2016 Volume 136 Issue 1 Pages 8-15
Reference voltages of a stochastic flash A-to-D converter (SFADC) are defined by comparator offset voltages instead of fixed external reference voltages. Assuming that offset-voltage variation follows Gaussian distribution, its cumulative distribution function becomes non-linear and the linear input signal range is narrow. We propose a way to reduce nonlinearity by dividing the comparators into M groups, and synthesize a single uniform distribution by introducing additional DC reference voltages and weights for each group. This work presents a design guide to determine how many groups we should divide to obtain good linearity.
The transactions of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.C
The Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan