Front-end electronics for the ALICE dimuon trigger RPCs

A dedicated front-end electronics has been developed for the trigger chambers of the ALICE muon spectrometer under construction at the future LHC at CERN. These trigger chambers are based on RPCs (resistive plate chambers) working in streamer mode. The number of electronics channels (about 21000) and the fact that RPC pulsed signals have specific characteristics have led to the design of a 8-channel front-end ASIC using a new discrimination technique. The principle of the ASIC is described and the radiation hardness is discussed. Special emphasis is put on production characteristics of about 4000 chips.