FATALIC: a novel CMOS front-end readout ASIC for the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter

The present article introduces a novel ASIC architecture, designed in the context of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter upgrade program for the High-Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN . The architecture is based on radiation-tolerant 130 nm Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor technology, embedding both analog and digital processing of detector signals. A detailed description of the ASIC is given in terms of motivation, design characteristics, simulated and measured performance. Experimental studies, based on 24 prototype chips under real particle beam conditions are also presented in order to demonstrate the potential of the architecture as a reliable front-end readout electronic solution.