A 120-dB Dynamic-Range, 24-ps-to-781-ps Resolution Reconfigurable Cyclic TDC Based on a 2× Time Amplifier for LiDAR Applications

This paper presents a reconfigurable cyclic time-to-digital converter (TDC) based on a 2× time amplifier (RCTA-TDC) for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) applications. A wide dynamic range (DR) is achieved by the proposed seamless reconfigurable technique, which avoids invalid measurement during mode transition through a synchronous refresh of the cyclic number of the TDC. Fabricated in a 180-nm CMOS process, the proposed TDC demonstrates a DR of 120 dB and offers a configurable resolution ranging from 24 ps to 781 ps. At the highest resolution mode, the differential nonlinearity (DNL) and integral nonlinearity (INL) are 0.5 LSB and 0.7 LSB, respectively. The TDC occupies an area of 0.0264 mm
²
with a power consumption of 2.2 mW from a 1.8-V power supply.