Implementation of high-resolution time-to-digital converter in 8-bit microcontrollers

Lars E Bengtsson

doi:10.1063/1.3700192

Implementation of high-resolution time-to-digital converter in 8-bit microcontrollers

Rev Sci Instrum. 2012 Apr;83(4):045107. doi: 10.1063/1.3700192.

Author

Lars E Bengtsson¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.

PMID: 22559576
DOI: 10.1063/1.3700192

Abstract

This paper will demonstrate how a time-to-digital converter (TDC) with sub-nanosecond resolution can be implemented into an 8-bit microcontroller using so called "direct" methods. This means that a TDC is created using only five bidirectional digital input-output-pins of a microcontroller and a few passive components (two resistors, a capacitor, and a diode). We will demonstrate how a TDC for the range 1-10 μs is implemented with 0.17 ns resolution. This work will also show how to linearize the output by combining look-up tables and interpolation.