SIDECAR ASIC at ESO

Teledyne Imaging Sensors (TIS) has developed a CMOS device known as the SIDECAR application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This single chip provides all the functionality of FPA drive electronics to operate visible and infrared imaging detectors with a fully digital interface. A Teledyne 2K ×2K silicon PIN diode array hybridized to a Hawaii-2RG multiplexer, the Hybrid Visible Silicon Imager (HyViSI) was read out with the ESO standard IR detector controller IRACE, which delivers detector limited performance. We have tested the H2RG HyViSI detector with the TIS SIDECAR ASIC in 32 channel readout mode at cryogenic temperatures. The SIDECAR has been evaluated down to 105 Kelvin operating temperature and performance results have been compared to those obtained with external electronics. Furthermore ESO has developed its own interface card to replace the JADE USB card provided by Teledyne. The ASIC controller is now being embedded in the ESO standard VLT hard and software environment. This paper provides an update on the recent development of the new ESO ASIC interface card. We find that the SIDECAR ASIC provides performance equal to external electronics.