ADC spectral testing allowing amplitude clipping

In Built-In Self-Test, it is hard to control the amplitude of the input sine wave approximately equal but slightly less than the full scale of the ADC under test, under which condition correct spectral performance can be obtained. This paper proposes a new algorithm which can achieve accurate testing result when the input sine wave is larger than the full scale of the ADC. It also relaxes an IEEE standard requirement on the amplitude of the input sine wave. Simulation results of 4 different resolution ADCs show accurate spectral performance on THD, SFDR, ENOB and SNR. Measurement result of a 16-bit ADC validated the algorithm.