On the Spectral Tones in a Digital-Analog Converter Due to Mismatch and Flicker Noise

Spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) is one of the most important design metrics for a high-performance digital–analog converter (DAC). SFDR is limited by both dynamic (switching) and static (mismatch) nonlinearities. A good design needs to ensure that the spurious spectral tones caused by the static mismatches do not limit the performance. Aggressively scaling device sizes have also aggravated the problem of flicker noise, which gets modulated by the signal and presents itself as spectral tones. Typically, time domain statistical simulations are needed to guarantee system performance in presence of these nonidealities. In this work, we present a theoretical approach to compute these spectral tones.