A high resolution TDC in TKO box system
A 16-channel time-to-digital-converter (TDC) module with better than 15-ps resolution was developed in a TKO package. The circuit has also a very low temperature coefficient (typically 40 ppm/ degrees C), so that the requirement on the ambient temperature is not critical despite its ultrahigh resolution. The circuit can withstand a repetition rate of 400 kHz with a maximum of one count error in 12-bit full scale. Twelve TDC modules (192 channels) have been in operation for over half a year at the TRISTAN VENUS experiment without any failure. >