New current-mode wave-pipelined architectures for high-speed analog-to-digital converters

In this paper, two new architectures for high-speed CMOS wave-pipelined current-mode A/D converters (WP-IADCs) are proposed and analyzed. In the new WP-IADC architectures, the wave-pipelined theory is applied to both pipeline structures, called full WP-IADC (FWP-IADC) and indirect transfer WP-IADC (ITWP-IADC). In the FWP-IADC, each stage uses the full current-mode wave-pipelined structure without switched-current cell circuits. In the ITWP-IADC, the switched-current cells are incorporated into the wave-pipelined stages which are divided into several sections with controlled clocks. Therefore, the proposed ITWP-IADC performs optimally in terms of speed and accuracy in the WP-IADCs. Generally, the proposed WP-IADCs have the advantages of high speed, high input frequency, high efficiency of timing usage, high clock-period flexibility in switched-current cells for precision enhancement, and reduced number of switched-current cells in the overall data path for linearity improvement. According to the theoretical analysis on the proposed WP-IADC structures, the minimum sampling clock period is proportional to the intrinsic delay of the current mirror and the increased rise/fall time in each wave-pipelined stage. The HSPICE simulation results reveal that, under Nyquist rate sampling in 8-b resolution, a sampling rate of 20 and 54 MHz can be achieved for FWP-IADC and two-section ITWP-IADC, respectively. If four wave-pipelined sections are used, the ITWP-IADC can be operated at 166 MHz at an input frequency of 8 MHz. To experimentally verify the correct function of the proposed WP-IADC structures, the proposed new architecture of the FWP-IADC is implemented by using 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The measurement results successfully demonstrate the feasibility of wave-pipelined IADC architectures in applications of high-speed ADCs.     

An 8-bit 20-MS/s CMOS A/D converter with 50-mW power consumption

Low power consumption and small chip area (2.09 mm×2.15 mm) are achieved by introducing a new architecture to a subranging A/D converter. In this architecture, both coarse and fine A/D conversions can be accomplished. Consequently, a large number of comparators and processing circuits have been removed from the conventional subranging A/D converter. This architecture has been realized by the introduction of a chopper-type comparator with three input terminals which makes both coarse and fine comparisons by itself. The A/D converter has two 8-b sub/A/D converters which employ this new architecture, and they are pipelined to improve the conversion rate. Good experimental results have been obtained. Both the differential and the integral nonlinearity are less than ±0.5 LSB at a 20-megasample/s sample frequency. The effective resolution at 20-megasample/s sampling frequency is 7.4 b at a 1.97-MHz input frequency and 6.7 b at a 9.79-MHz input frequency. The A/D converter has been fabricated in a 1-μm CMOS technology     

Design of 24-GHz 0.8-V 1.51-mW Coupling Current-Mode Injection-Locked Frequency Divider With Wide Locking Range

A 0.8-V CMOS coupling current-mode injection-locked frequency divider (CCMILFD) with 19.5% locking range and a current-injection current-mode logic (CICML) frequency divider have been designed and fabricated using 0.13-$mu{hbox{m}}$ 1p8m CMOS technology. In the proposed CCMILFD, the current-mode technique to minimize the loss of input signals and the coupling circuit to enlarge the phase response have been designed to increase the locking range. The locking range of the fabricated CCMILFD is 4.1 GHz with a power consumption of 1.51 mW from a power supply of 0.8 V. In the proposed CICML frequency divider, the current-injection interface is applied to the current inputs to make the circuit operated at a higher frequency with low power consumption under a low voltage supply. The operation frequency of the fabricated CICML frequency divider can divide the frequency range from CCMILFD and consume 1.89 mW from a 0.8-V voltage supply. The chip core areas of the CCMILFD and CICML frequency divider without pads are 0.23 and 0.015 $ {hbox{mm}}^{2}$, respectively. The proposed circuits can be operated in a low supply voltage with the advantages of a wider locking range, a higher operation frequency, and lower power consumption.      

