A low propagation delay dispersion comparator for a level-crossing AD converter

This paper presents the design of a continuous time voltage comparator with low propagation delay dispersion. The comparator is intended to be used as a building block for a level-crossing AD converter: a type of AD converter where the sampling moments are triggered when an input signal crosses predetermined threshold levels. This type of system sets very high demands on the time measurement and the comparator to achieve the desired performance. The comparator design is based on several techniques to minimize the comparator propagation delay dispersion. The comparator has been implemented in a 0.35 μm BiCMOS process. Measured results show good agreement with simulations. The slew rate related propagation delay dispersion is measured to 90 ps for an input frequency range from 3 to 10 MHz and amplitudes from 200 mV to 1.65 V. The comparator static power consumption is 9 mW.

[1]  J. L. Pennock.  Bipolar and MOS analog integrated circuit design , 1984 .

[2]  Kiat Seng Yeo,et al.  Fully integrated CMOS limiting amplifier with offset compensation network , 2007 .

[3]  J. Doernberg,et al.  A 10-bit 5-Msample/s CMOS two-step flash ADC , 1989 .

[4]  M.H. Perrott,et al.  A 3.125 Gb/s limit amplifier in CMOS with 42 dB gain and 1 /spl mu/s offset compensation , 2006, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[5]  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..

[6]  Josef Stoer,et al.  Numerische Mathematik 1 , 1989 .

[7]  T. Strohmer,et al.  Efficient numerical methods in non-uniform sampling theory , 1995 .

[8]  Behzad Razavi.  Design of intergrated circuits for optical communications , 2002 .

[9]  Rudy Van De Plassche.  Integrated analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters / Rudy Van De Plassche , 1994 .

[10]  J. Kostamovaara,et al.  A CMOS time-to-digital converter with better than 10 ps single-shot precision , 2006, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[11]  Juha Kostamovaara,et al.  Receiver channel with resonance-based timing detection for a laser range finder , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

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

[13]  P.W. Jungwirth,et al.  Improved Sayiner level crossing ADC , 2004, Thirty-Sixth Southeastern Symposium on System Theory, 2004. Proceedings of the.

[14]  Johan H. Huijsing,et al.  Operational Amplifiers - Theory and Design , 2000 .

[15]  K.-W.W. Yeung,et al.  An intelligent multiplexer/driver integrated circuit for an implantable multichannel blood flowmeter , 1990 .