A Novel Cyclic Time to Digital Converter Based on Triple-Slope Interpolation and Time Amplification

Abstract

This paper investigates a novel cyclic time-todigital converter (TDC) which employs triple-slope analog interpolation and time amplification techniques for digitizing the time interval between the rising edges of two input signals (Start and Stop). The proposed converter will be a 9-bit cyclic time-to-digital converter that does not use delay lines in its structure. Therefore, it has a low sensitivity to temperature, power supply and process (PVT) variations. The other advantages of the proposed converter are low circuit complexity, and high accuracy compared with the time-to-digital converters that have previously been proposed. This converter also improves the time resolution and the dynamic range. In the same resolution, linear range and dynamic range, the proposed cyclic TDC reduces the number of circuit elements compared with the converters that have a similar circuit structure. Thus, the converter reduces the chip area, the power consumption and the figure of merit (FoM). In this converter, the integral nonlinearity (INL) and differential nonlinearity (DNL) errors are reduced. In order to evaluate the idea, the proposed time-to-digital converter is designed in TSMC 45 nm CMOS technology and simulated. Comparison of the theoretical and simulation results confirms the benefits of the proposed TDC.

A 4 Bit Time to Digital Converter Design Based on Flash Structure

“…Bir sinyalin zaman bilgisi zaman-sayısal dönüştürücü(Z/S D)(Time-to-Digital Converter(TDC)) yardımı ile belirlenebilir. Son yıllarda özellikle zaman sinyali test ve ölçümü yapan cihazlarda, biyo-kimyasal sensör kullanan okuma devrelerinde, kapasitif sensör okuma devrelerinde, hassas zaman aralığı ölçümü gerektiren yüksek enerjili parçacık dedektörlerinde, lazer ile mesafe ölçme, lazer ile tarama yapan görüntü sistemlerinde ve frekans sentezleme devrelerinde sıklıkla kullanılmaktadır [2][3][4][5]. Z/S dönüştürücüler, özellikle faz kilitlemeli çevrim(FKÇ(PLL)) devrelerinin önemli bir parçası olup, burada FKÇ'in faz dedektörlüğünü yaparlar [6].…”