A new concept for flash AD conversion

An electronic system architecture for AD conversion is proposed based on wave propagation. An analog input value is converted into a digital thermometer code by denoting wave propagation as logic '1' and propagation failure as a logic '0'. The performance of the proposed two-step flash analog-to-digital converter is discussed. The design is realized in a MIETEC 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS technology process and operates at 200 MHz.