New simple digital self-calibration technique for pipeline ADCs using the internal thermal noise

This paper describes a new digital-domain self- calibration technique for high-speed pipeline A/D converters using the internal thermal noise as input stimulus. This low- amplitude noise is amplified and recycled by the ADC itself and, due to the successive foldings, it is naturally converted into uniform noise. This noise is then used to calculate the required calibrating-codes. As an example, the calibration of a 13-bit pipeline ADC shows that the overall linearity can be significantly improved using this technique.