Note: Fully integrated time-to-amplitude converter in Si-Ge technology

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Integrated Circuits
• Scientific Instrumentation

Background:

• Growing interest in time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) for analyzing fast, weak light waveforms.
• TCSPC requires high-resolution, low-differential nonlinearity time measurement blocks for multidimensional systems.
• Advancements in photodetectors enable parallel channel acquisition systems for TCSPC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a fully integrated time-to-amplitude converter (TAC) for TCSPC applications.
• To achieve high performance in time resolution, differential nonlinearity, and counting rate.
• To reduce cost and area occupation for multidimensional TCSPC systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of a fully integrated TAC using 0.35 μm Si-Ge technology.
• Characterization of the TAC's time resolution, differential nonlinearity, and counting rate.
• Evaluation of power dissipation and area occupation.

Main Results:

• Achieved a time resolution of 60 ps.
• Demonstrated low differential nonlinearity (better than 3% peak to peak).
• Reached a high counting rate of 16 MHz with low power dissipation (40 mW) and small area (1.38×1.28 mm²).

Conclusions:

• The integrated TAC meets the demanding requirements for advanced TCSPC systems.
• The developed technology enables cost-effective and compact multidimensional TCSPC instrumentation.
• This advancement supports broader applications of TCSPC in fields like medicine and chemistry.