Analysis of Reference Error in High-Speed SAR ADCs With Capacitive DAC

The high-speed successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) rely on the switched capacitive digital-to-analog converter (CDAC) to perform the fast transition, which causes voltage ripples at the output of the reference circuits. Such ripples lead to the reference error that eventually prolongs the time for DAC settling. To minimize such error with a short available time, it either demands a power-hungry reference buffer or large die area for the decoupling. In this paper, we offer a comprehensive analysis of the reference errors in SAR ADCs with a practical reference network circuit (RNC) in consideration. A circuit model is developed in order to quantify the error amplitude for the critical DAC settling condition. Based on the proposed model, the settling behavior of the DAC with reference buffer can be precisely characterized, leading to a better understanding about the design tradeoff of the RNC. Finally, the developed model is verified by both circuit level simulations and measurement results.

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