It is about time: Design and test of a per-pixel high-resolution TDC

Modern detectors have to provide an ever increasing precision, that goes from the order of nanosecond in the large high energy physics experiments at CERN to picoseconds for other precision experiments. Moreover, they have to be capable of handling increasing particle rates both on the detection side and on the data readout speed.
This thesis is focused on time measurements in gaseous pixel detectors and it is structured as follows. In chapter 1 a brief history of pixel detectors is presented, focusing mainly on the features of their readout systems. In the second part of the chapter, the focus is on the modern detectors at the Large Hadron Collider and their planned upgrades. Chapter 2 presents the operation principle of gaseous detectors with the basic mechanism behind ion-electron couples production and transport mechanism. GridPix detectors are also introduced describing some basic properties. Chapters 3 and 4 contain the main results of this thesis, illustrating the design and testing of two prototype chips featuring high-resolution Time to Digital Converter (TDC). The results on the TDC are complemented with results on other circuitry which has been designed and tested in view of a full size chip. Finally, chapter 5 presents the analysis of data from a beam test using a telescope that contains three GridPix detectors. Their limitations are studied and are used as a justification for the design of Timepix3, a full size chip which features some circuits developed in the prototypes.