A novel current-mode multi-channel integrating ADC

A novel current-mode multi-channel ADC has been designed, fabricated, and characterized in a 0.5-μm bulk CMOS process. The ADC utilizes a Wilkinson architecture with current-mode comparators and is capable of supporting multiple channels with an input current range of 10–150 μA. The main blocks in the ADC include a current ramp generator with active current mirrors, multiple current comparators, and a 12-bit Gray code counter. A novel architecture Gray code counter supports high frequency counting. For sampling rates up to 10 kHz, measurement results are presented including integral nonlinearity and differential nonlinearity. A per-channel power consumption of less than 2 mW using a Wilkinson architecture with 4 channels was observed. This work represents the first published current-mode, multi-channel Wilkinson ADC.     

A 32-Gb/s On-Chip Bus With Driver Pre-Emphasis Signaling

This paper describes a differential current-mode bus architecture based on driver pre-emphasis for on-chip global interconnects that achieves high-data rates while reducing bus power dissipation and improving signal delay latency. The 16-b bus core fabricated in 0.25- $mu$m complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology attains an aggregate signaling data rate of 32 Gb/s over 5–10-mm-long lossy interconnects. With a supply of 2.5 V, 25.5–48.7-mW power dissipation was measured for signal activity above 0.1, equivalent to 0.80–1.52 pJ/b. This work demonstrates a 15.0%–67.5% power reduction over a conventional single-ended voltage-mode static bus while reducing delay latency by 28.3% and peak current by 70%. The proposed bus architecture is robust against crosstalk noise and occupies comparable routing area to a reference static bus design.      

A 13-b 40-MSamples/s CMOS pipelined folding ADC with backgroundoffset trimming

Two key concepts of pipelining and background offset trimming are applied to demonstrate a 13-b 40-MSamples/s CMOS analog-to-digital converter (ADC) based on the basic folding and interpolation architecture. Folding amplifier stages made of simple differential pairs are pipelined using distributed interstage track-and-holders. Background offset trimming implemented with a highly oversampling delta-sigma modulator enhances the resolution of the CMOS folders beyond 12 bits. The background offset trimming circuit continuously measures and adjusts the offsets of the folding amplifiers without interfering with the normal operation. The prototype system is further refined using subranging and digital correction, and exhibits a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 82 dB at 40 MSamples/s. The measured differential nonlinearity (DNL) and integral nonlinearity (INL) are about ±0.5 and ±2.0 LSB, respectively. The chip fabricated in 0.5-μm CMOS occupies 8.7 mm² and consumes 800 mW at 5 V     

A DPS array with programmable resolution and reconfigurable conversion time

A CMOS digital pixel sensor (DPS) with programmable resolution and reconfigurable conversion time is described. The chip features a unique architecture based on the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique and operates with either an 8-b or 4-b accuracy. The 8-b conversion mode is used for high-precision imaging while the 4-b conversion mode provides a shorter conversion time and a two times increase in spatial resolution. Two quantization schemes are studied, namely, the uniform and the nonuniform time-domain quantizers, which are referred to as UQ and NUQ, respectively. It is shown that the latter scheme not only permits to linearize the nonlinear response of the PWM sensor, but also allows to significantly speed up the conversion time, particularly for wide dynamic range and low coding resolutions. A prototype of 32/spl times/32/64/spl times/32 pixels has been fabricated using 1-poly, 5-metal CMOS 0.35-/spl mu/m n-well standard process. Power dissipation is 10 mW at V/sub DD/=3.3 V, dynamic range is 90 dB, while dark current was measured at 1 pA. The reconfiguration features of the chip have been verified experimentally.     

CMOS folding A/D converters with current-mode interpolation

A CMOS folding and interpolating A/D conversion architecture fully compatible with standard digital CMOS technology is described. Fully-differential, continuous-time, current-mode, open-loop analog circuitry is used to achieve high speed. Results from 125 Ms/s 8-b and 150 Ms/s 6-b prototypes implemented in a digital 1 μm n-well CMOS process are presented. The 8-b (6-b) converter occupies 4 mm² (2 mm²) and dissipates 225 mW (55 mW) from a single 5 V power supply     

An accurate current source with on-chip self-calibration circuits for low-voltage current-mode differential drivers

An accurate CMOS current source for current-mode low-voltage differential transmitter drivers has been designed and fabricated. It is composed of binary weighted current mirrors with built-in self-calibration circuits. The proposed self-measurement and calibration circuits can calibrate upon the collective effects of different error contributors due to process, power supply, and temperature variations. The design has been fabricated in standard 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. Measurement results show that the differential output voltage can be self-calibrated to /spl plusmn/1% accuracy with 16% reference current variation, 60% power supply variation, or 13% load resistance variation, respectively.     

