A reconfigurable pipelined data converter

A reconfigurable data converter (RDC) for integrating with a FPGA is proposed. The RDC consists of a number of programmable data converter cells (PDCCs), which can be programmed to perform basic analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog functions that are required in pipelined converters. A programmable switching network is then used to group and connect a number of PDCCs to obtain different numbers of ADCs and DACs with different resolutions. When the RDC is integrated with a FPGA, it will provide a low cost solution for realizing low to medium volume mixed signal systems. To demonstrate this concept, a prototype RDC was designed in a 2 /spl mu/m CMOS process and tested by configuring the RDC into different data converters.