Nuclear Instrumtats and Methods in Physics Research A21s7 (1990) 513-520 513

North-Holland

OPTIMUM FILTERS FOR DETECTOR CHARGE MEASUREMENTS IN PRESENCE

OF 1 /f NOISE

E. GATTI and M. SAMPIETRO

Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica e Centro di Elettronica Quantistica , Strumentazione Elettronica CNR, Piazza
Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy

P.F. MANFREDI
Università di Pavia, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Via Abbiategrasso 209, 27100 Pavia, Italy

Received 27 July 1989

The optimum shape of the weighting function for detector charge measurements, in the presence of series 1/f noise superimposed
on parallel and series white noises, is investigated. The corresponding theoretical limits in charge resolution for finite or infinite
processing times have been calculated, and compared with the values obtained using traditional cusplike weighting functions
optimum for white noises only.

l . Introduction tion is independent of the time scale of the weighting

Historically, the interest in the effects of 1/f noise in
charge measurements emerged at first in connection
with high-resolution X-ray spectrometry, employing
JFETs at cryogenic temperatures and long weighting
functions, up to 1 ms in duration in which case the
resolution is mostly limited by 1/f noise [1]. A renewed
attention was recorded later, when monolithic technolo-
gies suitable for preamplifier systems of large integra-
tion density and based upon devices, like MOS tran-
sistors, of inherently large 1/f noise, came into use in
elementary particle physics [2-5j. The need for these
technologies was related to the appearance of highly
segmented silicon structures like microstrip and pixel
detectors .
A few more considerations explain the effort which
is presently being devoted to a better understanding of
11f noise in detector applications . A non-negligible
impact of 1/f noise in charge measurements is to be
expected, if devices like GaAs MESFETs and short-
channel MOSFETs will be employed in front-end sys-
tems oriented to very large rates of events. Besides, if it
is true that in JFETs 11f noise is usually a minor
concern, it is also true that, owing to the increase it
undergoes under irradiation, it may acquire importance
in preamplifiers exposed to the large doses of radiation
that will be present in high-luminosity colliders.
The processing of 11f noise has been widely dis-
cussed and it is well known that the 1/f noise contribu-
* Research supported by the Italian INFN, MPI and CNR .
function and weakly dependent on its shape [3,4] . How-
ever, it is interesting to investigate the optimum shape
of the weighting function when 11f noise is present
along with parallel and series white noises. This allows
one to estimate the loss in resolution brought about the
use of the optimum weighting function designed only
for the white noises, when 1/f noise is present .
The detector-amplifier system is modelled as in fig .
1 . The input signal is a delta-pulse current of charge Q .
The sum of detector and input device capacitances is
represented by C . The amplifier is considered noiseless
and is modelled by its transfer function H(s) or its
delta-pulse response h(t). The input impedance of the
amplifier, which is irrelevant ~n the evaluation of signal-
to-noise ratio, is taken to be equal to zero, so that h(t)
represents the transfer function between the input pulse
QS (t) and the output current i o (t) of the overall shap-
ing system. A time reflection of h (t) gives also the
weighting function of the system .
The noise sources of the input stage of the amplifier
are taken into account by :
Fig . 1 . Schematic representation of the detector-amplifier sys-
tem. All the noise sources are referred to the input of a
noiseless shaping amplifier .

0168-9002/90/$03 .50 © Elsevier Science Publishers B .V .

