Status Report on the LOC ASIC

Based on a commercially available 0.25 μm Silicon on Sapphire CMOS technology, we are developing the LOC ASIC for high speed serial data transmission in the front-end electronics systems of the ATLAS upgrade for the SLHC1. Evaluation of this technology for applications in the SLHC, based on a dedicated test chip, has been performed with irradiation tests in gamma (Co-60) and in 230 MeV proton beams. Test results indicate that this may be a candidate technology of ASIC developments for the SLHC. More thorough evaluation tests will be carried out under another R&D program supported through the Advanced Detector Research (ADR) from the Department of Energy. Characterization tests on the first prototype serializer, LOC1, have been carried out in lab. Based on the lessons learned from this chip, we propose a new architecture design of the second prototype, LOC2, aiming for a serial data rate in the range of 5 Gbps. Simulation on key components of LOC2 are being carried out and the results we have so far are presented in this note. LOC2 is scheduled to be submitted for fabrication in the first half of 2009.