Chen Liying, Li Bangtian, Cheng Chuantong
School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Detection Technology and System, Tianjin 300387, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2025 Jul 24;25(15):4589. doi: 10.3390/s25154589.
As the resolution and conversion speed of time-to-digital conversion (TDC) chips continue to improve, the bit error rate also increases, leading to a decrease in the linearity of TDC and seriously affecting measurement accuracy. This paper presents a high-linearity, low-power-consumption, and wide dynamic range TDC that was achieved based on the SMIC 180 nm BCD process. Compared with previous research methods, the proposed phase arbiter structure can eliminate sampling errors and improve the linearity of TDC. The preprocessing circuit can eliminate fixed errors caused by START and STOP signal transmission delays. Post-simulation results show that the TDC has high linearity, with ranges of DNL and INL being -0.98 LSB < DNL < 0.93 LSB and -0.88 LSB < INL < 0.95 LSB, respectively. The highest resolution is 156 ps, the maximum measurement time range is 1.2 μs, and the power consumption is 1.625 mW. The overall system architecture of TDC is very simple, and it can be applied to dToF LIDAR to measure photon flight time, capable of measuring a range of up to hundreds of meters, with an accuracy of 2.25 cm, high linearity, and without any post-processing or time calibration.
随着时间数字转换（TDC）芯片的分辨率和转换速度不断提高，误码率也随之增加，导致TDC的线性度下降，严重影响测量精度。本文提出了一种基于中芯国际180nm BCD工艺实现的高线性度、低功耗且宽动态范围的TDC。与以往的研究方法相比，所提出的相位仲裁器结构能够消除采样误差并提高TDC的线性度。预处理电路可以消除由START和STOP信号传输延迟引起的固定误差。后仿真结果表明，该TDC具有高线性度，其微分非线性（DNL）范围为-0.98 LSB < DNL < 0.93 LSB，积分非线性（INL）范围为-0.88 LSB < INL < 0.95 LSB。最高分辨率为156 ps，最大测量时间范围为1.2 μs，功耗为1.625 mW。TDC的整体系统架构非常简单，可应用于直接飞行时间（dToF）激光雷达以测量光子飞行时间，能够测量高达数百米的距离，精度为2.25 cm，线性度高，且无需任何后处理或时间校准。
