Spectrum Techniques ICS-PCI, User Manual

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5
Introduction
The ICS-PCI is designed for spectroscopy applications, the Integrated Computer Spectrometer offers complete support
for standard scintillation detectors together with multichannel scaling for decay and time related studies.
Constructed on a single PC compatible plug-in card, the multichannel analyzer contains many advanced features
including computer controlled amplifier and high voltage for PM tubes, upper and lower level discriminators, on-card data
memory, and a comprehensive software package for use under Windows.
The ICS-PCI requires only a single PCI card slot and is designed for installation in most types of IBM compatible
computers with a minimum of 512K of memory and EGA or VGA graphics. For stability and low noise operation, critical
power is regenerated on the card from the computer power using high efficiency converters. An on-board microprocessor
acts as the master controller and data storage device, as well as the communication link directly to the PC bus.
The integrated amplifier and high voltage are fully compatible with most standard scintillation detectors eliminating the
need for special tube bases and external modules. For ease of setup and calibration, coarse gain, fine gain, high voltage,
and lower and upper level discriminator settings are controlled directly from the PC. For operation with other types of
detector systems such as alpha spectrometers or single photon counting, a selector is provided to bypass the scintillation
amplifier and allow direct access to the ADC.
A 1024 to 4096 channel ADC, depending on the card model, with derandomizing buffer offers excellent data throughput at
high counting rates with minimal dead-time losses. Conversion gain may be changed from 4096, 2048, 1024, to 512, or
256 channels via the software. Data from the ADC is stored directly in on-board memory for autonomy and high speed
operation, freeing the host PC for other tasks.