A VLSI full custom ASIC front end for the optical module of the NEMO underwater neutrino detector

The work described here has been developed in the context of the NEMO Collaboration with the aim of studying and designing a front-end electronics for the Optical Modules, which contain the telescope optical sensors, as a full-custom Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Action Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The advantages of this solution are manifold. The most important are low power consumption and the pre-analysis and opportune reduction of data to be transferred to the shore station for acquisition. A detailed description of the chosen architecture and the design principles of the blocks, that carry out the specialized function required by this architecture, will be given. The chips produced will be described and the test measurements performed will be shown.