US 11,720,066 B2
Time-to-digital converter and phase-locked loop
David Lachartre, Grenoble (FR)
Assigned to Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, Paris (FR)
Filed by Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, Paris (FR)
Filed on Sep. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/931,970.
Claims priority of application No. 2110080 (FR), filed on Sep. 24, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0102825 A1, Mar. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. G04F 10/00 (2006.01); H03L 7/093 (2006.01); H03M 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC G04F 10/005 (2013.01) [H03L 7/093 (2013.01); H03L 2207/50 (2013.01); H03M 3/458 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. Time-to-digital converter comprising:
a first circuit configured to supply, at each active edge of a first signal, a first pulse of duration determined by an interval between said active edge of the first signal and an immediately successive active edge of a second signal;
an integrator circuit configured, at each first pulse, to integrate:
the first pulse,
a second pulse starting after the first pulse and in synchronism with a clock signal, and
a third pulse starting after the second pulse and in synchronism with the clock signal;
a second circuit configured to generate, for each first pulse, the corresponding second pulse;
a third circuit configured to quantize over one bit an output signal of the integrator circuit and, at the beginning of each third pulse, store over a first bit said binary quantization; and
a fourth circuit configured to generate, for each first pulse, the third corresponding pulse based on the first bit,
wherein the second circuit is configured to receive the clock signal and to generate at least one third signal configured to control the storages by the third circuit and the generations of the third pulses by the fourth circuit, and
wherein the first circuit is configured to supply a fourth signal indicating a beginning and an end of each first pulse, the second circuit being configured to receive the fourth signal and to generate the third signal based on the clock signal and based on the fourth signal.