LeCroy 3377 Operator's Manual

OPERATOR'S MANUAL

MODEL 3377

32 CHANNEL CAMAC TDC

Revised
January 1997

(ECO 1101)

1

Corporate Headquarters

700 Chestnut Ridge Road
Chestnut Ridge, New York 10977-6499
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Copyright© December 1997. LeCroy™ is a registered trademark of LeCroy
Corporation. All rights reserved. Information in this publication supersedes all
earlier versions. Specifications are subject to change.

2

CE CONFORMITY

CONDITIONS FOR
CE CONFORMITY Since this product is a subassembly, it is the responsibility of the end

user, acting as the system integrator, to ensure that the overall system is
CE compliant. This product was demonstrated to meet CE conformity
using a CE compliant crate housed in an EMI/RFI shielded enclosure. It
is strongly recommended that the system integrator establish these
same conditions.

3

CAUTION

COOLING It is imperative that the Model 3377 TDC be well cooled. Be sure fans

move sufficient air to maintain exhaust air temperature at less than
50° C.

INSTALLATION Crate power should be turned off during insertion or removal of modules

in accordance with the CAMAC specification.

SPECIFICATIONS The information contained in this manual is subject to change without

notice. The reference for product specification is the Technical Data
Sheet effective at the time of purchase.

ELECTROSTATIC
SENSITIVITY While measures have been taken to protect the MTD133 ASIC from

electrostatic damage, it is still imperative to follow anti-static procedures
when handling this CMOS device. Removal of the MTD133 from its
socket may void the warranty.

5

1. General Information
Purpose 9
Unpacking and Inspection 9
Warranty 9
Product Assistance 9
Maintenance Agreements 9
Documentation Discrepancies 10
Software Licensing Agreement 10
Service Procedure 10

2. Installation

General Installation 11
Cables 11

3. Product Description

Introduction 13
Product Description 13
Specifications 14
Front Panel 14

Displays 15
Inputs and Outputs 15
Control 15
Signal Inputs 16

ECLbus output 16
Rear Panel 16
Standard CAMAC Function Codes 16

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4. Operating Instructions

Programming the Unit for a Different Mode of Operation 19
Operating Modes 20

Mode 0: Common Stop, Single Word Mode 21

Control Registers 21
Maximum Time Range 23
Offset 23
Dead Time 24
Front Panel Clear Input 24

Mode 1: Common Start, Single Word 25

Control Registers 25
Common Start Time Out 27
Dead Time 28
Front Panel Clear 28

Mode 2: Common Stop, double word 29

Control Registers 29
Maximum time range 31
Dead Time 31
Front Panel Clear Input 31

Mode 3: Common Start, Double Word Mode 32

Control Registers 32
Common Start Time out 34
Dead Time 34
Front Panel Clear 34

7

Trigger Outputs 36

Trigger Outputs in the Common Stop Modes 36

Trigger Outputs in the Common Start Modes 37
Readout Modes and Data Formats 38

CAMAC 38

Buffered Mode 38
Unbuffered Mode 38

ECLPORT (FERA) Mode 38

Buffered Mode 38
Unbuffered Mode 38

FERA Compatibility 38

Standard 4300B FERA Behavior 38
Modified Model 3377 FERA Behavior 39
4300 Compatible Mode 39
Fast FERA Mode 40

Data Formats 40

Single Word Format 40

Double Word Format 40
Suppressing the Header 41
Example 3377 Programming Sequence 42

5. Theory of Operation

Time Measurements 43
Control and Readout 43
Event Buffer Memory 44
CAMAC Interface 44
ECL Port 44
Trigger Outputs 44
Support Circuits 44

6. Additional Information

Testing the Model 3377 45
Extending the Time Range 46
LabView™ Support 47

7. Index 49

LabView™ is a registered trademark of National Instruments Corporation.

8

GENERAL INFORMATION

PURPOSE This manual is intended to provide information regarding the installation

and operation of the LeCroy Model 3377 Time-to-Digital Converter.

UNPACKING AND
INSPECTION It is recommended that the shipment be thoroughly inspected immedi-

ately upon delivery. All material in the container should be checked

against the enclosed Packing List and shortages reported promptly.

If the shipment is damaged in any way, please notify the Customer

Service Department or the local field service office. If the damage is

due to mishandling during shipment, you may be requested to assist in

contacting the carrier in filing a damage claim.

WARRANTY LeCroy warrants its instrument products to operate within specifications

under normal use and service for a period of one year from the date of

shipment. Component products, replacement parts, and repairs are

warranted for 90 days. This warranty extends only to the originalpur-

chaser. Software is thoroughly tested, but is supplied “as is” with no

warranty of any kind covering detailed performance. Accessory products

not manufactured by LeCroy are covered by the original equipment

manufacturers’ warranty only.

