Highly Integrated FPGA-Only Signal Digitization Method Using Single-Ended Memory Interface Input Receivers for Time-of-Flight PET Detectors

We propose a new highly integrated field-programm-able gate array (FPGA) only signal digitization method for individual signal digitization of time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF PET). We configured I/O port of the FPGA with a single-ended memory interface (SeMI) input receiver. The SeMI is a single-ended voltage-referenced interface that has a common reference voltage per I/O Bank, such that each SeMI input receiver can serve as a voltage comparator. The FPGA-only digitizer that uses the single-ended input receivers does not require a separate digitizing integrated chip, and can obtain twice as many signals as that using LVDS input receivers. We implemented a highly integrated digitizer consisting of 82 energy and 82 timing channels using a 28-nm FPGA. The energy and arrival time were measured using a 625-ps binary counter, and a 10-ps time-to-digital converter (TDC), respectively. We first measured the intrinsic characteristics of the proposed FPGA-only digitizer. The SeMI input receiver functioned as the voltage comparator without undesirable offset voltage. The standard deviation value of the time difference measured using two SeMI input receivers with respective TDCs was less than 14.6 ps RMS. In addition, we fed signals from the TOF PET detectors to the SeMI input receivers directly and collected data. The TOF PET detector consisted of a 3 × 3 × 20 mm LYSO crystal coupled with a silicon photomultiplier. The energy resolutions were 7.7% and 7.1% for two TOF PET detectors. The coincidence resolving time was 204 ps full width at half maximum. The SeMI digitizer with a high-performance signal digitizer, processor, and high-speed transceivers provides a compact all-in-one data acquisition system.