(North-Holland)
514 E. Gatti et al. / Optimum filtersfor detector charge measurements

actual case, the input signal Qg(t) is a delta function

Q8(t) and N(w) is an even function of I w 1, eq. (2)
Z
L becomes
S 2 - 2Q 2 +~ ~
f aC2w2
N )opt 2ir o ~
-1
Fig. 2. &.,.- matic representation equivalent to the detector- (
amplifier system shown "n fig. 1, in which all the noise contri- + + 21Ta f C 2 w + b dco . (3)
bf
butions are reduced to a single equivalent noise current genera-
tor. The value of Q 2 which makes the signal-to-noise ratio
equal to one is defined as the equivalent noise charge
squared, ENC 2. The calculation of the integral gives the
1) a voltage generator e2 for the white series noise of
following results [7] :
mathematical spectral density a [V2/Hz],
2) a voltage generator ef for the 11f series noise of (S)2
_ _ 2Q 1 1 -K2
mathematical spectral density af/ I f 1, (af [V2 ]), arctg
N opt -rtENCO2 1-K 2 K
3) a current generator iW for the white parallel noise of
mathematical spectral density b [A2 /Hz], and K < 1, (4a)
4) a current generator ij for the dielectric noise of S) 2 Q2 1 K2-1
mathematical spectral density bf I f 1, (bf [A2/Hz2 ]) . In K+
N opt iT ENCO 2 2
K -1 K- K2 -1
It is convenient to transform the series noise generators
into equivalent parallel current generators, end draw the K > 1, (4b)
final equivalent schematic of fig . 2, where the noise where
density i 2 of the noise current generator is given by
b 1 K 1 2 + 2-iraf C2 ,
N(w) = aC 2w2 + ( 2_ + 21Taf C2 I w I +b . ENCO00 C 2Y )

It can be seen that the series 1/f no.se, once trans-
formed into an equivalent parallel noise, gives the same
type of spectral contribution as the dielectric noise . In
the following, a time scale defined by the so called
"noise corner" time constant
independent, by definition, of tlh.e 1/f noise spectral
densities, will be assumed as a reference..
This paper deals with optimurn filters for amplitude
measurements in the presence of the mentioned noise
sources, considering both indefinite weighting functions
and weighting functions with the constraint of a finite
duration. Suboptimal weighting functions and practical
solutions to their synthesis will be considered in a next
paper.
2. Weighting function with no time constraints
2.1 . Calculation of ENC`
It is well known f6] that the optimum signal-to-noise
ratio (S/N) which can be obtained with an input signal
Qg(t) in presence of a current noise of mathematical
spectral density N(w) is given by
_ .pt _ _Qz ~G(w) I2 dw,
S )2
(N J +~
2 ~. ,o N( w )
and
ENCO.=C 4ab .
ENC0,2p is the equivalent noise charge squared for
series and parallel white noises only processed by the
optimum weighting function which is the indefinite
cusp exp(- I t I /Tc). It is important to point out that
1 ,'f noise processed by the same weighting function
would yield the following ENC 2 contribution :
4
ENCIIf= + 2,irafC2
2~ ) 21r'
independent, as expected, of the weighting function
time scale. Combining eqs. (51 and (6), the following
expression is obtained for K:
K = 2 ENC 2 f/ENCO2 .
Apart from the z "T factor, K can be interpreted as the
ratio of two ENC 2 contributions, one brought about by
1 /f noise alone (ENC ;, r ), one by series and parallel
white noises (ENC0,2, ), tooth contributions being
evaluated for the indefinite cusp weighting function
which is the optimum for white noises.
The curve called "optimum" shown in fig. 3a is a
plot of ENC 2 /ENCO= versus K as deduced from eqs .
(4a) and (4b). The same figure shows for comparison
the straight line
ENC2 /ENC0,2p = il + IT K',

where G(w) is the Fourier transform of g(t ). As, in the ram!!d "optimum only for white noise", which gives the
 E. Gatti et al. / Optimum filters for detector charge measurements 515

4
9
CU
Z
w
3
Û

-2 0
K
Fig. 3. (a) Plots of ENC 2/ENCOa2, v(.rsus tC for pulse processing of infinite duration . Curve "optimum" refers to weighting
functions whose shape is matched to the actual spectrum with 1/f noise contribution K. Curve "optimum only for white noises"
refers to a weighting function of fixed shape, optimum for the white noises only ; (b) shape of the optimum weighting function versus
time t normalized to the noise corner time constant T, The processing time is of infinite duration .

