A 41 ps ASIC time-to-digital converter for physics experiments

We present a novel Time-to-Digital (TDC) converter for physics experiments. Proposed TDC is based on a synchronous counter and an asynchronous fine interpolator. The fine part of the measurement is obtained using NORA inverters that provide improved resolution. A prototype IC was fabricated in 180 nm CMOS technology. Experimental measurements show that proposed TDC features 41 ps resolution associated with 0.35LSB differential non-linearity, 0.77LSB integral non-linearity and a negligible single shot precision. The whole dynamic range is equal to 18μs. The proposed TDC is designed using a flash architecture that reduces dead time. Data reported in the paper show that our design is well suited for present and future particle physics experiments.