Title :
A high resolution time measurement system
Author :
Yamaguchi, Yuji ; Koyanagi, Nobuo ; Katano, Kazuya
Author_Institution :
Yokogawa Electr. Corp., Tokyo, Japan
Abstract :
A high-resolution, less than 1-ps, time measurement system (TMS) has been developed using a time-to-voltage (T/V) conversion interpolation technique. In order to accomplish the high-resolution measurement, the authors developed two specific techniques. One is the generation of an accurate interpolation pulse from the measured signal that is realized by the emitter-coupled logic (ECL)-gate-array. The other is the T/V converter which converts the pulse width to the corresponding voltage to thereby measure the pulse width. The T/V converter consists of current switches, and integrated capacitor and a buffer amplifier. The switched current charges the capacitor during the time that the interpolation pulse is on a high level. In this conversion, high-speed and accurate analog circuit design are being used, and therefore a 1-ps time resolution and a less than 10-ps linearity error are obtained. The system is composed of a wideband input amplifier, a 16-b microprocessor and a highly stabilized oscillator. The total RMS jitter using this system is less than 15-ps, and single-shot resolution is less than 1 ps. TMS has many applications, for example, time interval measurement, jitter analysis, measurement of frequency stability, etc
Keywords :
computerised instrumentation; convertors; emitter-coupled logic; interpolation; microcomputer applications; time measurement; buffer amplifier; current switches; emitter-coupled logic; high resolution time measurement; integrated capacitor; interpolation pulse; jitter analysis; logic gate array; measurement of frequency stability; microprocessor; switched current charges; time interval measurement; time to voltage convertor; Capacitors; Frequency measurement; Interpolation; Jitter; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse generation; Pulse measurements; Pulse width modulation converters; Signal resolution; Time measurement;
Conference_Titel :
Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, 1991. IMTC-91. Conference Record., 8th IEEE
Conference_Location :
Atlanta, GA
Print_ISBN :
0-87942-579-2
DOI :
10.1109/IMTC.1991.161670