Subthreshold Parallel FM-to-Digital $\Delta$– $\Sigma$ Converter With Output-Bit-Stream Addition by Interleaving

Single and parallel subthreshold frequency-modulation-to-digital Delta-Sigma modulators (FDSMs) have been implemented in a standard 90-nm CMOS technology. Theoretical and measured results are presented for both topologies. The 512-stage parallel FDSM adopts a tunable delay line and achieves bit-stream addition by interleaving at the output stage. This architecture, with respect to the conventional parallel FDSM, reduces power, area, and complexity at the cost of using clocks with higher speed in its output stage. In addition, compared to the single FDSM, the parallel converter shows an improvement in signal-to-quantization-noise ratio of more than 25 dB at supply voltages as low as 300 mV.