A 5-GS/s 6-Bit 15.07-mW Flash ADC With Partially Active Second-Stage Comparison and 2× Time-Domain Interpolation

This article presents a 5-GS/s 6-bit flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in a 28-nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) CMOS process. The ADC jointly employs partially active second-stage comparison and
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time-domain latch interpolation (TDI) to reduce power consumption and avoid extensive calibrations. To enhance the conversion speed of the second-stage structure, the stringent timing constraint is resolved by a 25%–75% duty-cycle clock scheme, a 0.5-bit redundancy in the first comparison stage, and an embedded second-stage slice selection logic. The bandwidth requirements of the track-and-hold (T/H) and T/H buffer under the 25%–75% duty-cycle clock are analyzed. An on-chip successive-approximation (SA)-based comparator offset calibration scheme utilizing FDSOI back-gate bias is also developed, providing sufficient calibration range without impairing comparator speed. The measured prototype achieves a signal-to-noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) of 32.8 dB and a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 41.82 dB at Nyquist frequency while consuming 15.07 mW power, translating into a Walden figure-of-merit (FOM) of 84.5 fJ/conversion-step.