A Single Chip Computational Sensor System for Neutron Detection Applications

Authors

Nathan R. Schemm, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Sina Balkir, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Michael Hoffman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Mark Bauer, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
David Schultz, Wright Patterson Air Force BaseFollow
James C. Petrosky, Air Force Institute of TechnologyFollow
John W. McClory, Air Force Institute of TechnologyFollow
Marcus Natta, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jennifer I. Brand, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jinke Tang, University of WyomingFollow
Wendong Wang, University of WyomingFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

7-2010

Citation

2010 IEEE

Comments

SCHEMM et al.: A SINGLE CHIP COMPUTATIONAL SENSOR SYSTEM FOR NEUTRON DETECTION APPLICATIONS 1227

Abstract

This paper presents the design and test results of a standalone computational radiation sensor system based on a single chip solution. A low-power sensor front end with a charge sensitive amplifier and an event driven analog-to-digital converter is integrated on the same chip as a dedicated microcontroller to process and bin the data from the neutron detector diode heterojunction according to pulse height. This combination effectively implements a single chip multichannel analyzer with the capability to do further processing of the data in software. The design was fabricated in a 0.18 CMOS technology with field tests demonstrating the validity of the approaches taken. The total system power consumption is 24 W.