A Low-Power, Highly Integrated Radiation Detection System for Portable, Long-Duration Monitoring

This paper presents the signal processing and power supply electronics for a radiation detection system designed for use in portable and long-duration radiation monitoring applications. The tested system achieves state-of-the-art low power consumption, requiring 2.4 mW, including detector powering, when detecting radiation at 1000 counts per second (cps). It contains two separate chip designs that are optimized for low-power and low-noise operation. First, a 0.13 μm multichannel analyzer (MCA) chip measures, processes, and stores sensor data to build a radiation spectrum. Second, a 0.35 μm controller chip drives the detector power supply (DPS) circuitry, generating the high voltages required to power standard radiation detectors. The chips were fabricated, tested, and interfaced to a scintillation-based detector to forma complete, low-power radiation detection system that can operate for over 30 days when powered from a CR2477 button cell battery.