Robust ADC concept for integrated CMOS systems

The ADC is found to be very robust against electrical noise in the substrate and from the output pads. Whether the square wave signal test is representative or not, the PSA-ADC can stand high (>1 V) disturbing signals in the substrate and is therefore suitable for systems integration. The noise and linearity measurements clearly shows that a PSA-ADC with 12-bit resolution is feasible. This ADC can easily be adapted to various applications with different requirements. Only the comparators are analog and need some care. The number of cells and subranging stages can be adjusted to meet a specific requirement in terms of speed and resolution. This together with the noise immunity and the scalability makes this ADC suitable for systems integration.