Gated Ring Oscillator Time Amplifier with Pico-Second Sensitivity and Applications in All-Digital Variable-Gain Time Integrator

A gated ring oscillator time amplifier (GROTA) featuring a well-defined programmable gain, the ability to amplify a pico-second input, an unlimited range of gain, and full compatibility with technology is proposed. The transfer characteristics of the GROTA and a time offset tuning mechanism enabling the amplification of a pico-second input are presented. The characteristics and impact of supply noise and device noise are studied. A variable-gain time integrator consisting of the proposed GROTA and a bi-directional gated ring oscillator (BD-GRO) time integrator is developed and its silicon implementation in TSMC 120 nm 1.2 V CMOS is provided with simulation results.