PCB Design

The design of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is a key task for the development of electronic instrumentation in the experiments in which the Division participates. We develop analog systems for reading and processing signals in particle detectors, ionizing radiation sensors and high sensitivity light sensors, as well as digitizers and digital systems for reading, processing, data acquisition and Trigger or monitoring and control systems. To make the designs we mainly use the software tools ORCAD and Altium.

In most of the systems we develop, some of the following characteristics converge that make it necessary to develop high-performance printed circuit boards:

- High speed and bandwidth: the nature of ionizing radiation and the typical response of particle detectors and light sensors make the processing of very fast analog signals, of the order of few nanoseconds, necessary. On the other hand, digital systems operate at a higher clock frequency to maximize performance. This necessitates the design of high speed and bandwidth circuits, with all that this implies in the design of PCBs.

- Accuracy: Most of the circuits we design are used in systems with 12 to 16-bit digitizers, which defines the level of acceptable noise and this fact in turn influences PCB design techniques.

- High number of channels and miniaturization: one of the characteristics of the sensors and detectors, as well as the integrated circuits with which we work is the high number of channels and level of integration. This critically influences the PCBs we design, manufacturing in classes 6 and 7 being necessary, with spatial resolutions of the order of 100 microns or less.

- Reliability and hostile work environments: in certain detectors the difficulty of maintenance due to the inaccessibility of the modules makes it essential to prioritize reliability. In addition, in some experiments the systems must work in harsh environmental environments such as extreme temperatures, vacuum or ionizing radiation. Electromagnetic compatibility is another key element for the operation of the instrumentation. All these elements are taken into account in the design of our systems.

- Specificity and mechanical requirements: a particularity of the electronic instrumentation that we develop is the need to meet very specific specifications depending on the experiment for which said instrumentation is developed. A characteristic of our designs is the adaptation to the requirements of each particular experiment