Charge-to-time converting leading-edge discriminator for plastic-scintillator signals

We have developed a charge-to-time converting (QTC) leading-edge discriminator for plastic-scintillator signals, which is packaged in a NIM-standard double-width module. The pulse width of the discriminator output is approximately proportional to the charge integration of input signals up to 40-50 pC. The non-linearity is 20%, 10%, 4%, and 2% at maximum for the input charges below 7 pC, for 7-10 pC, for 10-20 pC, and above 20 pC, respectively, for the minimum input charges larger than 2 pC. The discriminator could be suitable in the measurement of the timing and charge of plastic-scintillator signals together with a multi-hit time-to-digital converter (TDC) module.