ENC2/ENCOo2, obtained when the weighting function where Im stands for imaginary part, g is defined in eq .
has the optimum shape for the white noises only, and is (A .3) of Appendix A, and
held constant in shape irrespective of the amount of
added 1/f noise. The advantage of matching the filter h t
TC
to the noise power spectrum at the input is made
evident in fig. 3a by the moving apart of the two curves
as K increases. g [( R K 2- 1 )z g (K+ K2-1 )T

2.2 . Calculation of the optimum weightingfunction h(t) ln((K+ K2 -1 )/(K- K 2 -1 ))

With an input spectral density as given in eq . (1),

which is not analytical because of the presence of the Fig. 3b shows the plot of the optimum weighting func-
absolute value of w, it is not easy to calculate the tions for different values of K (eqs . (8a) or (8b)) as
optimum weighting function h(t) in the time domain . functions of the time t normalized to the noise corner
In the frequency domain, however, the optimum weight- time constant T. . The weighting functions all have a
ing function How) is known to be given by [8]: cusp shape, like the classical exponential one y =
l exp( - I t I /T,,,) valid in absence of 1/f noise, that is for
1.(lw) = WN exp(-jwTp), K=0.
w
The 1/f noise causes the weighting function to have,
where 141 is a proportionality factor . By omitting the with respect to the K = 0 case, an increased slope at
shifting term exp(-jw Tp ) and returning to the time small t/T,,, and an increased value at large t/T, . Al-
domain, the weighting function h(t) is : though all c--)nsidered weighting functions are mathe-
+ 00 cos wt matically infinite in length, it is apparent that the
h(t) = 1 _ ( dw E:.. .... C.I .- S r.-, 111J
/f .ate :ç+o de
ne.nar ~ `e rn
nar ato
2 iT optimum lllw laViJar cay - mne`n
more slowly
.s ...
N(w)
than the exp( aential cusp for K = 0, leading to reduced
- 1 ' + o cos(xt/,rj rate capabili ies. Moreover, the sharper slope at the
dx .
C 4ab Jo x 2 +2Kx+1 time of measurement poses practical problems as far as
ballistic deficit is concerned.
The integration (see Appendix A), normalizing to one
the maximum of h(t), gives the following result :

lm{ g [(K-i K2 r.~ r Tc 3. Weighting function with imposed finite width

) l K<1
h(t = 1 -
arctg( 1 - K2 /K )
The most general weighting function, having the
(8a)
constraints in the time domain to be zero outside the
516 E. Gatti et al. / Optimum filtersfor detector charge measurements

time interval 0-2TP, to be continuous everywhere, and Remembering the expression for the amplitude of the
to have even symmetry with respect to t = TP, can be signal at the output, the square of the signal-to-noise
conveniently expr.:.ised as ratio can be written as

2 y, 1: Am A,, sin 2 m sin 2 n

h(t) = 1(t)~A n sin 2T S z = Q m n
n P
( N )T, C 4ab Y, Y,A,,,A,,mnZn,,n
i n(t -2 TP) m n i
+1(t - 2TP )F,,An sin
2T , (l')
n P

n=1,3,5,---, (9) where Z., is the integra!

