Noise considerations of integrators for current readout circuits

Abstract

In this paper the noise analysis of a current integrator is carried out and measures to reduce the overall noise are presented. The effects of various noise sources are investigated and their dependence on the input capacitance and on the gate area of the input transistors of the OTA used for the readout is shown. Both, input capacitance and gate area, should be kept as small as possible. Moreover, the linearity of the integrator is examined. In addition to that, the available application of such sensor readout circuit, which is a CMOS photodetector readout, is introduced. It uses an automatic gain switching, so that the dynamic range is extended. © 2005 Copernicus GmbH.