A novel monolithic active pixel detector in 0.13 mu m triple well CMOS technology with pixel level analog processing

We designed and fabricated a novel monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS), in STMicrolectronics 0.13 mu m CMOS technology, exploiting the triple well option to implement, at the pixel level, a more complex signal processor and to increase the size of the charge collecting electrode with respect to previously developed CMOS MAPS. This was possible using the deep n-well, available in triple well technology, as a sensing electrode and placing, in the same physical area, part of the readout electronics. The signal processing chain, implemented in the elementary cell, includes a low noise charge preamplifier, a shaper, a discriminator and a latch. The first prototype chips have been successfully tested with very encouraging results. In this work we present the performance of the front-end electronics and the response of the sensor to ionizing radiation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.