A VCO-based spatial averaging stochastic ADC

This paper proposes a spatial averaging stochastic oversampling ADC. By implementing VCO-based quantizers in parallel, the stochastic spatial averaging is inherently obtained along with 1st-order noise shaping. In an open-loop oversampling configuration which eliminates power- and speed-constrained active components, the proposed ADC only requires digital components which are easily synthesizable. Both uncorrelation conditions and spatial averaging characteristics are verified in a behavioral model. Some critical design insights are examined using design parameters from a 65nm technology.