A 1-GHz signal bandwidth 6-bit CMOS ADC with power-efficient averaging

A 2-GS/s 6-bit ADC with time-interleaving is demonstrated in 0.18-μm one-poly six-metal CMOS. A triple-cross connection method is devised to improve the offset averaging efficiency. Circuit techniques, enabling a state-of-the-art figure-of-merit of 3.5 pJ per conversion step, are discussed. The peak DNL and INL are measured as 0.32 LSB and 0.5 LSB, respectively. The SNDR and SFDR have achieved 36 and 48dB, respectively, with 4 MHz input signal. Near Nyquist input frequencies, the SNDR and SFDR maintain above 30 and 35.5dB, respectively, up to 941 MHz. The complete ADC, including front-end track-and-hold amplifiers and clock buffers, consumes 310 mW from a 1.8-V supply while operating at 2-GHz conversion rate. The prototype ADC occupies an active chip area of 0.5 mm².