SPC-QC-104 Module

3 Channel TCSPC - FLIM Module / 4 Channel Time-Tagger Module

  • Three Parallel TCSPC / FLIM Channels + One Sync / Reference Channel or Four Parallel Absolute Timing Channels
  • Time Channel Width Down to 4 ps
  • IRF Width < 39 ps FWHM
  • Typical Timing Jitter 16 ps RMS
  • Excellent Timing Stability: Timing Drift over 10 Minutes <5 ps RMS
  • Low Dead Time
  • Adjustable SYNC Delay ± 128 ns
  • High Peak Count Rate, up to 120 MHz 
  • Parallel FLIM in up to Three Detection Channels
  • Fast-Acquisition FLIM
  • Recording of Fluorescence Decay and Other Optical Waveforms
  • Multi-Wavelength Detection of Fluorescence Decay and FLIM Data
  • Photon Time- and Parameter Tagging
  • Photon Correlation Down to the ps Range
  • Free Instrument Software for Windows 10 / 11
  • Custom Programming with bhPy
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    Description

    General Information

    The SPC-QC-104 TCSPC / FLIM module has three parallel TCSPC / FLIM channels with a common reference channel on a single PCI-express board. Alternatively, the module can be operated with four absolute photon timing channels. The module features high temporal and spatial resolution, high peak count rate, and extraordinarily high timing stability. The SPC-QC-104 offers the usual modes for recording temporal waveforms of optical signals, sequential recording multi-wavelength recording, time- and parameter-tag recording, FLIM, spatial and temporal mosaic FLIM, triggered accumulation of fast time series of curves and images, and simultaneous FLIM / PLIM. 

    Measurement Software Included

    The SPCM operating and measurement software is included with all SPC series modules. SPCM provides online calculation and display (2D, 3D) of data (decay curves, FCS, FCCS) acquired in multiple operation modes. SPCM software undergoes active continuous development. SPCM receives frequent updates with new features and bug fixes. Read more…

    For fast online video FLIM streaming, please use ExpressFLIM as acquisition software.

    FLIM and FCS Data Analysis

    For advanced fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) and single-curve data analysis, please use SPCImage NG.
    For advanced visualisation and analysis of dynamic effects, please use SPCDynamics.
    For advanced fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and cross-correlation (FCCS) data analysis, please use Burst Analyzer.

    Custom Programming Libraries (DLL, LabVIEW)

    For automation and custom software integration, DLLs and LabVIEW drivers are available. Read more…

     

     

    Specifications

    Photon Channel

     

    Principle

    Constant Fraction Discriminator (CFD)

    Discriminator Input Bandwidth

    4 GHz

    Optimum Input Voltage Range

    -30 mV to -500 mV

    Min. Input Pulse Width

    200 ps

    Threshold

    0 to -500 mV

    Zero Cross Adjust

    -100 mV to 100 mV

    Synchronisation Channel

     

    Principle

    Constant Fraction Discriminator (CFD)

    Discriminator Input Bandwidth

    4 GHz

    Optimum Input Voltage Range

    -30 mV to -500 mV

    Min. Input Pulse Width

    200 ps

    Threshold

    0 to -500 mV

    Zero Cross Adjust

    -100 mV to 100 mV

    Frequency Range

    0 to 150 MHz

    Frequency Divider

    1 – 2 - 4

    Adjustable Delay

    ± 128 ns

    Time-Measurement Circuitry

     

    Principle

    Time-to-Digital Converter

    IRF Width, FWHM

    < 39 ps

    Typical RMS Timing Jitter

    16 ps

    Time Range, at 4096 Time Channels

    16 ns to 68 µs

    Min. Time / Channel

    4 ps

    Timing Stability, Range 16 ns, over 10 min

    < 5 ps RMS

    Diff. Nonlinearity

    < 1 % RMS

    Dead Time

    8 ns

    Data Acquisition

    Histogram Modes

    Method

    on-board multi-dim. histogramming process

    Peak Count Rate, Each Channel

    120 MHz

    Saturated Count Rate, Continuous

    40 MHz

    Max. Counts / Time Channel (Counting Depth)

    216 - 1

    Max. No. Of Time Channels

    65,536

    Overflow Control

    none, stop, repeat and correct

    Collection Time

    0.1 µs to 100,000 s

    Display Interval Time

    10 ms to 100,000 s

    Repeat Time

    0.1 µs to 100,000 s

    Synchronisation with Scanning (Scan Sync IN Mode

    Pixel, line and frame clocks from scanning device

    Routing

    4 bit, TTL

    Count Enable

    1 bit, TTL

    Experiment Trigger

    TTL

    Data Acquisition

    FIFO / Parameter-Tag Mode

    Method

    Parameter-tagging of individual photons, continuous writing to disk

    Online Display

    Decay functions, FCS, Cross-FCS, PCH MCS Traces

    FCS Calculation

    Multi-tau algorithm, online calculation and online fit

    Number of Counts of Decay/ Waveform Recording

    Unlimited

    Peak Count Rate

    120 MHz

    Sustained Count Rate (Bus-Transfer Limit)

    40 MHz (Software dependent)

    Max. Counts / Time Channel (Counting Depth)

    Unlimited

    Max. No. of Time Channels

    4096

    On-board FIFO Buffer Capacity (Photons)

