A 120nm low power asynchronous ADC

This paper discusses the development of a new kind of low power processing chain which dynamically adapts sampling frequency to signals. Thus, the design of an asynchronous analog-to-digital converter (A-ADC) is tackled. Its principle is based on a nonuniform sampling scheme and asynchronous technology that allow significant activity and power savings. A test chip targetting 10-bit speech applications has been fabricated using the 120nm CMOS process from STMicroelectronics. The power consumption is lower than 180/spl mu/W leading to a figure of merit two times better than those of classical Nyquist converters recently published.

[1]  Gilles Sicard,et al.  A new class of asynchronous A/D converters based on time quantization , 2003, Ninth International Symposium on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems, 2003. Proceedings..

[2]  Giorgio Biagetti,et al.  A current mode multistable memory using asynchronous successive approximation A/D converters , 1999, ICECS'99. Proceedings of ICECS '99. 6th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems (Cat. No.99EX357).

[3]  Marc Renaudin,et al.  Irregular sampling and local quantification scheme A-D converter , 2003 .

[4]  Ivan E. Sutherland,et al.  Micropipelines , 1989, Commun. ACM.

[5]  Low power, low noise micropipelined flash A-D converter , 1999 .

[6]  Mohamed I. Elmasry,et al.  Optimizing CMOS implementations of the C-element , 1997, Proceedings International Conference on Computer Design VLSI in Computers and Processors.

[7]  Alexandre Yakovlev,et al.  Synchronous and asynchronous A-D conversion , 2000, IEEE Trans. Very Large Scale Integr. Syst..

[8]  Kristofer S. J. Pister,et al.  An ultra–low power ADC for distributed sensor networks , 2002 .

[9]  C. A. R. Hoare,et al.  Developments in concurrency and communication , 1991 .

[10]  Laurent Fesquet,et al.  Asynchronous FIR filters: towards a new digital processing chain , 2004, 10th International Symposium on Asynchronous Circuits and Systems, 2004. Proceedings..

[11]  Alain J. Martin.  Programming in VLSI: from communicating processes to delay-insensitive circuits , 1991 .

[12]  Charles G. Sodini,et al.  A high-speed CMOS comparator for use in an ADC , 1988 .

[13]  Marc Renaudin,et al.  Asynchronous circuits and systems: a promising design alternative , 2000 .

[14]  Robert H. Walden,et al.  Analog-to-digital converter survey and analysis , 1999, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..

[15]  Doris Schmitt-Landsiedel,et al.  A 0.5V, 1µW successive approximation ADC , 2002 .

[16]  M.G. Bellanger,et al.  Digital processing of speech signals , 1980, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[17]  F. Beutler.  Error-Free Recovery of Signals from Irregularly Spaced Samples , 1966 .

[18]  Jon W. Mark,et al.  A Nonuniform Sampling Approach to Data Compression , 1981, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[19]  Henrik V. Sorensen,et al.  A level-crossing sampling scheme for A/D conversion , 1996 .