Fast co-test of linearity and spectral performance with non-coherent sampled and amplitude clipped data

Production test is a significant contributor to the manufacturing cost for high performance analog and mixed-signal products. Linearity test and spectral test are two main categories in ADC testing, and linearity test cost is usually the largest component in the test cost. For spectral testing, it is a very challenging task to precisely control the amplitude and frequency of input sinusoidal signal. Over-range amplitude results in clipping ADC output and non-coherent sampling results in spectral leakage. To reduce ADC test cost dramatically, a new algorithm is proposed in this paper. The new algorithm can simultaneously perform linearity test and spectral test with only one-time data acquisition. Targeted for realizing co-test of linearity and spectral performance under non-coherent sampling and amplitude clipping, a new accurate method for identifying the non-coherent and clipped fundamental is introduced. The residue after removing the identified fundamental from raw data is used to obtain the linearity and spectral characterizations. Simulation results and measurement results against the standard test methods collaborate to validate the accuracy and robustness of the new solution.