A test strategy for time-to-digital converters using dynamic element matching and dithering

This work presents a cost-effective test structure that is applicable to built-in self-test of time-to-digital converters (TDCs). The proposed structure uses deterministic dynamic element matching and dithering to generate linear time interval excitations for precision TDC test. Transition time points of a TDC can be measured with picosecond accuracy by using the proposed strategy, which enables the test and calibration of TDCs used in jitter characterization of communications systems with multigigabit-per-second data rates.