In exercising this warranty, LeCroy will repair or, at its option, replace

any product returned to the Customer Service Department or an

authorized service facility within the warranty period, provided that the

warrantor’s examination discloses that the product is defective due to

workmanship or materials and has not been caused by misuse, neglect,

accident or abnormal conditions or operations.

The purchaser is responsible for the transportation and insurance

charges arising from the return of products to the servicing facility.

LeCroy will return all in-warranty products with transportation prepaid.

This warranty is in lieu of all other warranties, express or implied,

including but not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability,

fitness, or adequacy for any particular purpose or use. LeCroy shall not

be liable for any special, incidental, or consequential damages, whether

in contract, or otherwise.PRODUCT ASSISTANCE Answers to

questions concerning installation, calibration, and use of LeCroy equip-

ment are available from the Customer Service Department, 700 Chest-

nut Ridge Road, Chestnut Ridge, New York, 10977-6499, (914) 578-

6030.

MAINTENANCE
AGREEMENTS LeCroy offers a selection of customer support services. For example,

Maintenance Agreements provide extended warranty that allows the

customer to budget maintenance costs after the initial warranty has

expired. Other services such as installation, training, on-site repair, and

addition of engineering improvements are available through specific

Supplemental Support Agreements. Please contact the Customer

Service Department.

DOCUMENTATION

9

DISCREPANCIES LeCroy is committed to providing state-of-the-art instrumentation and is

continually refining and improving the performance of its products.

While physical modifications can be implemented quite rapidly, the

corrected documentation frequently requires more time to produce.

Consequently, this manual may not agree in every detail with the accom-

panying product and the schematics in the Service Documentation.

There may be small discrepancies in the values of components for the

purposes of pulse shape, timing, offset, etc., and, occasionally, minor

logic changes. Where any such inconsistencies exist, please be as-

sured that the unit is correct and incorporates the most up-to-date

circuitry.

SOFTWARE LICENSING
AGREEMENT Software products are licensed for a single machine. Under this license

you may:

■ Copy the software for backup or modification purposes in support of

your use of the software on a single machine.

■ Modify the software and/or merge it into another program for your

use on a single machine.

■ Transfer the software and the license to another party if the other

party accepts the terms of this agreement and you relinquish all
copies, whether in printed or machine readable form, including all
modified or merged versions.

SERVICE PROCEDURE Products requiring maintenance should be returned to the Customer

Service Department or authorized service facility. If under warranty,

LeCroy will repair or replace the product at no charge. The purchaser is

only responsible for the transportation charges arising from return of the

goods to the service facility. For all LeCroy products in need of repair

after the warranty period, the customer must provide a Purchase Order

Number before any inoperative equipment can be repaired or replaced.

The customer will be billed for the parts and labor for the repair as well

as for shipping. All products returned for repair should be identified by

the model and serial numbers and include a description of the defect or

failure, name and phone number of the user. In the case of products

returned, a Return Authorization Number is required and may be ob-

tained by contacting the Customer Service Department.

10

INSTALLATION

GENERAL INSTALLATION The LeCroy Model 3377 TDC is intended for use within a standard

CAMAC crate, such as the LeCroy Model 8025 CAMAC Crate with

25 slot positions or the Model 8007A with 7 positions. The following

voltage sources must be properly connected to the backplane: +24 V,

+6 V, -6 V, and -24 V. Each crate must be controlled by either a slave or

intelligent controller. The controller must occupy the right-most slot in

the crate. Its purpose is to issue CAMAC commands to the modules

and transfer information between a computer (or other digital device)

and the CAMAC modules. LeCroy offers such crate controllers, includ-

ing the Model 8901A. The 8901A is a GPIB/CAMAC slave interface that

operates as a “Talker/Listener”, allowing the crate to act as one GPIB

instrument.

With the power off, the 3377 is inserted into one of the slots of the

CAMAC crate. The edge connector on the module should mate with the

bus connector with modest pressure. The thumb screw located on the

lower edge of the card should be engaged and tightened. Note the slot

number of the module, as it will later be used for addressing.

CABLES The 3377 is designed to use twisted pair cables for the input, output and

control signals, single twisted pair cables for the control inputs and 34

wire ribbon cable for the inputs and ECLbus output. Care should be

taken to install high quality cables to minimize the effects of noise and

crosstalk. There are two types of 34 conductor multiwire cables avail-

able, one for short connections using flat ribbon cable and one for longer

connections using twist and flat cable.

Suitable cables are available from LeCroy.

■ STP-DC /02/L - single twisted pair cable for control signals.

■ STC-DC /34/L - flat multiwire cable for short interconnections.

■ LTC-DC /34-L or DC2 /34-L - twisted-pair multiwire cable for long

interconnection.

All signal inputs are differential ECL and have a balanced 120 ohm

termination.

