Design of Multi-bit Delta-Sigma A/D converters, Y.Geerts, M.Steyaert, W.Sansen

Over the last decade, a vast evolution of communication systems was observed. The enormous popularity and expansion of the internet was a driving force for the development of broadband internet access in every home to cope with the increasing bandwidth requirements for multimedia applications. At the same time, wireless communication evolved from an analog network with large devices, to small and cheap handsets which are based on digital communication standards. The core of all these complex electronic systems consists of digital circuits which have a huge computational power and are implemented in CMOS technologies. The development of ever faster and more powerful digital cores opens the way to more complex systems with increasing demands for the analog part which has to provide an interfacing layer to the outside world. One of the crucial building blocks in the analog part is the Analog to Digital converter.

The goal of this work is to present an architecture study of AE AD converters and to provide insight into a wide range of analog circuit imperfections which can limit the performance. The emphasis is put on high-speed high-resolution converters in CMOS, although the material can also be applied for other specification goals and technologies.