co ( Tr/2TP ) x 2 + 4Kx + 2TP/T,
where the terms in (t - 2TP ) cancel the contribution of 7m .n = T~+ (IT
2m 2 _ x 2)(,R 2n2 - x2)
the terms in t for t > 2TP. The unknown weighting
function is now represented by the numerable set of x (1 + cos x) dx. (16)
variables A n. We observe also that the value of h (t) for The terms Zm,n are calculated in Appendix B. The term
t = TP is in brackets of eq. (15) will be abbreviated as ft. The
equivalent noise charge, ENC, can therefore be written
h (TP) = EAn sin
n
2 n, n=1,3,5, - - . (10)
as
The Laplace transform of eq. (9) is ENC 2 = ENCO02 1 . (17)
AniTn/2TP
H(s) =(1+e -Szr The term 1/ßu, > 1 is the worsening factor due to the
P)
(tirn/2TP )2 +s 2 presence of 1/f noise and to the constraint of finite
width 2TP in the weighting function. In order to dis-
(11)
n=1, 3, 5,---, criminate between these two causes of worsening, the
whose power spectrum is ENC 2 obtainable with the optimum cusp filter of width
2Tp when only series and parallel white noises are
present, that is [9] :
A,An(iTl 2 TP) 2 mn
m .n I rr in 2_ 2 4i n 2 2 ENCOTP = ENCOW2 coth( TTP , (18)
w _w c )
[ ( 2TP ) 1(2 TP )
will be introduced as a noise reference . It can, accord-
x2(1 +cos 2wTP ), m, n=1, 3, 5, - - - . ingly, be written as :
(12) ENC2 = ENCOTP , , (19)
The total noise at the output is: where
h' _ 1u coth( TIT. ) .
10 (t) = f +00N(w) I T(w) 12
df
1 /pt' become i the worsening factor due only to the
2dw addition of 1/'f noise. Curves called "optimum", shown
2f0 "" N(w) IT(w)I 2w' (13)
in figs. 4a, 5a, and 6a are plots of ENC /EN COTP
Inserting eq. (1) and eq. (12) into eq. (13), the final versus K, as deduced from e;q. (19) once 1A' has been
expression for the output noise is obtained : calculated for different widths of the weighting func-
tion.
Let us now calculate ju and the set o£ A n which
i oU
( = C 4ab mn iT define the optimum filter, by putting all partial deriva-
m,n tives of eq. (l5) with respect to the coefficients A n equal
to zero :
T- ? ~P
`2x + 4Kx I~
Qz _2
X _ [ y, 1: Am A nmrnZn, . n
.(,T 2 m 2 __ x2)(T2n2 - C 4ab m n

I
x2)

X I: A,n sin (-rn) sin(~ n)E FA ,nAnmnZn,_

m
2 rn n
X (1 +cos x) dx , m, n = 1, 3, S,

f - r_ EA,A, sin(
2 m sin( 2 n) EAm mnZ,n 
m n m
(14) -- 6 . (20)
 E. Gatti et al. / Optimum filters for detector charge measurements 517

0
U
Z

N
U
Z
W

2 4 6 8 10
K t/tc
Fig . 4. (a) Plots of ENC 2/ENCOT versus K for a finite pulse processing time equal to 2TP = 4TH . For the captions, refer to fig . 3a ;
(b) as in lig. 3a, but in the case of a finite pulse processing time equal to 2Tp = 4Tc.

.25 .5 .75
K t 1 'E C
Fig . 5 . (a) As in fig. 4a, but in the case of a finite pulse processing time equal to 2TP = Tc . (b) as in fig. 3a, but in the case of a finite
pulse processing time equal to 2TP = 7,

1 b

.8

.6

1 1 1 1

4 6810. . . . 0 .0625 .125 .1875 .25

t /Zc
Fig. 6 . (a) As " n fig . 4a, but in the case of a finite pulse processing time equal to 2P /4. /4 ; (b) as in fig . 3a . but in the case of a finite
= Tc
pulse processing time equal t- 2TP = T`
518 F. Gatti et al. / Optimumfilters for detector charge measurements

With straightforward simplifications, and considering a

finite number of A , the following system of (n o + 1)/2
homogeneous equations in the (n o + 1)/2 unknowns
A 1 , A 3 , A 5 , . . ., A mo can be written

