• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.185-191
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• 2018

In this paper, an improved Norton amplifier is proposed and the problems caused by the current input in the Norton amplifier, which has advantages in current transmission, are analyzed. The output of the voltage follower consisting of an operational-amplifier with constant output voltage characteristics is used as an input terminal of the proposed circuit. It is configured to detect the power supply current passing through the voltage follower and extract the current from the input terminal. The performance of the improved Norton amplifier is verified at experiment according to the input current. The results are compared with conventional Norton amplifier. Consequently, the input offset voltage, which is a problem in the conventional Norton amplifier, was removed in the proposed circuit. In addition, the average error of the output voltage with respect to the input current was reduced to 4.755%. It is verified that the characteristics of the proposed circuit are improved.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.82-90
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• 2011

A novel class AB current subtracter(CS) and its application to Norton amplifier(NA) for low-power current-mode signal processing are designed. The CS is composed of a translinear cell, two current mirrors, and two common-emitter(CB) amplifiers. The principle of the current subtraction is that the difference of two input current applied translinear cell get from the current mirror, and then the current amplify through CB amplifier with ${\beta}$ times. The NA is consisted of the CS and wideband voltage buffer. The simulation results show that the CS has current input impedance of $20{\Omega}$, current gain of 50, and current input range of $i_{IN1}$ > $i_{IN2}{\geq}4I_B$. The NA has unit gain frequency of 312 MHz, transresistance of 130 dB, and power dissipation of 4mW at ${\pm}2.5V$ supply voltage.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.100-109
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• 1999

Purpose: Preamplifier and amplifier are very important parts for developing a portable counting or imaging gamma probe. They can be used for analyzing pulses containing energy and position information for the emitted radiations. The commercial Nuclear Instrument Modules (NIMs) can be used for processing these pulses. However, it may be improper to use NIMs in developing a portable gamma probe, because of its size and high price. The purpose of this study was to develop both preamplifier and amplifier and measure their performance characteristics. Materials and Methods: The preamplifier and amplifier were designed as a charge sensitive device and a capacitor resistor-resistor capacitor (CR-RC) electronic circuit, respectively, and they were mounted on a print circuit board (PCB). We acquired and analyzed energy spectra for Tc-99m and Cs-137 using both PCB and NIMs. Multichannel analyzer (Accuspec/A, Canberra Industries Inc., Meriden Connecticut, U.S.A) and scintillation detectors (EP-047(Bicron Saint-Gobain/Norton Industrial EP-047 (Ceramics Co., Ohio, U.S.A) with $2"{\times}2"$ NaI(T1) crystal and R1535 (Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Electron Tube Center, Shizuoka-ken, Japan) with $1"{\times}1"$ NaI(T1) crystal were used for acquiring the energy spectra. Results: Using PCB, energy resolutions of EP-047 detectors for Tc-99m and Cs-137 were 12.92% and 5.01%, respectively, whereas R1535 showed 13.75% and 5.19% of energy resolution. Using the NIM devices, energy resolutions of EP-047 detector for Tc-99m and Cs-137 were measured as 14.6% and 7.58%, respectively. However, reliable energy spectrum of R1535 detector could not be acquired, since its photomultiplier tube (PMT) requires a specific type of preamplifier. Conclusion: We developed a special preamplifier and amplifier suitable for a small sized gamma probe that showed good energy resolutions independent of PMT types. The results indicate that the PCB can be used in developing both counting and imaging gamma probe.