High Speed/Resolution Parallel Time Interleaved Multi-bit Feedback Delta Sigma ADCs

In today's changing world, Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are critical components in modern high precision, high-speed avionic, satellite, telecommunications, video, and audio systems. Conversion of analog signals to digital signals with sufficientlyhigh resolution and sampling rates is often a limiting factor in the performance of these systems. Recent technological advances have accelerated the demand for high resolution/high bandwidth ADCs with low power consumption.Given the limitations of current technologies, these harsh requirements are difficult to meet using normal approaches. Oversampling ADCs based on Delta-Sigma modulators have become prominent in meeting these more stringent demands, because this approachpermits high resolution without the need for analog components with extremely tight tolerances. However, improved accuracy with relaxed component requirements comes with the price of oversampling and the associated limited conversion rate.During the course of the Phase I program, Systran Federal Corporation (SFC) investigated several approaches to the ADC problem and has introduced an innovative architecture called Parallel Time Interleaved Multi-bit Feedback (PTIMF). SFC and Wright StateUniversity are proposing to further enhance this technology and fabricate a prototype of the design in silicon. Devices developed based on this technology would be very beneficial to the DoD and the semiconductor industry.