A cyclic A/D converter that does not require ratio-matchedcomponents

The circuit configuration of a cyclic analog-to-digital (A/D) converter using switched-capacitor techniques is described. The analog portion of the circuit consists of two operational amplifiers, four capacitors, and ten switches regardless of the number of bits per sample converted, and completes an n-bit conversion in 3n clock cycles. The conversion characteristics are inherently insensitive both to capacitor ratio and to amplifier offset voltage. The circuit, therefore, can be realized in a small die area. The effects of finite amplifier gain and switch charge injection on the conversion accuracy are discussed. A prototype chip has been fabricated in a 2-μm CMOS technology operating on a single 5-V supply. When it is operated as an 8-bit converter at a sampling rate of 8 kHz, the maximum conversion error is 0.2 LSB (least-significant bit) for differential nonlinearity and 0.5 LSB for integral nonlinearity. The die area measures 0.79 mm²     

A 0.5 μm Concurrent Testable Chip of a Fifth-Order g m -C Filter

In this paper, we describe a testable chip of a fifth-order g _m -C low-pass filter that has a passband from 0 to 4.5 MHz. We use a current-mode method for the error detection of this filter. By comparing the current consumed by the circuit under test (CUT) and the current converted from the voltage levels of the CUT, abnormal function of circuit components can be concurrently and efficiently detected. A test chip has been fabricated using a 0.5 m, 2P2M CMOS technology. Measurement results show that this current-mode approach has little impact on the performance of the filter and can detect faults in the filter effectively. The area overhead of the circuitry for testing in this chip is about 18%.     

A 2.5-V, 12-b, 5-MSample/s pipelined CMOS ADC

A set of power minimization techniques is proposed for pipelined ADC's. These techniques include commutating feedback-capacitors, sharing of the op-amp between the adjacent stages of the pipeline, reusing the first stage of the op-amp as comparator pre-amp, and exploiting parasitic capacitors for common-mode feedback. This set of low-power design techniques is incorporated in an experimental chip fabricated in a 1.2-μm, double-poly, double-metal CMOS process. At 12-b 5-Msample/s, the chip dissipates 33 mW of power from a 2.5-V analog supply while achieving a maximum differential nonlinearity (DNL) of -0.78 and +0.63 least-significant bits (LSB) with a peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 67.6 dB     

A pipeline A/D converter architecture with low DNL

A pipeline analog-to-digital converter architecture can reduce the differential nonlinearity (DNL) with a swapping technique without involving special calibration techniques. An implementation of the overrange stages in the analog pipeline suitable for high-speed applications is proposed. A 14-bit 5-MSample/s converter has been fabricated in a double-poly 0.5-μm CMOS process. The 3.3×3.3 mm ² chip dissipates 320 mW from a single 5 V supply and achieves a signal-to-noise ratio of 79 dB, a dynamic range of 82 dB, and a DNL below 0.4 LSB     

A hybrid current/voltage mode on-chip signaling scheme with adaptive bandwidth capability

This brief describes an adaptive bandwidth bus architecture based on hybrid current/voltage mode repeaters for long global RC interconnect static busses that achieves high-data rates while minimizing the static power dissipation associated with current-mode (CM) signaling. An experimental adaptive bandwidth bus test chip fabricated in AMI 1.6-/spl mu/m Bulk CMOS indicates a reduction in power dissipation of approximately 62% over CM sensing and an increase in maximum data rate of 40% over voltage-mode signaling.     