E [sin( 2 2
m ) sin( n ) - prnnZm, ' A,,, = 0,
m
0
m=1,3,5,---, mo=no* (21)
4
Equating the coefficient determinant to zero, the eigen- Vf
value A can be obtained . This gives the sought ENC2
once substituted into eq. (17). If now It is substituted in
the set of eqs. (21), the last equation, which now becomes
a linear combination of all the others, can be deleted
and replaced by eq. (10), where h(Tp ) is made equal to
one . So, the system is no more homogeneous and has a
determinant different from zero. The solution gives the
Fig. 7. Weighting functions calculated at the output of the
sought A  and the resulting weighting function, eq. (9),
integrating preamplifier, when only series white noise is pre-
has a peak amplitude equal to one at t = Tp. sent (curve a), when series and parallel white noises are present
curve b) and when 1 /f noise is added (curve c). Processing
time is equal to 2Tp = 4Tc.
esults and remarks

Let us consider the shape of the weighting function
(wf) of infinite duration (fig. 3b) and finite duration
(figs. 4b, 5b and 6b). The general behaviour of increas-
ing slope in the proximity of the peak as K increases is
maintained. For filters with the constraint of a finite
processing time, the tail of the pulse increases in slope
with respect to the filter optimized for the white noises
(K = 0) at values of 2Tp > Tç. The changes in shape of
the wf, as K varies, become smaller and smaller as the
shaping time is reduced, and this can be seen comparing
the curves of figs. 4b, 5b and 6b.
Due to the fact that the 1 /f noise contribution to
ENC 2 is dependent only on the shape of the weighting
function and is insensitive to its width, we expect that
the sensitivity of ENC 2 to the amount of 1/f noise
(that is to K) decreases as the width of the wf is
reduced. This can be deduced from the fact that the two
curves become closer and closeT, passing from fig. 4a via
fig . 5a to fig. 6a. As is evident from these three figures,
the slopes of both curves decrease passing from larger
to shorter wf-duration as a result of the increased noise
reference ENCOT . The transition from infinite to finite
duration in the wF (that is from fig . 3 to fig . 4) deserves
more enplanwion . Passing from. the straight line "opti-
mum ordy for white noise" of fig . 3a to the one of fig .
4a, an ,-,crease in slope is noticed instead . The effect is
due to a negligible increase in the reference noise
ENCO` passing from Tp = oo to Tp = 2T,,, while the
changin ;; shape from the K = 0-wf of fig. 3b to the
corresponding one of fig . 4b is substantial as far as the
1/f noise is concerned . The generalization of eq. (7) is:
ENC2/ENCO,. = coth(Tp/ ~ ) +-aK,
where the values of a, calculated for 2 Tp/Tc = 4, 1 and
0.25 are 1 .19, 1 .36 and 1 .39, respectively.
It is interesting to split the optimum filter, defined
by H(s) or h(t), into an integrating preamplifier fol-
lowed by a shaper of a transfer function T(s), so that
H(s) = (1/s)T(s) . The wf's referred to the output of
the integrating preziniplifier become the derivatives of
the previously calculated wf's . As is well known, if only
series noise is present the optimum wf at this output is
one that weights equally, but with opposite signs, the
baseline before and after the input delta-pulse . If paral-
lel noise is also present, the wf at this output (which can
be obtained by differentiating the cusps for K = 0)
weights, again with opposite signs, the baseline before
and after the signal but with emphasis on the contribu-
tions just before and after the occurrence of the signal.
In the actual case with the presence of 1/f noise, the wf
at the preamplifier output emphasizes even more
strongly the contributions just before and after the
signal, and simultaneously, when a finite width is im-
posed, also the farthest parts of the baseline. This is
apparent from fig. 7, where curve a refers to series white
noise, curve b refers to series and parallel white noises
and curve c refers to the further addition of 1 /f noise.
Curves b and c are obtained by differentiating curves
K = 0 and K = 16 of fig. 4b.
5. Conclusions
The interest of this work lies in fixing the upper
theoretical limits of resolution in charge measurements,
in presence of 1/f noises superposed on white parallel
 E. Gatti et al. / Optimumfilters for detector charge measurements 519

