INL based dynamic performance estimation for ADC BIST

Data acquisition time and accurate instrumentation are the most significant contributors to ADC test cost. For most ADC products, static linearity (INL/DNL) test is required. This paper presents a methodology for estimating an ADC's dynamic performance from its tested INL data, without requiring additional data acquisition or additional accurate sinusoidal sources. The tested INL(k) data is used to compute the power at harmonic frequencies and estimate ADC's dynamic specifications such as THD and SFDR. Memory and computation requirement is very small comparing to that in traditional spectral testing. When combined with a BIST approach for INL testing, this method offers a very low cost BIST solution to ADC dynamic performance testing. Both simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method can estimate THD and SFDR values accurately.