Development Of Ultra-Low Noise, Wide Bandwidth, High Gain Transimpedance Amplifiers For Experimental And Commercial Detection Systems

Many detectors - including solid-state particle detectors, microchannel plates, and photodiodes - output small current signals that require amplification and conversion to a voltage. Transimpedance amplifiers (TIA) are widely utilized in experimental and commercial applications for this task. Numerous detection systems require wide bandwidth, ultra-low noise, high gain, and linear amplification. Commercial TIAs having this combination of features are surprisingly not readily available and many consumers resort to costly and time consuming in-house development. We propose to develop ultra-low noise, wide bandwidth, high gain, transimpedance amplifiers (TIA). This will be achieved via the development of an Advanced-TIA Platform - a circuit designed (using surface mount technology) to achieve linear amplification of current 1 nA, signal bandwidth 5 MHz (-3dB), equivalent input-noise ~ 1.5 nA (rms), and transimpedance (gain) 107 V/A. This exacting set of specifications is not readily available in commercial products. It will, furthermore, have the capacity to be adapted to a range of specifications, enabling custom performance metrics to be fulfilled. This platform will be developed into a Plug-and-Play device that is compact and vacuum-grade; attributes that are beneficial to scientific R & amp;D applications. During the Phase-I period we developed a circuit that established the feasibility of our Advanced-TIA concept; we accomplished this by computer modeling the circuit, evaluating its performance, prototyping the device and demonstrating its performance. During Phase-II we will mature the Advanced-TIA circuit into a Platform and construct the Plug-and-Play device. This significance of this effort is captured in the following: 1) It will result in novel TIA products suitable for communication, science, and service industries within government and private sector markets; 2) It has broad inherent value within the scientific R & amp;D sector and is likely to attract future development funding; 3) Other benefits to the federal and private scientific R & amp;D programs include less time spend on in-house development, cost savings, and greater programmatic productivity.