An analytical approach to the estimation of dynamic non-linearity parameters in pipeline A/D converters

A novel fully-analytical approach to estimate the dynamic non-linearity parameters in a pipeline analog-to-digital converter is presented. These parameters include the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) and the signal to noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) i.e. the most important dynamic non-linearity characteristics. The proposed simple closed-form formulas for SFDR and SNDR are extraordinary useful for the designers to extract the required values for the circuit-level specifications of the sub-blocks of the pipelined A/D converters. They can be utilized in the development of automatic design tools for these converters as well. Behavioral simulations verify the accuracy of the proposed equations.