Model-based testing of high-resolution ADCs

Testing Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) involves time-consuming measurements to estimate the location and spacing between the transition levels. From these measurements the Integral and Differential Nonlinearity (INL and DNL) are determined and cross-checked against the values given on the data sheet. The histogram test, an all-codes test, is widely used in industry. In this work, we compare for high-resolution ADCs this test method with a short-codes method that is based on combining the servo-loop setup and the LEMMA modeling technique. We demonstrate how and why the latter method outperforms histogramming in terms of test time