Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting

Digital histogram generation for time-resolved measurements with single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensors requires the storage of many timestamp signals. This work presents a mixed-signal time-to-digital converter (TDC) that uses analog storage to achieve an area-efficient design that can be int...

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Autores: Moreno Martín, Sergio, Moro, Victor, Canals Gil, Joan, Diéguez Barrientos, Àngel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/220827
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827
http://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Fotons
Fluorescència
Punts quàntics
Photons
Fluorescence
Quantum dots
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spelling Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon CountingMoreno Martín, SergioMoro, VictorCanals Gil, JoanDiéguez Barrientos, ÀngelFotonsFluorescènciaPunts quànticsPhotonsFluorescenceQuantum dotsDigital histogram generation for time-resolved measurements with single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensors requires the storage of many timestamp signals. This work presents a mixed-signal time-to-digital converter (TDC) that uses analog storage to achieve an area-efficient design that can be integrated in large SPAD arrays. Fabricated using a 150 nm CMOS process, the prototype occupies an area of only 18.3 µm × 36.5 µm, a notable size reduction compared to conventional designs. The experimental results demonstrated high performance, with an integral nonlinearity (INL) of 0.35/0.14 least significant bit (LSB) and a differential nonlinearity (DNL) of 0.14/−0.12 LSB. In addition, the proposed TDC can support the construction of histograms comprising up to 512 bins, making it an effective solution to accommodate a wide range of resolution requirements. Validated in a point-of-care (PoC) device for fluorescence lifetime measurements, it distinguished between lifetimes of approximately 4.1 ns, 3.6 ns and 80 ns with the Alexa Fluor (AF) 546 and 568 dyes and Quantum Dot (QD) 705, respectively. The analog storage design and area-efficient architecture offer a novel approach to integrating TDCs in SPAD-based systems, with potential applications in medical diagnostics and beyond.MDPI2025202520242025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion14 p.application/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827http://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3390/s24175763Sensors, 2024, vol. 24, num.17, p. 1-14https://doi.org/10.3390/s24175763cc-by (c) Moreno, S. et al., 2024http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:2445/2208272026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
title Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
spellingShingle Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
Moreno Martín, Sergio
Fotons
Fluorescència
Punts quàntics
Photons
Fluorescence
Quantum dots
title_short Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
title_full Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
title_fullStr Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
title_full_unstemmed Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
title_sort Area-Efficient Mixed-Signal Time-to-Digital Converter Integration for Time-Resolved Photon Counting
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Moreno Martín, Sergio
Moro, Victor
Canals Gil, Joan
Diéguez Barrientos, Àngel
author Moreno Martín, Sergio
author_facet Moreno Martín, Sergio
Moro, Victor
Canals Gil, Joan
Diéguez Barrientos, Àngel
author_role author
author2 Moro, Victor
Canals Gil, Joan
Diéguez Barrientos, Àngel
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Fotons
Fluorescència
Punts quàntics
Photons
Fluorescence
Quantum dots
topic Fotons
Fluorescència
Punts quàntics
Photons
Fluorescence
Quantum dots
description Digital histogram generation for time-resolved measurements with single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensors requires the storage of many timestamp signals. This work presents a mixed-signal time-to-digital converter (TDC) that uses analog storage to achieve an area-efficient design that can be integrated in large SPAD arrays. Fabricated using a 150 nm CMOS process, the prototype occupies an area of only 18.3 µm × 36.5 µm, a notable size reduction compared to conventional designs. The experimental results demonstrated high performance, with an integral nonlinearity (INL) of 0.35/0.14 least significant bit (LSB) and a differential nonlinearity (DNL) of 0.14/−0.12 LSB. In addition, the proposed TDC can support the construction of histograms comprising up to 512 bins, making it an effective solution to accommodate a wide range of resolution requirements. Validated in a point-of-care (PoC) device for fluorescence lifetime measurements, it distinguished between lifetimes of approximately 4.1 ns, 3.6 ns and 80 ns with the Alexa Fluor (AF) 546 and 568 dyes and Quantum Dot (QD) 705, respectively. The analog storage design and area-efficient architecture offer a novel approach to integrating TDCs in SPAD-based systems, with potential applications in medical diagnostics and beyond.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827
http://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827
http://hdl.handle.net/2445/220827
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3390/s24175763
Sensors, 2024, vol. 24, num.17, p. 1-14
https://doi.org/10.3390/s24175763
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Moreno, S. et al., 2024
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Moreno, S. et al., 2024
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 14 p.
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.812429

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