US 11,988,787 B2
Multipurpose front-end board to characterize solid-state sensors for particle detection
Christophe Royon, Lawrence, KS (US); and Nicola Minafra, La Plaine (FR)
Assigned to UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, Lawrence, KS (US)
Appl. No. 15/733,977
Filed by University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (US)
PCT Filed May 30, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/034595
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 1, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/232172, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 5, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/678,680, filed on May 31, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/678,078, filed on May 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0373183 A1, Dec. 2, 2021
Int. Cl. G01T 1/24 (2006.01); G01R 31/28 (2006.01); H03F 3/45 (2006.01)
CPC G01T 1/24 (2013.01) [G01R 31/2829 (2013.01); G01R 31/2837 (2013.01); H03F 3/45475 (2013.01); H03F 2200/261 (2013.01); H03F 2200/408 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A characterization front-end printed circuit board apparatus, comprising:
a sensor pad to mount a particle detection sensor for characterization and provide a current signal produced by the particle detection sensor;
a multi-stage amplifier electrically coupled to the sensor pad, the multi-stage amplifier comprising:
a first stage amplifier circuit configured to receive the current signal and convert the current signal to a voltage signal;
a second stage amplifier circuit configured to receive the voltage signal from the first stage amplifier circuit and produce an amplified voltage signal;
a third stage amplifier circuit configured to receive the amplified voltage signal from the second stage amplifier, the third stage amplifier circuit being configured to invert the amplified voltage signal and produce an output voltage signal; and
a discriminator electrically coupled to the third stage amplifier circuit, the discriminator configured to receive the output voltage signal and generate characterization data based on a comparison between the output voltage signal and a voltage threshold.