A Self Calibration Method of a Pipeline ADC Based on Dynamic Capacitance Allotment

This manuscript introduces a low-power mixed-signal foreground calibration algorithm of a pipeline analog-to-digital converter (ADC) using a digitally controlled reconfigurable switched-capacitor multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) gain controller. The proposed calibration technique forces the front-end stage MDAC gain toward its ideal value to achieve the ideal ADC output linearity. In this brief, a feedback mechanism has been employed to nullify the effect of change in MDAC gain from its ideal value by sensing a digital back-end unit response. The proposed method has been simulated using a 0.18-mu m CMOS process. An 11-bit pipeline ADC with a 1.5-bit stage followed by a ten bit linear back-end ADC (BE-ADC) has been used to calibrate the non-linearity of the said 1.5-bit stage. Using a low amplifier gain value of 28 dB, the signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio (SNDR) of the ADC improves from 46.21-dB pre-calibration to 65.13-dB post-calibration.

Automated summary

This paper introduces a low-power mixed-signal foreground calibration algorithm for ADC using a digitally controlled reconfigurable switched-capacitor MDAC gain controller. The proposed method nullifies the effect of MDAC gain change on ADC output linearity through a feedback mechanism, achieving ideal ADC output linearity.