Electronics for Radiation Detection Systems

Introduction Preamplifier Amplifier P l Height Pulse H i h A Analyzers l Display Mode Cathode Ray Tubes

Introduction

Preamplifier
To amplify the relatively small signal from the detectors To match the impedance levels between the detector and subsequent components To shape the signal pulse for optimal subsequent processing

A few points
The output from the preamplifier is V V=Vo Vo exp(-t/RC) where Vo =Q/C and RC is the time constant, typical 20200 sec for nuclear detectors. The amplification for scintillation detectors is small (5-20) because the signals from the detectors have already been amplified by photo photo-multiply multiply tubes (105-10 1010). Higher amplification is required for semiconductor detectors (103-104) due to small detector signals. Preamplifier is located as close as possible to the detector to maximise the signal to noise ratio (often in single unit).

Amplifiers
T To amplify lif the th still till small ll signals i l from f the th preamplifier (1-1000). To reshape the slow decaying pulse from preamplifier into a narrow one (for high count rate and increasing the S/N ratio etc,). Requirements q for shaping: p g p preserve the input signal information such as pulse height g and rise time.

RC Shaping
Differentiate circuit:
The output is a rapid rising pulse with decay constant d =RC which is smaller than that in preamplifier. The amplitude of output is proportional to the rising portion of the input and insensitive to the tails. tails It discriminates against low frequency noise.

Integration circuit:
output pulse rises with time constant. V=Vo(1-e-t/RC). It discriminates against g high g frequency q y noise.

RC Shaping (continued)
Differentiate plus Integration circuit: The output p amplitude p is determined by y the input Time constant is shortened (0.25-5 sec for scintillation and semiconductor detectors, in contrast to 50-500 sec in the preamplifier). Only one polarity (except for some small negative overshoot at the end)

RC Shaping (continued)
Double differentiation plus integration circuit Output p is bipolar p Shorter rising time and longer total duration than unipolar output Preferred for high counting rate

Baseline Shift and Pulse Pileup

Baseline Shift is caused by the negative component p of the output p ( (at the end of the pulse) Pulse Pileup is caused by high counting rates that they fall on top of each other.

A few Points
Baseline shift and pulse pileup are caused by high counting rates Both B h problems bl can be b reduced d d by b shortening h i time i constant but also reduce the energy resolution and S/N ratio. Double differentiate bipolar amplifier and short time constant (0.025-0.5 u sec) are commonly used for NaI(Tl) detectors Unipolar i l and d longer l time i constant (0.5-8 (0 8 u sec) ) for f semiconductor detectors (achieve high energy resolution).

Pulse-Height Analyzers
Basic Functions Single Channel Analyzers Time Methods M li h Multi-channel l Analyzers A l

Basic Function
The amplitude of output signal is proportional to the energy of the radiation event detected Selective counting of those pulses within certain i amplitude li d resulted l d in i counting i of f selective energy range A certain energy range or interval is called energy channel

Single Channel Analyzers

A kind of differential discriminator and responds p only y when p pulse height is greater/lesser than the threshold level (adjustable). Its response is in the form of slandered logic signal. Composed of three parts: Lower Level Discriminator (LLD), (LLD) Upper Level Discriminator (ULD) and Anticoincidence. With detectors where the output is proportional to energy, the SCA i used is d to t measure energy spectra t by b choosing h i a small, ll fixed fi d window and systematically sweeping the window across the full pulse height range. The relative no. of counts per unit time at each l l can then level h be b plotted l d to give i a histogram hi of f the h spectrum.

window i d

Single Channel Analyser: Operation SCA can operate t i in three th mode: d

Normal or differential mode: lower level and upper level can be adjusted independently. independently W Window dow mode: ode lower owe level eve and d window w dow w width d is s se set. . , most os suitable for spectrum analysis because of a certain resolution (window) width. Integral Mode: A single channel analyser without ULD (simple discriminator with adjustable lower level). level) The number of signals which pass is the integral of all the pulses from the threshold to the maximum limit of the SCA.

Single Channel Analyser: threshold level

The stability and linearity of the SCA threshold is an important factor. The degree to which the threshold control and the actual threshold correspond to each other is referred to as integral linearity Li. E Equally ll important i t t is i the th differential diff ti l linearity li it Ld which hi h is i a measure of f the th constancy of the window width as the lower level is changed.
Li 100 Vmax Vmax
Ld 100 Vw Vw

Working range

Timing Method
Determine the timing of radiation event is important in Nuclear radiation detection.

An extension of the normal SCA is the timing SCA which also include circuits for correcting walk in the generation of the logic signal.
There are a number of timing methods available but two of those are often used in nuclear detection: leading-edge and zero-crossing. Leading Leading-edge edge uses the rising portion of the input pulse to trigger the lower level discriminator which depends on the pulse amplitude (suffer certain amount of inaccuracy ~5 to 50 nsec for NaI (Tl)). Zero-crossing Zero crossing requires bipolar pulses and is more accurate (4 nsec for NaI(Tl)).

Multichannel Analysers
Th The principle i i l of f the h popular l Multichannel M li h l Analyser A l (MCA) is i different from the single channel analyser. A sophisticated p device which sort s out incoming g pulses p according g to pulse height and keep count of the number at each height in a multichannel memory. The contents of each channel can then be displayed p y on a screen to g give a p pulse height g spectrum. p Simultaneous recording of multiple energy radiations. The centre of the MCA is the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The MCA works by digitizing the amplitude of the incoming pulse with an analog -to- digital converter (ADC). Total no. of channels into which the voltage range is digitized is known as conversion gain. Range of conversion gain is 128-16K. A memory is required for the sorting of energy channels (energy ranges, energy spectrum). t )

Analog-to-Digital Converter
Two types of ADC are used in nuclear medicine for MCA and the interface between scintillation cameras and computers: Wilkinson or Ramp converter and successive approximation q time for the conversion which could be a Both require bottle neck for the time resolution but is not a major problem for nuclear medicine application Both of the converters use binary number representation which means that the more bits the more accurate but requires more time and memory.

Ramp ADC
RC circuitry and clock oscillator Discharging time proportional to the amplitude of the input pulse (radiation energy) Clock oscillator produces pulse train that are counted in a counting circuit The number of the clock pulses counted are proportional to the discharging time which in proportional p the radiation energy). gy) turn p

Successive Approximation
The input pulse is compared with one-half of the full scale The comparison voltage is then either increased or decreased by one half of its initial level depending on whether the pulse amplitude did or did not exceed the initial level. The process is repeated for several steps steps.

Time to Amplitude Converter

Scalers and Timers

A device that only counts pulses is called a scaler An auxiliary device that controls the scaler counting time is called timer. timer

Analog Ratemeters
A analog ratemeter is used to determine the average number of events occurring per unit time. The average is determined continuously rather than over discrete counting time Linear vs logarithmic ratemeters: V0=knQRp vs

V0=klog(nQRp) - wider range of counting rate

Ratemeter responds to the rate change has a time constant which can be adjusted (change the capacitor) i )

Coincidence Unit