11

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

INTRODUCTION The LeCroy CAMAC Model 3377 is a 32-channel Multihit Time-to-Digital

Converter (TDC) intended for high rate particle physics experiments.

The 500 picosecond digitizing resolution, 32 microsecond maximum full

scale, and low dead time make the Model 3377 suitable for a wide range

of applications. The Model 3377 can be operated either in Common

Start or Common Stop mode with up to 16 measurements (16 edge

measurements, leading edge only, or leading and trailing edge) recorded

on each channel. The full scale time range is programmable up to

32 microseconds. The eight trigger outputs are programmable, and can

be used in either first or second level triggers. The multi event buffer

allows up to 31 events to be recorded before readout. The readout is

either over the CAMAC dataway, or by a FERA™ compatible high speed

ECL port.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The 32 inputs are differential ECL, with a balanced 120 ohm termination.

Either the leading edge or both leading and trailing edge may be

recorded, with a double hit resolution of less than 10 nanoseconds. The

number of edge measurements recorded per channel is programmable

from 1 to 16.

The 3377 can be programmed to operate in either Common Start or

Common Stop mode with either single or double data word output

format.

The single word format packs 10 data bits (leading edge only, 9 bits if

both edges are recorded) into a 16 bit word, for low dead time drift

chamber applications. The programmable offset and resolution (500 ps

to 4 nsec LSB) allow the time range (255 nanoseconds to 4 microsec-

onds) to be placed as a window anywhere within the 32 microsecond full

scale.

The double word format preserves the full 16 bit time data for wide

dynamic range applications. The full scale time is programmable in

8 nsec steps up to 32.7 microseconds. The resolution is fixed at

500 picoseconds.

Eight dECL trigger outputs are provided at the rear panel. For trigger

purpose only, the input pulses are OR’ed together in groups of four (for

example: output 1 is the or channels 0, 1, 2, 3). In Common Stop

mode, the trigger outputs are programmable in width and delay, and can

be latched at the Stop time. In Common Start mode, the triggers are

latched.

The 3377 may be tested using an internal tester (Common Start mode

only). The number of pulses and the pulse duration are programmable.

At the end of acquisition (Common Stop or Common Start time out) the

data is unloaded from the MTD133s and stored in a multievent FIFO

buffer. The dead time is 1.8 microseconds plus 100 nsec per recorded

hit (200 nsec per hit when in double word mode).

The readout is by standard CAMAC or by the high speed ECL port. This

can occur in background, while the front end is recording data hits. A

13

header word containing a programmable identification byte precedes the

data. This header can be suppressed (programmable) if the module

contains no data. The readout is by event, to ensure synchronization of

the readout of several modules. The ECL port readout can be as fast as

100 nsec per 16 bit word, and is compatible with existing FERA mod-

ules.

The many versatile features of the Model 3377 are provided by a Xilinx

programmable gate array chip, which contains the control logic for the

board. Changing the mode (Common Start/Stop, single/double word)

requires a series of simple CAMAC commands which clear and repro-

gram the Xilinx gate array with the appropriate firmware from an on

board EPROM.

SPECIFICATIONS Please refer to the Module 3377 technical data sheet for a complete

summary of the current specifications.

FRONT PANEL The LeCroy Module 3377 TDC front panel provides the user with

connectors for system integration and LEDs to assist system debugging.

Cables necessary for proper installation can be purchased from LeCroy.

See Section 3 for more information regarding cabling.

LeCroy

3377
TDC

N

T-O
WST
BSY
CLR

COM

WAK
GND

—

MPI

—
—

REN

PASS

+–

IN

15

GND

16

+–

IN

31

GND

1

+–

ECL
OUT

16
__

0

14

Displays N LED: The only LED on the front panel is an N indicator, which is

illuminated whenever the module is addressed.

Termination LED: Just behind the front panel, between the lower input
connector and the ECL port, is an LED which is only visible when there
are no signal cables connected. The control signal terminations and pull
down resistors for the control signals and the ECL port are socketed.
When several 3377 are bussed together to a 4301 FERA driver, all of the
socketed resistors should be removed from each unit, except from the
last 3377. The termination LED uses one of the unused resistors in a
pull down resistor SIP and is lit when the SIP is installed. When several
3377s are bussed together only the last one should have this LED
illuminated.

Inputs and Outputs

Control Below the N LED is a 26 pin header used for ECL port control (WST,

WAK, REN, PASS), time out input (T-O), busy output (BSY), clear input
(CLR), common input (COM), and measure pause input (MPI).

■ T-O - Timeout input: A dECL input used to receive an external

common start timeout. The rising edge of this input ends acquisition
in common start mode. It is OR'ed with the internal time out.

■ WST - Write Strobe: dECL output indicates when a valid data word

is present on the ECLport.

