Granted Patent B2

US 12,644,998 · App. 18/340,461 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventors: Florian Kriegler (Rohrbach, DE); Christoph Berger (Munich, DE); Thomas Rudolf Ganka (Munich, DE); Niklas Willems (Munich, DE); Christian Zacher (Munich, DE)

Assignee: KETEK GmbH Halbleiter- und Reinraumtechnik

G01T1/247G01T1/244

Abstract

Claims (67)

1 . A method for processing a detector signal by a signal chain, the method comprising:

detecting, by a detector, a plurality of detection events;

increasing an output voltage of a first amplifier after each detection event; and

resetting the output voltage of the first amplifier when the output voltage exceeds a threshold due to a threshold event,

wherein the threshold is smaller than a maximum voltage value determined by an overdrive value of an input voltage of a signal processor to which the output voltage of the first amplifier is connected,

wherein resetting is determined by processing of the threshold event only irrespective of other detection events,

wherein a reset is triggered by a signal edge of a reset pulse,

wherein the signal chain comprises a second amplifier,

wherein the output voltage of the first amplifier is further processed by the second amplifier,

wherein an offset and/or a gain are added to the output voltage by the second amplifier,

wherein values of the offset and the gain are stored in a storage unit of the second amplifier,

wherein the second amplifier comprises a communication interface connected to at least one first component of the signal chain,

wherein at least one second component of the signal chain reads and/or writes at least one parameter stored in the storage unit, and

wherein a communication on the communication interface only takes place outside of a processing time of a first detection event.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reset pulse is applied to a reset input of the first amplifier by the signal processor.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the output voltage of the first amplifier is reset to a fixed minimum voltage value.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein processing of the threshold event exceeding the threshold of the output voltage of the first amplifier is continued when a second detection event is detected during a processing time of the threshold event.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reset is triggered when the threshold is exceeded without a detection event.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processor deposits the threshold, a minimal and/or maximum voltage value in the storage unit by the communication interface between the second amplifier and the signal processor.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processor processes the output voltage of the first amplifier by using at least one filter with at least one filter constant, and wherein the at least one filter constant is communicated to the at least one second component of the signal chain by the communication interface.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a minimum voltage value and/or the maximum voltage value are stored in the storage unit.

9 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the output voltage of the first amplifier is compared to the threshold and a minimum voltage value by an upper limit comparator and a lower limit comparator, respectively, and

wherein the reset pulse is applied to a reset input of the first amplifier by a reset logic.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one actual value of at least one supply voltage of the detector is controlled to comply with a set value of the respective supply voltage stored in the storage unit.

11 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein exactly one first supply voltage of the detector is stored in the storage unit, and

wherein at least one further supply voltage for the detector is determined from the first supply voltage by arithmetic calculation.

12 . A detector device comprising:

the signal chain comprising the detector, the first amplifier, the second amplifier, and the signal processor,

wherein the signal chain is configured to perform the method according to claim 1 .

13 . The detector device according to claim 12 ,

wherein the first amplifier or the second amplifier of the signal chain comprises the storage unit comprising at least one of the following parameters: the threshold, the maximum voltage value, a minimal voltage value of the output voltage of the first amplifier, an offset value for the output voltage of the first amplifier, a gain value for the output voltage of the first amplifier, or supply voltages of the detector.

14 . The detector device according to claim 13 ,

wherein the detector is a silicon drift detector and is configured to detect an incidence of a photon as a detection event,

wherein the first amplifier is a charge sensitive amplifier configured to process the detection event to the output voltage,

wherein the second amplifier is a preamplifier configured to process the output voltage of the first amplifier to the signal processor and supply the detector with the supply voltages, and

wherein the signal processor is configured to digitize the output voltage of the first amplifier and to evaluate the output voltage of the first amplifier.

15 . The detector device according to claim 13 ,

wherein a detector unit comprises the detector and a thermoelectric cooler,

wherein the thermoelectric cooler is connected to the second amplifier by the communication interface, and

wherein the thermoelectric cooler is configured to read an operation parameter of the detector and to control a temperature of the detector according to the operation parameter.

16 . A method for processing a detector signal by a signal chain, the method comprising:

detecting, by a detector, a plurality of detection events;

increasing an output voltage of a first amplifier after each detection event; and

resetting the output voltage of the first amplifier when the output voltage exceeds a threshold due to a threshold event,

wherein the threshold is smaller than a maximum voltage value determined by an overdrive value of an input voltage of a signal processor to which the output voltage of the first amplifier is connected,

wherein resetting is determined by processing of the threshold event only irrespective of other detection events,

wherein a reset is triggered by a signal edge of a reset pulse,

wherein the signal chain comprises a second amplifier,

wherein the output voltage of the first amplifier is further processed by the second amplifier,

wherein an offset and/or a gain is added to the output voltage by the second amplifier,

wherein values of the offset and the gain are stored in a storage unit of the second amplifier,

wherein the second amplifier comprises a communication interface connected to at least one first component of the signal chain,

wherein at least one second component of the signal chain reads and/or writes at least one parameter stored in the storage unit,

wherein the signal processor processes the output voltage of the first amplifier by using at least one filter with at least one filter constant, and

wherein the at least one filter constant is communicated to the at least one first component of the signal chain by the communication interface.

17 . A detector device comprising:

the signal chain comprising the detector, the first amplifier, the second amplifier, and the signal processor,

wherein the signal chain is configured to perform the method according to claim 16 .

18 . A method for processing a detector signal, the method comprising:

detecting, by a detector of a signal chain, a plurality of detection events;

increasing an output voltage of a first amplifier of the signal chain after each detection event;

resetting the output voltage of the first amplifier when the output voltage exceeds a threshold due to a threshold event, wherein the threshold is smaller than a maximum voltage value determined by an overdrive value of an input voltage of a signal processor to which the output voltage of the first amplifier is connected, wherein resetting is determined by processing of the threshold event only irrespective of other detection events, and wherein a reset is triggered by a signal edge of a reset pulse;

further processing the output voltage of the first amplifier by a second amplifier of the signal chain, wherein the second amplifier adds an offset and/or a gain to the output voltage, wherein the offset and the gain are stored in a storage unit of the second amplifier, and wherein the second amplifier comprises a communication interface connected to at least one first component of the signal chain;

reading and/or writing at least one parameter stored in the storage unit by at least second component of the signal chain; and

restricting communication on the communication interface to occur only outside of a processing time of a detection event.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (18)