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Utra-High Resolution Multi-Hit Time-to-Digital Converter--Hypres, Inc., 175 Clearbrook Road, Elmsford, NY 10523-1109; 914-592-1190
Dr. Alex Kirchenko, Principal Investigator
Dr. Elie K. Track, Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-98ER82595
Amount: $600,000
Time-of-flight (TOF) determination for particles in high energy physics experiments requires electronics, especially time-to-digital converters (TDCs) with sufficient dynamic range and precision to resolve the time difference of the events of interest. The best commercially available TDCs have a performance level that is insufficient for a number of high-energy physics experiments. In order to address this insufficiency, a radiation- hard, time-to-digital converter with a 2 ps time resolution is being developed. This TDC chip will be cryo-packaged and integrated with micro-channel-plate detectors to form an ultra-high resolution, time-of-flight (TOF) system. During Phase I, a TDC analog prescaler based on a time vernier synchronizer was designed, fabricated, and tested. Its ability to resolve time intervals with 2 ps accuracy, using a 15GHz clock, was also demonstrated. A complete, single-hit TDC chip consisting of a fine, analog prescaler and a coarse, 14-bit TDC were also fabricated. Phase II will demonstrate a multi-hit, TDC chip with a 2 ps time resolution, develop user interface electronics, and cryopackage the TDC chip. A prototype TOF system will also be assembled, by combining the TDC chip with the user interface and fast micro-channel-plate detectors. The entire TOF system will then be tested and evaluated.
Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The proposed TDC should provide unprecedented time resolution, which will benefit high- energy physics experiments. The TDC should also improve the performance of military electronic warfare systems and commercial modulation domain instrumentation for communications.