read out through a frequency multiplexer and a base-band feedback to linearize SQUIDs. However, the loop gain of this feedback is lower than 10 in the modulated TES signal bandwidth, which is not enough to fix the gain of the full readout chain. Calibration of the instrument is planned to be done at a time scale larger than a dozen minutes and the challenging energy resolution goal of 2.5 eV at 6 keV will probably require a gain stability larger than 10-4 over a long duration. A large part of this gain is provided by a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA) in the Warm Front-End Electronics (WFEE). To reach such gain stability over more than a dozen minutes, this non-cooled amplifier has to cope with the temperature and supply voltage variations. Moreover, mainly for noise reasons, common large loop gain with feedback can not be used. We propose a new amplifier topology using diodes as loads of a differential amplifier to provide a fixed voltage gain, independent of the temperature and of the bias fluctuations. This amplifier is designed using a 350 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology and is part of an integrated circuit developed for the WFEE. Our simulations provide the expected gain drift and noise performances of such structure. Comparison with standard resistive loaded differential pair clearly shows the advantages of the proposed amplifier topology with a gain drift decreasing by more than an order of magnitude. Performances of this diode loaded amplifier are discussed in the context of the X-IFU requirements.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.