Implementation of the DTMROC-S ASIC for the ATLAS TRT detector in a 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS technology

The DTMROC-S is a 16-channel front-end chip developed for the signal processing of the ATLAS straw tube detector, TRT. Due to a highly radioactive environment, the chip is fabricated in a commercial 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS technology hardened by layout techniques and, in addition, a special methodology was used to improve the circuit's robustness against Single Events Effects (SEE) caused by ionizing particles. Exhaustive internal test features were foreseen to simplify and ensure comprehensive design verification, high fault coverage and throughput. Compared to the previous version of the chip done in a 0.8 /spl mu/m radiation-hard CMOS and despite of all supplementary features, the Deep-Sub-Micron (DSM) technology results in a much smaller chip size that increases the production yield and lowers the power consumption.