Silicon photomultiplier sensor interface based on a discrete second generation voltage conveyor

This work presents the design of a discrete second-generation voltage conveyor (VCII) and its capability to be used as electronic interface for silicon photomultipliers. The design addressed here exploits directly at the transistor level, with commercial components, the proposed interface; the obtained performance is valuable considering both the discrete elements and the application. The architecture adopted here realizes a transimpedance amplifier that is also able to drive very high input impedance, as usually requested by photons detection. Schematic and circuital design of the discrete second-generation voltage conveyor is presented and discussed. The complete circuit interface requires a bias current of 20 mA with a dual 5V supply voltage; it has a useful bandwidth of about 106 MHz, and considering also the reduced dimensions, it is a good candidate to be used in portable applications without the need of high-cost dedicated integrated circuits.