TY - GEN
T1 - Design and assessment of a 6 ps-resolution time-to-digital converter with 5 MGy gamma-dose tolerance for nuclear instrumentation
AU - Cao, Ying
AU - Leroux, Paul
AU - De Cock, Wouter
AU - Steyaert, Michiel
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Time-to-Digital Converters (TDCs) are key building blocks in time-based mixed-signal systems, used for the digitization of analog signals in time domain. A short survey on state-of-the-art TDCs is given. In order to realize a TDC with picosecond time resolution as well as multi MGy gamma-dose radiation tolerance, a novel multi-stage noise-shaping (MASH) delta-sigma (ΔΣ) TDC structure is proposed. The converter, implemented in 0.13 μm, achieves a time resolution of 5.6 ps and an ENOB of 11 bits, when the oversampling ratio (OSR) is 250. The TDC core consumes only 1.7 mW, and occupies an area of 0.11 mm 2. Owing to the usage of circuit level radiation hardened-by-design techniques, such as passive RC oscillators and constant-g m biasing, the TDC exhibits enhanced radiation tolerance. At a low dose rate of 1.2 kGy/h, the frequency of the counting clock in the TDC remains constant up to at least 160 kGy. Even after a total dose of 3.4 MGy at a high dose rate of 30 kGy/h, the TDC still achieves a time resolution of 10.5 ps with an OSR of 250.
AB - Time-to-Digital Converters (TDCs) are key building blocks in time-based mixed-signal systems, used for the digitization of analog signals in time domain. A short survey on state-of-the-art TDCs is given. In order to realize a TDC with picosecond time resolution as well as multi MGy gamma-dose radiation tolerance, a novel multi-stage noise-shaping (MASH) delta-sigma (ΔΣ) TDC structure is proposed. The converter, implemented in 0.13 μm, achieves a time resolution of 5.6 ps and an ENOB of 11 bits, when the oversampling ratio (OSR) is 250. The TDC core consumes only 1.7 mW, and occupies an area of 0.11 mm 2. Owing to the usage of circuit level radiation hardened-by-design techniques, such as passive RC oscillators and constant-g m biasing, the TDC exhibits enhanced radiation tolerance. At a low dose rate of 1.2 kGy/h, the frequency of the counting clock in the TDC remains constant up to at least 160 kGy. Even after a total dose of 3.4 MGy at a high dose rate of 30 kGy/h, the TDC still achieves a time resolution of 10.5 ps with an OSR of 250.
KW - CMOS
KW - Delta-sigma
KW - Gamma-dose radiation
KW - MASH
KW - Noise-shaping
KW - Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC)
KW - Total Ionizing Dose (TID)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860787081&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ANIMMA.2011.6172906
DO - 10.1109/ANIMMA.2011.6172906
M3 - In-proceedings paper
AN - SCOPUS:84860787081
SN - 9781457709265
T3 - ANIMMA 2011 - Proceedings: 2nd International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation, Measurement Methods and their Applications
BT - ANIMMA 2011 - Proceedings
T2 - 2011 - ANIMMA - Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications
Y2 - 6 June 2011 through 9 June 2011
ER -