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Completed TRL 6 (started at 6, targeting 6)
Development of the front end electronics (FEE) for a prototype Si Tracker for AMEGO (All-sky Medium-Energy Gamma-ray Observatory; https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/amego/). AMEGO is a probe class mission concept in the MeV band and detects MeV gamma rays by Compton scattering and pair production via a Si Tracker, CsI and CZT calorimeters, and a plastic anti-coincidence shield (ACD). There are several technical development projects underway supported by APRA grants and the FEE for the tracker is a vital component.
This technology maturation project will develop the FEE for the prototype AMEGO Si Tracker and balloon payload. While Si trackers have been used in astrophysics before (Fermi LAT and PAMELA are examples) there are challenges building a double-sided silicon detector (DSSD) based tracker of this scale. The baseline AMEGO design is a 4x4 array of 9.5 cm square DSSDs wirebonded in series. Each DSSD has 192 channels on the top and the bottom and these are read out by ASICs on the edges of each 4x4 array. The number of channels dictates that the power per channel must be low and the length of the signal paths dictates that the capacitance per strip needs to be low. This project will develop a low-power, low-noise FEE using off-the-shelf ASICs.
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