Estimating the Precision of a Leading-Edge Discriminator with Amplitude Correction

Abstract—The formation of time stamps that are independent of the sensor output pulse amplitude in the domain of event timing is well-known problem. It is shown that the time-stamp accuracy (time walk) can be estimated using high-speed arbitrary-signal generators and general-purpose time meters with an uncertainty of the estimate of no worse than 0.2 ps. The efficiency of the technique is demonstrated for a leading-edge discriminator (LED). The proposed LED version combined with an amplitude meter and amplitude correction has a 17-ps time walk.