In nuclear science experiments it is usually necessary to determine the type of radiation, its energy and direction with considerable accuracy. The detection of neutrons and discriminating them from gamma rays is particularly difficult. A popular method of doing so is to measure characteristics intrinsic to the pulse shape of each radiation type in order to perform pulse-shape discrimination (PSD).
Historically, PSD capable systems have been designed with two approaches in mind: specialized analog circuitry, or digital signal processing (DSP). In this work we propose a PSD capable circuit topology using techniques from both the analog and DSP domains. We call this circuit topology a mixed-mode PSD system. We model this mixed-mode PSD system using Verilog-A and simulate its performance using Cadence Spectre with real detector waveform data as the input. We show that our mixed-mode PSD system is capable of discriminating between neutrons and gamma rays at least as well as state of the art DSP based systems while offering some of the advantages of both analog based and DSP based systems.
","abstract_html":"<p>In nuclear science experiments it is usually necessary to determine the type of radiation, its energy and direction with considerable accuracy. The detection of neutrons and discriminating them from gamma rays is particularly difficult. A popular method of doing so is to measure characteristics intrinsic to the pulse shape of each radiation type in order to perform pulse-shape discrimination (PSD).</p> <p>Historically, PSD capable systems have been designed with two approaches in mind: specialized analog circuitry, or digital signal processing (DSP). In this work we propose a PSD capable circuit topology using techniques from both the analog and DSP domains. We call this circuit topology a mixed-mode PSD system. We model this mixed-mode PSD system using Verilog-A and simulate its performance using Cadence Spectre with real detector waveform data as the input. We show that our mixed-mode PSD system is capable of discriminating between neutrons and gamma rays at least as well as state of the art DSP based systems while offering some of the advantages of both analog based and DSP based systems.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Orabutt, Bryan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Computer Science & Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Roger Chamberlain","Roger Chamberlain Lee Sobotka Ron Cytron"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:13:23Z","subjects":["mixed","mode","pulse","shape","discrimination","integrated circuit","Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing","Engineering","Nuclear","Radiochemistry","Signal Processing","VLSI and Circuits, Embedded and Hardware Systems"],"languages":["English (en)"],"rights":["I have not registered my thesis with the U.S. Copyright Office, and do not intend to."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/678"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/678","href":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/678","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.7936/xqm4-3293","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Roger Chamberlain","Roger Chamberlain Lee Sobotka Ron Cytron"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Orabutt, Bryan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-02-28T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer Science & Engineering","McKelvey School of Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["mixed","mode","pulse","shape","discrimination","integrated circuit","Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing","Engineering","Nuclear","Radiochemistry","Signal Processing","VLSI and Circuits, Embedded and Hardware Systems"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English (en)"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["I have not registered my thesis with the U.S. Copyright Office, and do not intend to."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/xqm4-3293","https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/eng_etds/678"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In nuclear science experiments it is usually necessary to determine the type of radiation, its energy and direction with considerable accuracy. The detection of neutrons and discriminating them from gamma rays is particularly difficult. A popular method of doing so is to measure characteristics intrinsic to the pulse shape of each radiation type in order to perform pulse-shape discrimination (PSD).
Historically, PSD capable systems have been designed with two approaches in mind: specialized analog circuitry, or digital signal processing (DSP). In this work we propose a PSD capable circuit topology using techniques from both the analog and DSP domains. We call this circuit topology a mixed-mode PSD system. We model this mixed-mode PSD system using Verilog-A and simulate its performance using Cadence Spectre with real detector waveform data as the input. We show that our mixed-mode PSD system is capable of discriminating between neutrons and gamma rays at least as well as state of the art DSP based systems while offering some of the advantages of both analog based and DSP based systems.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Design & Analysis of Mixed-mode Integrated Circuit for Pulse-shape Discrimination"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Roger Chamberlain","Roger Chamberlain Lee Sobotka Ron Cytron"],"dc:creator":["Orabutt, Bryan"],"dc:date.available":["2022-02-28T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In nuclear science experiments it is usually necessary to determine the type of radiation, its energy and direction with considerable accuracy. The detection of neutrons and discriminating them from gamma rays is particularly difficult. A popular method of doing so is to measure characteristics intrinsic to the pulse shape of each radiation type in order to perform pulse-shape discrimination (PSD).
Historically, PSD capable systems have been designed with two approaches in mind: specialized analog circuitry, or digital signal processing (DSP). In this work we propose a PSD capable circuit topology using techniques from both the analog and DSP domains. We call this circuit topology a mixed-mode PSD system. We model this mixed-mode PSD system using Verilog-A and simulate its performance using Cadence Spectre with real detector waveform data as the input. We show that our mixed-mode PSD system is capable of discriminating between neutrons and gamma rays at least as well as state of the art DSP based systems while offering some of the advantages of both analog based and DSP based systems.
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