■ BSY - Busy output: This dECL output indicates the 3377 cannot

accept hits. This occurs during the buffering dead time and when the
multievent buffer is full.

■ CLR - Clear input: A dECL input used to fast clear events and

abort acquisition or MTD133 readout. The control registers and data
from previous events is not affected.

■ COM - Common input: A dECL input for the common hit. The time

measurement is from the rising edge. Note: In Common Start

modes, additional pulses on the COM line arriving before the
Common Start timeout will disable acquisition.

■ WAK - Write Acknowledged: Input from 4301 or 4302 for FERA

interlocked handshake. Indicates that the data has been accepted.

■ GND - Ground

■ MPI - Measure Pause Interval: A dECL input for external MPI.

This is OR’ed with the internal MPI. The effect is to hold off unload­ing of the data from the MTD133s until the end of MPI.

■ REN - Readout Enable: dECL Input that enables the ECLbus

drivers and allows one event to be read out. REN must cycle false
and then true again for the next event to be read out.

■ PASS: A dECL output indicating that the last valid data word in the

current event has been read out.

15

Signal Inputs Two 34 pin headers are for hit inputs; marked IN. The channels are

arranged sequentially from channel 0 at the top to channel 15 and
channel 16 to channel 31. The bottom pins (33,34) on both headers are
grounded through 100 ohm resistors. The hit inputs are dECL, polarity is
such that a positive going edge on the left hand (odd numbered) pin is
interpreted as the leading edge.

ECLbus output The bottom header is the ECLbus output port; marked ECL OUT. This

header is used for the FERA compatible readout.

REAR PANEL Located on the back of the unit is a twenty pin header which is the

trigger output for the unit. This connector is inverted so pin one is at the
bottom. The pins are grouped in pairs, with the bottom pair being the
first (pins 1 and 2).

Pair Function

1 (1,2) Trigger output 1, ch 0-3
2 (3,4) Trigger output 2, ch 4-7
3 (5,6) Trigger output 3, ch 8-11
4 (7,8) Trigger output 4, ch 12-15
5 (9,10) Trigger output 5, ch 16-19
6 (11,12) Trigger output 6, ch 20-23
7 (13,14) Trigger output 7, ch 24-27
8 (15,16) Trigger output 8, ch 28-31
9 (pins 17,18) Output disable (enabled when open)
10 (pins 19,20) External trigger clock input

STANDARD CAMAC
FUNCTION CODES F0, A0 Read FIFO data until end of event, Q=1 for valid data,

Q=0 at end

F0, A1 Read FIFO data always, (common start only)
F0, A2 Examine FIFO output, do not advance FIFO (common

start only)

F1, A0 Read Control register 0
F1, A1 Read Control register 1
F1, A2 Read Control register 2
F1, A3 Read Control register 3
F1, A4 Read Control register 4 (common start only)
F1, A5 Read Control register 5 (common start only)
F1, A6 Read CAMAC Test Register (common start only)

F8, A0 Test LAM
F9, A0 Clear all data and LAM. This does NOT affect the

control registers

F10, A0 Clear LAM

F16, A0 Write 16 bit data to FIFO (common start only)
F16, A1 Write FIFO tag bit (common start only)

F17, A0 Write Control register 0
F17, A1 Write Control register 1
F17, A2 Write Control register 2

16

F17, A3 Write Control register 3
F17, A4 Write Control register 4 (common start only)
F17, A5 Write Control register 5 (common start only)

F24, A0 Disable LAM
F24, A1 Disable Acquisition mode
F25, A0 Initiate test cycle (common start only)
F26,A0 Enable LAM
F26, A1 Enable Acquisition mode
F27, A0 Test buffering in progress (BIP), Q=1 while BIP
F27, A1 Test busy, Q=1 while busy
F27, A2 Test event ready, Q=1 if event ready for readout
F27, A3 Test FIFO tag bit, Q=1 if tag bit set for word to be read

next

F30 Begin the reprogramming sequence

For completeness, we describe the following commands that are
available only during the programming mode of the Model 3377’s
internal Xilinx logic chip. These enable the mode to be set by selecting a
firmware program from the 4 that are installed in the EPROM, or loading
a different program from CAMAC. For these commands, the A lines are
not decoded, they are simply ignored.

F9 Clear data buffers, enable Xilinx program
F12 Test if Xilinx ready for data (Q=1 when ready)
F13 Test Xilinx programming done (Q=1 when done)
F14 Test Xilinx INIT signal
F16 Write 8 bits to Xilinx
F21 Select EPROM mode 1
F22 Select EPROM mode 2
F23 Select EPROM mode 3
F25 Begin Xilinx programming sequence
F28 Select CAMAC programming mode
F30 Enable Xilinx programming mode

(this resets the Xilinx, and selects EPROM mode 0)

17