Circuits for on-chip sub-nanosecond signal capture and characterization

Abstract

Two circuits for performing on-chip subnanosecond signal measurements are presented. The first is an on-chip digitizer capable of capturing high-bandwidth arbitrary periodic signals, The second is a specialized jitter measurement structure based on a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC). Both circuits were successfully implemented in a 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS process. The digitizer is capable of capturing signals at an effective sampling rate of 1.6 GWz, while the jitter measurement device can measure jitter with an 18 ps resolution.