Tutorial: Noise-Shaping SAR ADCs

The noise-shaping (NS) successive-approximation register (SAR) has become a dominant emerging ADC architecture in a short time. Combining the benefits of SAR and noise shaping, NS-SAR ADCs take full advantage of advanced CMOS processes and continue to break records for energy and area efficiency. Along with increasing data rate, NS-SAR ADCs are getting attractive in various applications. This tutorial begins by explaining the basics of the NS SAR. It explores different noise-shaping techniques and introduces approaches for higher-order noise-shaping and high signal-bandwidth designs.