List of terms, symbols and abbreviations

The terms describing the performance of the measurement equipment are defined according to the IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics Terms (IEEE 1996):

accuracy

is the degree of correctness with which a measured value agrees with the true value

jitter

is the short-term deviations of the significant instants of a signal from their ideal positions in time

precision

is the quality of coherence or repeatibility of measurement data, customarily expressed in terms of the standard deviation of the extendend set of measurement results

resolution

is the least value of the measured quantity that can be distinguished

A/D

analogue to digital

AlGaAs

aluminium gallium arsenide

AM

amplitude modulation

APD

avalanche photodiode

ARC

amplitude and rise time compensation

ASIC

application-specific integrated circuit

BiCMOS

bipolar-CMOS, a semiconductor process containing bipolar and CMOS transistors

CFD

constant fraction discriminator

CMGC

current mode gain control

CMOS

complementary MOS, a semiconductor process containing both NMOS and PMOS transistors

CR

capacitor-resistor

CW

continuous wave

EGC

electronic gain control

ESD

electrostatic discharge

FM

frequency modulation

FWHM

full width at half maximum

GaAs

gallium arsenide

IR

infrared

MOS

metal –oxide semiconductor

NIR

near-infrared

NMOS

n-channel MOS

PC

personal computer

PCB

printed circuit board

PIN

p-i-n photodiode

PMOS

p-channel MOS

PMT

photomultiplier tube

PSRR

power supply rejection ratio

RC

resistor-capacitor

rms

root mean square

SNR

signal to noise ratio, here the ratio of the peak signal voltage to the rms of the noise voltage

SOI

Silicon-on-Insulator

TAC

time-to-amplitude converter

TDC

time-to-digital converter

TOF

time of flight

VMGC

voltage mode gain control

A

voltage gain

c

speed of light

fT

transit frequency

Ib

bias current

Iout

output current signal

tp

timing point

tr

rise time (from 10% to 90%)

vin

input voltage signal

Vmax

maximum amplitude

vp

peak amplitude

Voffset

offset voltage

vout

output voltage signal

Vth

threshold voltage

Z

transimpedance gain

σt

standard deviation of the timing point

σv

noise power