Overview of Liquid Argon Front End electronics

The ATLAS liquid argon front end rad-tolerant electronics chain is described, and the main requirements that have led to today's architecture are discussed. Performance characteristics of the rad-soft prototype system, based on results obtained from about 6000 read-out channels installed in the test beam, are presented. During the past year, significant progress has been made in the transition to rad-tolerant electronics, which is based on a number of ASICs both in DMILL and DSM technology. Initial measurements on the prototype of the final version of the front-end board are presented. (5 refs).