A 6 Bit Flash ADC Operating Up to 1 GHz and Nyquist Up to 500 MHz Sampling Rate

A high speed Analog-Digital converter realized with a standard Bipolar process (Ft = 8 GHz) is presented. Optimized design and novel layout concept of the chip, leads to operating frequency up to 1 GHz sampling rate with less than 1.4 W power dissipation. The architecture and the design of the main functions are described. The way to optimize dynamic performance is shown in the paper. Main measurement results are Differential Non linearity of ± 0.15 LSB, analog input bandwidth of 550 MHz, Nyquist operation up to 500 MHz sampling rate.