Description
The Institut de Ciències del Cosmos de la Universitat de Barcelona (ICCUB) is contributing to the development of advanced ASIC technologies for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), with a particular focus on the LHCb Upgrade II program. A central effort is the PicoCal project, which aims to improve the performance of the LHCb calorimeter during the LS4 upgrade by enabling precision timing measurements with a target resolution of 10 ps at 100 GeV. Building on longstanding expertise in calorimeter front-end electronics since 1999, ICCUB is responsible for the energy measurement front-end, currently implemented through the ICECAL65 ASIC. Designed in TSMC 65 nm technology, ICECAL65 features a 1 V dynamic range, two gain path with 11-bit resolution, and a dual time-interleaved channel architecture that facilitates rapid integrator recovery and continuous 40 MHz readout. Its fully differential signal processing chain and per-channel clock generation further enhance noise immunity and timing performance.
In parallel, ICCUB is advancing developments for fast photon detection. The FastIC+ ASIC, comprising eight channels, supports single-photon sensitivity and integrates a time-to-digital converter (TDC) with 25 ps time binning, enabling applications in particle physics and medical imaging. A specialized variant, FastRICH, tailored for the LHCb RICH Upgrade, incorporates the same core technology optimized for single-photon detection.
