Characterisation of analogue front end and time walk in CMOS active pixel sensor

Abstract

Abstract In this work we investigated a method to determine time walk in an active silicon pixel sensor prototype using Edge-TCT with infrared laser charge injection. Samples were investigated before and after neutron irradiation to 5· 10^14n_ eq/cm^2. Threshold, noise and calibration of the analogue front end were determined with external charge injection. A spatially sensitive measurement of collected charge and time walk was carried out with Edge-TCT, showing a uniform charge collection and output delay in pixel centre. On pixel edges charge sharing was observed due to finite beam width resulting in smaller signals and larger output delay. Time walk below 25 ns was observed for charge above 2000 e^- at a threshold above the noise level. Time walk measurement with external charge injection yielded identical results.