An 8.8 ps RMS Resolution Time-To-Digital Converter Implemented in a 60 nm FPGA with Real-Time Temperature Correction

• Main Authors: Zhipeng Song, Zhixiang Zhao, Hongsen Yu, Jingwu Yang, Xi Zhang, Tengjie Sui, Jianfeng Xu, Siwei Xie, Qiu Huang, Qiyu Peng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: time-to-digital converter (TDC); field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA); non-uniform multiphase (NUMP) method; temperature correction
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2172

This paper presented a non-uniform multiphase (NUMP) time-to-digital converter (TDC) implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with real-time automatic temperature compensation. NUMP-TDC is a novel, low-cost, high-performance TDC that has achieved an excellent performance in Altera Cyclone V FPGA. The root mean square (RMS) for the intrinsic timing resolution was 2.3 ps. However, the propagation delays in the delay chain of some FPGAs (for example, the Altera Cyclone 10 LP) vary significantly as the temperature changes. Thus, the timing performances of NUMP-TDCs implemented in those FPGAs are significantly impacted by temperature fluctuations. In this study, a simple method was developed to monitor variations in propagation delays using two registers deployed at both ends of the delay chain and compensate for changes in propagation delay using a look-up table (LUT). When the variations exceeded a certain threshold, the LUT for the delay correction was updated, and a bin-by-bin correction was launched. Using this correction approach, a resolution of 8.8 ps RMS over a wide temperature range (5 °C to 80 °C) had been achieved in a NUMP-TDC implemented in a Cyclone 10 LP FPGA.