title: Monolithic time to amplitude converter for time correlated single photon counting.
abstract: Time correlated single photon counting techniques allow in depth examinations of very important chemical and biological processes involving complex interactions of biomolecules. Understanding of these processes is of the utmost importance to address vital medical issues such as the origin and growth of tumors. Modern developments of fluorescence analysis techniques require compact, low cost, and high performance instrumentation, and a major path to these goals is the successful integration of the electronics. In this paper we present a fully monolithic time to amplitude converter, built in standard 0.35 microm CMOS technology, characterized by good time resolution (60 ps), low differential nonlinearity (better than 0.5% rms), short dead time (80 ns), low power dissipation (60 mW), and low area occupation (1.8x1.4 mm(2)).
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Resnati
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rech
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gallivanoni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghioni
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D005246:Feedback; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D017785:Photons; D013997:Time Factors