On-chip spectral test for high-speed ADCs by ΣΔ technique

Application of the ΣΔ modulation technique to the on-chip spectral test for high-speed A/D converters is presented. The harmonic HD2/HD3 and intermodulation IM2/IM3 test is obtained with one-bit ΣΔ sequence stored in a cyclic memory or generated on line, and applied to an ADC under test through a driving buffer and a simple reconstruction filter. To achieve a dynamic range (DR) suitable for high-performance spectral measurements a frequency plan is used taking into account the type of ΣΔ modulation (low-pass and band-pass) including the FFT processing gain. Higher order modulation schemes are avoided to manage the ΣΔ quantization noise without resorting to a more complicated filter. For spectral measurements up to the Nyquist frequency, we propose a dedicated low-pass/band-pass ΣΔ modulation scheme that limits spreading of the low-frequency quantization noise by ADC under test that tends to obstruct the test measurements at high frequencies. Correction technique for NRTZ encoding suitable for ADCs with very high clock frequencies is put in perspective. The presented technique is illustrated by simulation examples of a Nyquist-rate ADC under test.