High Speed, High Resolution and Low Power Approaches for SAR A/D Converter

Through the review and analysis of traditional and some recently reported conversion methods in SAR A/D converters, high speed, high resolution and low power approaches for SAR A/D converter are discussed. Based on SMIC 65 nm CMOS technology, two typical low power methods reported in previous works are validated by circuit design and simulation. Design challenges and considerations of high speed SAR A/D converter are presented. Moreover, C-R combination based high resolution approach is discussed. Finally, a novel R-C combination based method is also addressed and a 10-bit SAR A/D converter with this approach is implemented in SMIC 90 nm CMOS process.