12-b 125 MSPS CMOS D/A designed for spectral performance

A 12-b 125 MSPS, digital to analog converter fabricated on a 0.6 micron single poly double metal CMOS process is presented. The design operates on supply voltages from 2.7 to 5.5 volts and at 20 mA full. Scale output current consumes 150 mW from a 5 volt supply clocked at 100 MHz. Operating on a 3 volt supply, at 2 mA output current, and clocked at 60 MSPS, the power is less than 30 mW; new circuit architectures have been implemented which improve the spurious free dynamic range by 20 dB over previous CMOS designs and matches the results of higher power bipolar and BiCMOS designs.