What does this research mean for the field?

A novel time-to-digital converter (TDC) architecture utilizing a phase arbiter and preprocessing circuit achieves high linearity, 156 ps resolution, and low power consumption for direct time-of-flight (dToF) LIDAR sensors without requiring post-processing. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.METHODOLOGICAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

July 24, 2025Open Access

Arrayable TDC with Voltage-Controlled Ring Oscillator for dToF Image Sensors

Key Points

Key points are not available for this paper at this time.

Abstract

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.

Ask AI

Helpful

Bookmark

View Full Paper