Implementation of a Customisable Readout Sequence for the ALICE ITS Upgrade Explorer Family Chips

Within the ALICE ITS upgrade R&D programme the Explorer family chips are developed featuring 11700 pixels which are split into 18 different sectors with different properties. These pixels are read out sequentially leading to a time span of 2.34ms between the first and last pixel. Due to the long readout time, shot noise induced by the leakage currents in the in-pixel analogue memories makes the comparison of different sensor implementations located in distant sectors on the Explorer family chips difficult. In order to reduce this noise contribution a customisable readout sequence is developed to read parts instead of the whole chip which reduces the overall readout time. This readout sequence is integrated in the existing characterisation framework in order to choose the best performing sensor implementation through pixel-by-pixel comparison without readout-induced effects.