A 4 GHZ MULTI-CHIP SYSTEM FOR HIGH RESOLUTION ANALOG-TO- DIGITAL CONVERTERS

GIGASAMPLE ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (ADCS) ARE NEEDED INMANY FIELDS, FROM ADVANCED INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS TOSCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION USED IN HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS. AS HIGHER SPEED ADCS BECOME AVAILABLE, SIGNAL CAPTURE FUNCTIONS WHICH WERE ONLY POSSIBLE IN THE ANALOG DOMAIN, NOW BECOME POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE IN THE DIGITAL DOMAIN, WHERE MORE SOPHISTICATED (AND FAR MORE ACCURATE) SIGNAL PROCESSING FUNCTIONS MAY BE APPLIED. GALLIUM ARSENIDE (GAAS) TECHNOLOGY PROMISES A NEARLY TENFOLD INCREASE IN CONVERSION RATE, HOWEVER, GAAS ADC DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN PLAGUED WITH PROBLEMS FOR WHICH NO NEAR TERM SOLUTION IS FORESEEN. THE TECHNIQUE PROPOSED HERE SHOULD HASTEN THE REALIZATION OF THE PROMISE OF GAAS. AT THE SAME TIME IT CAN BE APPLIED TO ANY OTHER TECHNOLOGY WHERE THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SIGNAL BANDWIDTH ANDTHE CURRENT DRIVING CAPABILITY OF THE TECHNOLOGY. A MOST PROMISING CASE IN POINT IS THE POSSIBILITY OF USING THIS TECHNIQUE TO REALIZE LOW-POWER HIGH RESOLUTION ADCS IN SUBMICRON BICMOS APPLICABLE TO HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO TECHNOLOGY (HDTV).