First irradiation tests results of the ALICE TPC Readout Control Unit 2

This paper will present the first results from irradiation tests performed on the ALICE TPC Readout Control Unit 2 (RCU2). The RCU2 is developed in order to double the readout speed with respect to the present RCU1, which then will fulfil the requirements for LHC RUN2. While the present RCU1 is based on an SRAM based FPGA, whose configuration memory has shown to be sensitive to single event upsets, the newly released Flash-based Smartfusion2 FPGA from Microsemi has been chosen for the RCU2

RCU2-The ALICE TPC readout electronics consolidation for Run2

This paper presents the solution for optimization of the ALICE TPC readout for running at full energy in the Run2 period after 2014. For the data taking with heavy ion beams an event readout rate of 400 Hz with a low dead time is envisaged for the ALICE central barrel detectors during these three years. A new component, the Readout Control Unit 2 (RCU2), is being designed to increase the present readout rate by a factor of up to 2.6. The immunity to radiation induced errors will also be significantly improved by the new design