Versatile CCD-based spectrometer with field programmable gate array controller core

• Published in: IET science, measurement & technology Vol. 10; no. 7; pp. 719 - 727
• Main Author: Ocaya, R.O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Institution of Engineering and Technology 01.10.2016
• Subjects: analogue‐digital conversion; analogue‐to‐digital converter; Arrays; CCD‐based spectrometer; Charge coupled devices; charge‐coupled device spectrometer; data acquisition; data acquisition circuits; Data buses; field programmable gate array controller core; Field programmable gate arrays; finite state automaton; High speed; high‐level processing programmes; infrared wavelength; Logic; photodiode linear tricolour CCD detector; photodiodes; Spectrometers; three‐colour array multiplexing; ultraviolet wavelength; USB 2.0 communication; USB interface; visible wavelength; wavelength 300 nm to 1000 nm; Wavelengths; high-level processing programmes; field programmable gate arrays; visible wavelength; ultraviolet wavelength; three-colour array multiplexing; analogue-digital conversion; wavelength 300 nm to 1000 nm; photodiode linear tricolour CCD detector; USB interface; charge-coupled device spectrometer; field programmable gate array controller core; CCD-based spectrometer; analogue-to-digital converter; photodiodes; spectrometers; USB 2.0 communication; infrared wavelength; data acquisition; data acquisition circuits; finite state automaton; charge-coupled devices
• ISSN: 1751-8822; 1751-8830; 1751-8830
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-smt.2016.0063

The design and implementation of a novel room temperature charge-coupled device (CCD) spectrometer is presented. The timing generator and data acquisition circuits driving a 16,020 photodiode linear tricolour CCD detector capable of 24 dots per millimetre are described. Linear detection of ultraviolet, infrared and visible wavelengths over total wavelength range of 300 to 1000 nm of total wavelength range is possible by using three-colour array multiplexing. The field programmable gate array logic processing realises a low-cost, high-speed digital spectrometer with USB interface. A finite state automaton is used to generate low-skew, high-speed complex clocks to drive the system. The output of the instrument is 8 bit array intensity versus wavelength array acquired using semi-flash, 20 Mb/s analogue-to-digital converter, realising a 1.23 Gb/s per colour readout rate on the CCD. The resulting spectrometer is capable of USB 2.0 communication with high-level processing programmes.