Accurate and low jitter time-interval generators based on phase shifting method

Abstract

The paper describes two time-interval generators based on the phase shifting method. The first one utilizes the digital clock manager units integrated in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device and has jitter below 65 ps (rms) over the range of 4 ns-50 ms, while the second one utilizes a separate direct digital synthesizer and has jitter below 15 ps (rms) over the range of 10.2 ns-50 ms. The phase shifting method can be used to design new low-cost and high-precision time-interval generators using the popular FPGA technology.