An FPGA-agnostic system for achieving picosecond-level phase determinism in timing distribution links for High Energy Physics experiments

Picosecond-level phase determinism in timing distribution systems is a requirement for future detectors in High Energy Physics. FPGA transceivers traditionally used to propagate timing signals generally do not meet this stringent requirement, suffering from phase jumps at startup and from drifts due to temperature variations. While ad hoc solutions have been developed using FPGA features to measure and correct for phase shifts, they remain FPGA specific and therefore cannot be generalized to all types of timing links. This paper presents a study using discrete components to monitor and correct for phase drift, allowing for an implementation of a generic deterministic link.