Development of an SOI analog front-end ASIC for X-ray charge coupled devices

The FD-SOI technology is a fascinating LSI fabrication process as a possible radiation-tolerant device. In order to confirm benefits of the FD-SOI and expand application ranges in front-end electronics, we experimentally designed an analog front-end ASIC for X-ray CCD readout with the FD-SOI process. The circuit design was submitted to OKI Semiconductor Co., Ltd. via the multi-chip project as a part of the SOI pixel-detector R&D program in KEK. The ASIC contains seven readout channels using the correlated double sampling technique, and includes key circuit elements for a low-noise LSI. This paper describes the circuit design and the performance of the ASIC together with the radiation tolerance.