A Time-Domain z−1 Circuit with Digital Calibration

This paper presents a novel circuit of a z−1 operation which is suitable, as a basic building block, for time-domain topologies and signal processing. The proposed circuit employs a time register circuit which is based on the capacitor discharging method. The large variation of the capacitor discharging slope over technology process and chip temperature variations which affect the z−1 accuracy is improved using a novel digital calibration loop. The circuit is designed using a 28 nm Samsung FD-SOI process under 1 V supply voltage with 5 MHz sampling frequency. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis presenting a variation of capacitor voltage discharging slope less than 5% over worst-case process corners for temperature between 0 °C and 100 °C while consuming only 30 μA. Also, the worst-case accuracy of z−1 operation is better than 33 ps for input pulse widths between 5 ns and 45 ns presenting huge improvement compared with the uncalibrated operator.

Cascoded GaN half-bridge with 17-MHz wide-band galvanically isolated current sensor

A cascoded GaN half-bridge with wide-band galvanically isolated current sensor is proposed. A 650-V depletion-mode GaN FET is switched by a low-propagation-delay gate driver in active-mode. The standby and active modes are switched by a 25-V N-ch LDMOS. The current sensor uses the LDMOS as a shunt resistor, gm-cell-based sense amplifier and mixer based isolation amplifier for wider bandwidth. PVT variations of on-resistance of the current-detecting MOSFET are compensated using a reference MOSFET. A digital calibration loop across the isolation is formed to keep the current sensor gain constant within ±1.5% across the whole temperature range. The wide-band current sensor can measure power device switching current. In this study, a cascoded GaN half-bridge switching and inductor current sensing using low-side and high-side device current are demonstrated. The proposed techniques show the possibility of implementing a GaN half-bridge module with isolated current sensor in a package.

Digital Representation of Measurement Uncertainty: A Case Study Linking an RMO Key Comparison with a CIPM Key Comparison

This paper considers a future scenario in which digital reporting of measurement results is ubiquitous and digital calibration certificates (DCCs) contain information about the components of uncertainty in a measurement result. The task of linking international measurement comparisons is used as a case study to look at the benefits of digitalization. Comparison linking provides a context in which correlations are important, so the benefit of passing a digital record of contributions to uncertainty along a traceability chain can be examined. The International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) uses a program of international “key comparisons” to establish the extent to which measurements of a particular quantity may be considered equivalent when made in different economies. To obtain good international coverage, the results of the comparisons may be linked together: a number of regional metrology organization (RMO) key comparisons can be linked back to an initial CIPM key comparison. Specific information about systematic effects in participants’ results must be available during linking to allow correct treatment of the correlations. However, the conventional calibration certificate formats used today do not provide this: participants must submit additional data, and the report of an initial comparison must anticipate the requirements for future linking. Special handling of additional data can be laborious and prone to error. An uncertain-number digital reporting format was considered in this case study, which caters to all the information required and would simplify the comparison analysis, reporting, and linking; the format would also enable a more informative presentation of comparison results. The uncertain-number format would be useful more generally, in measurement scenarios where correlations arise, so its incorporation into DCCs should be considered. A full dataset supported by open-source software is available.