Implementation of high-resolution time-to-digital converter in 8-bit microcontrollers

This paper will demonstrate how a time-to-digital converter (TDC) with sub-nanosecond resolution can be implemented into an 8-bit microcontroller using so called "direct" methods. This means that a TDC is created using only five bidirectional digital input-output-pins of a microcontroller and a few passive components (two resistors, a capacitor, and a diode). We will demonstrate how a TDC for the range 1-10 mu s is implemented with 0.17 ns resolution. This work will also show how to linearize the output by combining look-up tables and interpolation. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3700192]