A 100-MHz CMOS DAC for video-graphic systems

A 6-b weighted-current-sink video digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with 10-90% rise/fall time of 4 ns, integrated with a double-metal 3-μm CMOS technology, is described. Current-source matching, glitch reduction, and differential switch driving aspects are considered. A circuit solution and a nonconventional layout technique yield a high conversion rate with a standard CMOS technology. Experimental results show that a conversion rate of 100 MHz is achievable. The power consumption is 150 mW and the active chip area is 0.5×1.0 mm² . The differential of 0.1 LSB demonstrates that 8 b of accuracy can be achieved. The integral linearity is 0.5 LSB     

An analog front end for full-duplex digital transceivers working ontwisted pairs

An analog front-end chip fabricated in a 4-μm CMOS process has been described. The chip, together with a digital signal processor, implements a full-duplex transceiver for twisted pairs. A fully differential architecture has been used in all the analog signal-processing blocks to get high dynamic range and common-mode noise rejection. The front-end output is a 12-b word generated by a 6-μs A/D (analog-to-digital) converter with autocalibration, with a linearity better than 1 LSB     

A high-performance CMOS 70-MHz palette/DAC

A VLSI circuit has been developed that combines dual-ported RAMs and three high-speed 8-b digital-to-analog converters (DACs). It is known as a palette/DAC. A 6-2 segmented DAC architecture improves differential linearity and monotonicity. The current-source cell uses a cascode device to improve the DAC's linearity. A reference current, set by an on-chip bandgap reference voltage generator, and its associated distribution scheme eliminate the negative effects of threshold mismatches between current source cells, supply line resistance, and noise. The maximum conversion rate is 70 MHz with typical DC differential nonlinearity of 0.48 LSB (least significant bit). The 253-mil/SUP 2/ is designed on a double-metal CMOS process and consumes 1.2 W of power.     

A 0.5-V 8-bit 10-Ms/s Pipelined ADC in 90-nm CMOS

This paper presents a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC) operating from a 0.5-V supply voltage. The ADC uses true low-voltage design techniques that do not require any on-chip supply or clock voltage boosting. The switch OFF leakage in the sampling circuit is suppressed using a cascaded sampling technique. A front-end signal-path sample-and-hold amplifier (SHA) is avoided by using a coarse auxiliary sample and hold (S/H) for the sub-ADC and by synchronizing the sub-ADC and pipeline-stage sampling circuit. A 0.5-V operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) is presented that provides inter-stage amplification with an 8-bit performance for the pipelined ADC operating at 10 Ms/s. The chip was fabricated on a standard 90 nm CMOS technology and measures 1.2 mm times 1.2 mm. The prototype chip has eight identical stages and stage scaling was not used. It consumes 2.4 mW for 10-Ms/s operation. Measured peak SNDR is 48.1 dB and peak SFDR is 57.2 dB for a full-scale sinusoidal input. Maximal integral nonlinearity and differential nonlinearity are 1.19 and 0.55 LSB, respectively.     

A CMOS 5-V analog front end for 9600-bit/s facsimile modems

A CMOS 9600-b/s facsimile-modem analog front end was designed with the consideration that it be capable of being fabricated on the same chip with digital signal processing circuits. To achieve the dynamic range required in the high-speed QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) modem environment with a single 5-V power supply, a fully differential architecture is used. The die area is 23 kmil/SUP 2/ and the power consumption is only 35 mW. The experimental results show that 76-dB dynamic range is achieved from the fully differential bandpass filter. The zero crossing detector in the MF-1 detection block can normally operate with -50-dBm input signal.     

A 200 MHz pipelined multiplier using 1.5 V-supply multiple-valuedMOS current-mode circuits with dual-rail source-coupled logic

A new multiple-valued current-mode MOS integrated circuit is proposed for high-speed arithmetic systems at low supply voltage. Since a multiple-valued source-coupled logic circuit with dual-rail complementary inputs results in a small signal-voltage swing while providing a constant driving current, the switching speed of the circuit is improved at low supply voltage. As an application to arithmetic systems, a 200 MHz 54×51-b pipelined multiplier using the proposed circuits with a 1.5 V supply voltage is designed with a 0.8-μm standard CMOS technology. The performance of the proposed multiplier is evaluated to be about 1.4 times faster than that of a corresponding binary implementation under the normalized power dissipation. A prototype chip is also fabricated to confirm the basic operation of the multiple-valued arithmetic circuit