This paper reports a programmable 400 μm pitch neural spike recording channel, fabricated in a 130 nm standard CMOS technology, which implements amplification, filtering, digitization, analog spike detection plus feature extraction, and self-calibration functionalities. It can operate in two different output modes: 1) signal tracking, in which the neural signal is sampled and transmitted as raw data; and 2) feature extraction, in which the spikes of the neural signal are detected and encoded by piece-wise linear curves. Additionally, the channel offers a foreground calibration procedure in which the amplification gain and the passband of the embedded filter can be self-adjusted. The amplification stage obtains a noise efficiency factor of 2.16 and an input referred noise of 2.84 μVrms over a nominal bandwidth of 167 Hz-6.9 kHz. The channel includes a reconfigurable 8-bit analog-to-digital converter combined with a 3-bit controlled programmable gain amplifier for adjusting the input signal to the full scale range of the converter. This combined block achieves an overall energy consumption per conversion of 102 fJ at 90 kS/s. The energy consumed by the circuit elements which are strictly related to the digitization process is 14.12 fJ at the same conversion rate. The complete channel consumes 2.8 μW at 1.2 V voltage supply when operated in the signal tracking mode, and 3.1 μW when the feature extraction mode is enabled.

A search for heavy resonances decaying into a pair of Z bosons leading to + − + − and + − νν final states, where stands for either an electron or a muon, is presented. The search uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 collected with the ATLAS detector during 2015 and 2016 at the Large Hadron Collider. Different mass ranges for the hypothetical resonances are considered, depending on the final state and model. The different ranges span between 200 and 2000 GeV. The results are interpreted as upper limits on the production cross section of a spin-0 or spin-2 resonance. The upper limits for the spin-0 resonance are translated to exclusion contours in the context of Type-I and Type-II two-Higgs-doublet models, while those for the spin-2 resonance are used to constrain the Randall-Sundrum model with an extra dimension giving rise to spin-2 graviton excitations. IntroductionIn 2012, the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at the LHC discovered a new particle [1,2], an important milestone in the understanding of the mechanism of electroweak (EW) symmetry breaking [3][4][5]. Both experiments have confirmed that the spin, parity and couplings of the new particle are consistent with those predicted for the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson [6][7][8] (denoted by h throughout this paper). They measured its mass to be m h = 125.09 ± 0.21(stat) ± 0.11(syst) GeV [9] and reported recently on a combination of measurements of its couplings to other SM particles [10].One important question is whether the newly discovered particle is part of an extended scalar sector as postulated by various extensions to the Standard Model such as the twoHiggs-doublet model (2HDM) [11]. These extensions predict additional Higgs bosons, motivating searches in an extended range of mass.This paper reports on two searches for a heavy resonance decaying into two SM Z bosons, encompassing the final states Z Z → + − + − and Z Z → + − νν where stands for either an electron or a muon and ν stands for all three neu- It is assumed that an additional Higgs boson (denoted as H throughout this paper) would be produced predominantly via gluon-gluon fusion (ggF) and vector-boson fusion (VBF) processes, but that the ratio of the two production mechanisms is unknown in the absence of a specific model. For this reason, the results are interpreted separately for the ggF and VBF production modes, with events being classified into ggF-and VBF-enriched categories in both final states, as discussed in Sects. 5 and 6. With good mass resolution and a high signal-to-background ratio, the + − + − final state is well suited to a search for a narrow resonance with mass m H between 200 GeV and 1200 GeV. The + − νν search covers the 300 GeV < m H < 1400 GeV range and dominates at high masses due to its larger branching ratio.These searches look for an excess in distributions of the four-lepton invariant mass, m 4 , for the + − + − final state, and the transverse invariant mass, m T , for t...

A measurement of the production of a prompt J/ψ meson in association with a W ± boson with W ± → µν and J/ψ → µ + µ − is presented for J/ψ transverse momenta in the range 8.5-150 GeV and rapidity |y J/ψ | < 2.1 using ATLAS data recorded in 2012 at the LHC. The data were taken at a proton-proton centre-of-mass energy of √ s = 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb −1. The ratio of the prompt J/ψ plus W ± cross-section to the inclusive W ± cross-section is presented as a differential measurement as a function of J/ψ transverse momenta and compared with theoretical predictions using different double-parton-scattering cross-sections.

This paper reports an integrated 64-channel neural spike recording sensor, together with all the circuitry to process and configure the channels, process the neural data, transmit via a wireless link the information and receive the required instructions. Neural signals are acquired, filtered, digitized and compressed in the channels. Additionally, each channel implements an auto-calibration algorithm which individually configures the transfer characteristics of the recording site. The system has two transmission modes; in one case the information captured by the channels is sent as uncompressed raw data; in the other, feature vectors extracted from the detected neural spikes are released. Data streams coming from the channels are serialized by the embedded digital processor. Experimental results, including in vivo measurements, show that the power consumption of the complete system is lower than 330 μW.

This paper analyzes the impact of parasitic capacitances in the performance of split capacitive‐based digital‐to‐analog converter arrays and presents a procedure for the optimal sizing of these structures for given linearity specifications. It also demonstrates that parasitics are often the main responsible for the nonlinear behavior of these arrays, particularly for low‐to‐medium resolution converters. In order to validate the analysis, two versions of a complete low‐power, low‐voltage successive‐approximation register analog‐to‐digital converter (ADC), intended for a disposable multi‐channel bio‐medical monitoring system, have been fabricated in a 0.35 µm standard complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor technology. The only difference between these two prototypes is that in one of them, the capacitive array is surrounded by dummy capacitors, while in the other prototype is not. Hence, the former achieves better mismatch performance at the expense of increased parasitics. The experimental results demonstrate that the version without dummy capacitors obtains higher effective resolution than the ADC with dummies, the power consumption being essentially the same for both prototypes, namely: 130nW at 2kS/s from a 1‐V supply. These results are in full agreement with the analysis reported in the paper and confirm the proposed sizing procedure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.