    1.750,000

    Macro Timer Resolution, Internal Clock

    2 ns, overflows marked by MOTF entry in data stream

    Routing

    4 bit, TTL/CMOS

    External Event Marker

    4 bit, TTL/CMOS

    Experiment Trigger

    TTL/CMOS

    Input Experiment Trigger

    TTL

    Data Acquisition

    FIFO Imaging

    Method

    Buildup of images from time- and wavelength tagged data

    Online Display

    Intensity images or lifetime images, decay curves in regions of interest

    Synchronisation with Scanner

    Via frame clock, line clock, and pixel clock pulses

    Routing / Wavelength / Laser-Multiplexing Channels

    1 to 16

    Image Format, 1 Image per Channel

    Image Size

    512 x 512

    1024 x 1024

    2048 x 2048

    4096 x 4096

    No. of Time Channels

    4096 bins

    1024 bins

    256 bins

    64 bins

    Operation Environment

     

    Operating System

    Windows 10, Windows 11

    Bus Connector (Slot Type)

    PCIe

    Total Power Consumption

    approx. 12 W from +12 V

    Dimensions

    205 mm x 110 mm x 15 mm

     

    Downloads

    Documents

    The bh TCSPC Handbook
    10th edition, September 2023

    View

    Principles

    General Description
    The SPC-QC-104 TCSPC / FLIM module has three parallel TCSPC / FLIM channels with a common reference channel on a single PCI-express board. Alternatively, the module can be operated with four absolute photon timing channels. The module features high temporal and spatial resolution, high peak count rate, and extraordinarily high timing stability. The SPC-QC offers the usual modes for recording temporal waveforms of optical signals, sequential recording multi-wavelength recording, time- and parameter-tag recording, FLIM, spatial and temporal mosaic FLIM, triggered accumulation of fast time series of curves and images, and simultaneous FLIM / PLIM. The SPC-QC runs under bh's SPCM TCSPC/FLIM data acquisition and control software. Data analysis is performed by bh's SPCImage NG software. An example for parallel recording of three FLIM images is shown in the figure below.

    Conversion Principle
    Different than the SPC-130, -150, -160 and -180 TCSPC modules, which use a TAC/ADC principle, the SPC-QC uses direct time-to-digital (TDC) conversion. The two principles are illustrated in the figure below. The TAC-ADC principle is shown left. It uses a linear voltage ramp between a start pulse (usually the photon) and a stop pulse (usually a reference pulse from the laser). The voltage is converted in a digital data word which expresses the time of the photon in the laser pulse sequence.
    The TDC principle is shown on the right. The photon pulses from the detector(s) and the reference pulses from the laser are sent through chains of delay elements. The timing logics looks at the data in the delay chains, identifies start-stop pairs of photons and laser pulses, and this way determines the temporal positions of the photons in the laser pulse sequence. From these data, the usual TCSPC / FLIM photon distributions are built up.

    Comparison with bh SPC-130 to SPC-180 series
    The advantage of the TDC principle is that the timing electronics can be implemented in an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array). Therefore several recording channels can be implemented on one TCSPC board. Another feature where the TDC is superior to the TAC is that the TDC principle works up to extremely high count rates. Even the detection of several photons per laser pulse is possible. In practice, the count rate is limited by pile-up, dead time in the detector-discriminator combination, degradation of the detector timing performance at high count rate, and, of course, by the capability of the sample to deliver the count rate without photo degradation.
    On the downside, the time resolution is much lower than for the TAC ADC principle. A comparison of the electrical IRF of an SPC-180NXX and an SPC-QC-104 is given in the figure below. The IRF width for the SPC-180NXX (left) is 2.8 ps FWHM, for the SPC-QC-104 (right) it is 39 ps FWHM. Although 39 ps FWHM is an excellent value for a TDC the SPC-QC-104 does not exploit the full time resolution of ultra-fast detector, such as SSPDs, MCP-PMTs and ultra-fast hybrid detectors.

    Another critical feature is timing stability. For many years stability was a problem for the TDC. In the SPC-QC-104 the stability problem has largely been overcome by a new TDC-logics structure. A comparison of the timing stability of an SPC-180 NXX and an SPC-QC-104 is shown in the figure below. For the SPC-180 NXX the stability of the first moment of the IRF is better than 0.4 ps RMS, for the SPC-QC-104 it is better than 5 ps RMS (note different time scales). Although the SPC-QC does not reach the stability of the SPC-180NXX possible timing drift remains far below the IRF width and thus is rarely a problem in practical application.

    Summary
    The SPC-QC-104 is a TDC-based TCSPC FLIM module. It has three parallel TCSPC/FLIM channels and one common reference channel. Alternatively, the modules can be operated with four parallel absolute photon timing channels. The module features high peak count rate and reasonably fast time resolution. With an electrical IRF width of <39 ps FWHM, an internal timing jitter of <19 ps RMS and a timing stability of 5 ps RMS the SPC-QC-104 can be used for a large number of fluorescence decay and FLIM applications. The SPC-QC-104 is especially attractive in applications where several parallel detection channels are desirable, and multi-module systems of SPC-150 or -180 modules appear too bulky or too power consuming. On the downside, the SPC-QC-104 does not exploit the full time resolution of ultra-fast single-photon detectors, such as SSPDs, MCP-PMTs or hybrid PMTs. In applications with such detectors the bh SPC series, preferably the SPC-150NX, SPC-150 NXX, SPC-180NX, or SPC-180NXX should be used.

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