Mca 8000d Digital Multichannel Analyzer Specifications
Mca 8000d Digital Multichannel Analyzer Specifications
Mca 8000d Digital Multichannel Analyzer Specifications
SPECIFICATIONS
Power Pulse Processing Pulse peaking time ≥ 500 ns to meet
Times specifications.
Operating Power 2 W.
Peak Detection First Peak After Threshold (V1)
Power Sources Power: +5V at 0.4A
Input range: +4V to +5.5V (0.5 to 0.4A Modes (See
typical) Power source: USB power or Figure 3)
AC/DC adapter (supplied) Absolute Peak Above Threshold (V2)
Connections Acquisition Modes MCA and MCS (multichannel scaling) down
Input The analog input accepts positive unipolar to 10 ms/channel.
or bipolar semigaussian type pulses of Differential <±0.6% from 15 mV to full scale.
shaping time constants ≥200 ns or peaking Nonlinearity
time Integral <±0.02% over full scale.
≥ 500 ns. See Figures 1 and 2. Nonlinearity
The dynamic range is 0 to +1 V or 0 to +10 Gain Stability Gain ±10 ppm/ºC.; Zero drift ±10 ppm/ºC.
V, software selectable. Minimum pulse (typical)
height is 5 mV. Low Level Software selectable threshold, in
Discriminator increments of one channel
Input impedance is 1 kΩ or 100 kΩ
(options at purchase). The input has
Counts per Maximum = 16.7 x 106 counts (3 bytes).
Channel
overload protection up to ±20 V.
Data acquisition real or live time preset in
The DC level of the input signal must be multiples of one second. Maximum preset
zero. Real and Live time 16777215 (224 - 1) seconds. Shorter or
Gates The MCA-8000D has two logic gates. GATE1 Timers non-integer accumulation times can be
is generally used to synchronize acquisition
achieved by gating the input signal with
with external hardware while GATE2 is
Gate 1 or Gate 2.
generally used for pileup rejection.
Real and Live Time: 4,294,967.29 s (0.01 s
USB: Standard USB Mini-B jack. Ethernet:
precision); 999,999.999 s (0.001 s precision).
Interface (I/O) Standard Ethernet jack. Acquisition Time: 99,999,999.9 s (0.1 s
RS232: Standard 2.5 mm stereo audio precision) Preset Counts: 4,294,967,295
jack. Power Center positive 5.5 mm x 2.1 (232-1) in channel or ROI
mm plug.
RS232: 115 Kbaud.
echanical
Interface USB: Standard 2.0 full speed (12
Weight <165 g
Mbps). Ethernet: Standard 10
Dimensions 5 x 2.8 x 0.8 in (125 x 71 x 20 mm).
base-T.
Performance Characteristics
Operating -20ºC to +60ºC.
High speed 100 MHz, 16 bit ADC with
digital pulse height measurement. Temperature
Pulse-Height
Exterior Controls and Indicators
Digitizer Input ranges of 0 to 1V or 0 to 10V
Steady red light: power is ON and no data
(software selectable) Number of channels
Status Light acquisition in progress.
commandable to 256, 512, 1k, 2k, 4k, or 8k Flashing red light: data acquisition mode.
channels
Rev B2
OPERATING NOTES
Amptek’s MCA8000D is one component in a complete pulse height analysis system. Figure 3 illustrates a typical system: the
radiation detector is connected to a charge sensitive preamplifier, which is connected to a shaping amplifier. The output of the shaping
amplifier is a pulse with peak amplitude proportional to the energy deposited in the detector. The MCA measures the amplitude of the
peak and produces a histogram representing the pulse height spectrum.
This histogram, an integer array of the number of events in each pulse
height channel, is the primary output of the MCA and is transferred to a
computer over USB, Ethernet, or RS232 interfaces.
Amptek’s MCA8000D does not include pulse shaping circuitry but
only the MCA circuitry. The MCA8000D must be preceded by pulse
shaping circuits. Figures 1 and 2 show typical pulse shapes in- put to the
MCA8000D. Amptek, Inc has other products (including the DP5, DP5G,
PX5, and PX5-HPGe) which include both pulse shaping and MCA
circuitry. These use digital pulse processing for the very best performance.
Please contact Amptek, Inc for information on these inte- grated systems.
Note that some manufacturers use the term “MCA” for modules which include both the pulse shaping and the traditional MCA functions.
Amptek’s MCA8000D is most often used to measure the energy
spectrum from a radiation detector, where the pulse height is proportional to energy but can be used in other applications. For example,
instruments used to monitor cleanrooms produce an output pulse proportional to the size of the particle, so the MCA8000D is used to
measure the particle size spectrum. Some radiation detection systems used in timing produce a pulse height proportional to the time
between events (using a time to amplitude converter), so the MCA8000D yields a timing spectrum.
SOFTWARE
The MCA8000D can be controlled by the Amptek DPPMCA display and acquisition software. This software sets the configuration
(number of channels, input range, etc), can start and stop acquisitions, can display the spectra, and supports basic analysis functions
such as defining regions of interest (ROI), performing calibrations, peak searching, and so on. Data are saved in an ASCII file format.
The DPPMCA software is also used with Amptek’s digital pulse processors, including the DP5, Gamma-Rad5, PX5, etc.
The MCA8000D comes with a complete Software Development Kit (SDK). The user can use this platform to easily develop soft-
ware to control the MCA for custom applications or to interface it to a larger system. Examples are provided in VB, VC++, etc. The
standard DPPMCA software runs only on Windows operating systems but users can develop interface software running on Linux or
other operating systems using documentation and sample code which are provided.
ADVANCED ANALYSES
The pulse height spectrum is the primary output from the MCA8000D. It can also be used in a “multichannel scaling” mode to
record count rate vs time (down to 10 ms/channel).
1
Sommer, H.T. “IMPLEMENTING PARTICLE COUNTER CALIBRATION PER ISO
11171-1999.”; TEAM Service, Inc., P.O. Box 220, Merlin, OR 97532, (541)476-4744,
[email protected]; Copyright Society of Automotive Engineers
Rev B2