and series noises. The shape of the optimum weighting and, for K > 1
function for different processing times and the corre- + oc cos X T
sponding values of the equivalent noise charge have dx
f, x 2 +2Kx+1
been calculated. Improvements in ENC 2 are practically
achievable only with processing times larger than the 1
[g[( K- )T/
noise corner time constant, when using these particular = K2-1
2 K2 -1
weighting functions with respect to those optimized for
white noises only. -g[(K+ K2- 1)Tll . (A .5)
The weighting functions are cusp-like, with a slope at
the time of measurement larger than the one of the Introducing normalizing factors so that h(T) =1 for
traditional optimum filter for white noises. Therefore T=O, we get, for K<1
they pose practical problems as far as ballistic deficit is h(T)
concerned . In real applications they would certainly
require the additional constraint of a flat-top, which
will degrade their performances. 2i 1 - K2

g[(K-i 1-K2)T] -g[(K+i 1-K 2

X
)T 1
_1/2
Acknowledgements (1-K 2 ) arctg( 1 - K2 /K~
(A.6)
The authors acknowledge the interesting discussions
with Veljko Radeka and thank him for the hospitality at which leads to eq. (8a), and for K > 1 directly to eq.
Brookhaven National Laboratory. (8b) of the text.

Appendix A Appendix B

Eq. (7) of the text can be written in the following The Z,,,,,, terms of eq. (16) in the text can be split in
form: the sum of three terms, and integrated with the residual
method. The calculated values are :
h(t) =
ITC 4ab (XI - X2)
Zrl)n=(Tc/2Tp)âir2S(m, n),

f + - cos xT dx- f+'0 cos XT Cin rrm - Cin nn

- dx , (A .1) for m=n
o X Xj o X - X2 i

where x l and x2 are the roots of the second order -nm - 1

equation appearing in the denominator of the integral Z(m2)n =2K Si ,R,m2 ]
for m 0 n
[ 2m
of eq. (7) and T = t/Tc . The integral can be solved,
Zma)n =(2TP .n 2 \S(m .
referring to [10]: /Tr)(â 2/n n) .
f + ao cos x T
dx Cin(x) is defined at p. 231 of ref. [11).
x - Xl

= -sin(-TX,) si( - TXi) - cos(-Txl) ci(-TXI) .

(A .2) References

Introducing the definitii-an, ref. [111: [1] V . Radeka, IEEE Trans . Nucl . Sci . NS-16 (1969) 17 .
V . Radeka, Nuel . insir . and Meiti . 22V j i > c°-"e) %A n.
g(z) = -sin z si z -cos z ci z, (A.3)
[3] G . Lutz, P .F . Manfredi, V . Re and V . Speziali, Nucl . Snstr .
where g(z) = k(?), we obtain, for K < 1 and Meth . A2771 (1989) 194 .

+ 00 cos X T [4] V. Radeka, 1 / f noise in charge measurements, 5th

f x 2 +2KX+1
d' x European Symposium on Semiconductor Detcctors,
Munich, FRG, 1989 .
[5] V . Radeka, Anmi . Rev . Nucl. Part . Sci . 38 (1988) ' :7-277 .
1
_ - [g[(K- i 1-K 2 )TjJ [6] E . Gatti and P .V . Ni?nfredi ; Nuovo Cimewo 9 .986)38 .
2i 1-K2 [7] I .S. Gradshteyn and I .M . Ryzhik, Table of I tacgrals,
Series and Products (Academic Press, 1987) p . 295 section
-g[( .K + ", 1-K 2 (A .4) 3 .252 .
520 E. Gatti et a1 / Optimum filtersfor detector charge measurements

[81 Ref. [61, p. 38. [111 M. Abramowitz and I. Stegun, Handbook of Mathemati-
[91 M. Bertolaccini, C. Busselati, S. Cova, I. De Lotto and F. cal Functions (Dover Publications, 1970) p. 232 eq. 5.2 .7 ;
Gatti, Nucl. Instr. and Meth . 61 (1968) 84 . here Ci(x) has the same definition as ci(x) in ref. [71, we
[101 Ref. [7], p. 406 eq. 3.722 .3 . choose this latter notation.