Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters

Implemented in front of the comparator arrays, the sample-and-hold (S/H) or track-and-hold (T/H) circuits are indispensable for high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to minimize the aperture error and fully exploit their speed potential, by keeping the input signal of the comparators consta...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Huang, Jiong.
Other Authors: Lau Kim Teen
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52549
_version_ 1811683506195005440
author Huang, Jiong.
author2 Lau Kim Teen
author_facet Lau Kim Teen
Huang, Jiong.
author_sort Huang, Jiong.
collection NTU
description Implemented in front of the comparator arrays, the sample-and-hold (S/H) or track-and-hold (T/H) circuits are indispensable for high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to minimize the aperture error and fully exploit their speed potential, by keeping the input signal of the comparators constant for a sufficiently long period to settle their output values. As the performance of the S/H circuits determines the overall performance of the data acquisition systems, stringent requirements are imposed on them in terms of speed and accuracy. Hence, the S/H circuits are often deemed as the design bottle-neck. Under low supply voltages, there is substantial tradeoff among bandwidth, signal swing, distortion, noise, chip area, and power consumption. Particularly, as the open-loop architecture is chosen over its closed-loop counterpart to achieve high throughput, input-dependent distortions are fully exposed. For sampling switches, the most frequently used components, the causes of these distortions, like the on-resistance modulation, the channel charge injection (CCI), the sampling instant variation and the hold-mode feedthrough, are identified and stressed. Since they can hardly be removed by the preceding circuitry, the nonlinear distortions should be minimized in the S/H circuits. There are numerous techniques developed to cope with these artifacts, but they ought to meet the speed requirement of the S/H circuits. In this dissertation, three basic open-loop S/H topologies are studied, namely, switched-capacitor (SC), switched-source follower (SSF) and series sampling (SS); the innate features of each are reviewed. To enhance the performance while sustaining high speed, innovative modifications are tailored to each topology, instead of employing any cumbersome techniques. For the SC-based T/H circuits, the sampling rate is mainly determined by the rate of the formation and removal of the channel of the sampling switch, and thus can be very high. The modified gate bootstrapping technique is proposed to regulate the on-resistance of the sampling switch without seriously affecting the sampling rate. However, the sampling switch alone cannot drive any capacitive load, so input/output buffers have to be implemented. The novel source follower (SF) buffers are proposed that feature the error compensation and bandwidth enhancement technique; they facilitate resolution up to 7.5 bits at the sampling rate of 4 giga-samples per second (GSPS) according the simulation results. The other two kinds of S/H circuits accommodate larger signal swing and have the hold-mode feedthrough removed. They have the capacitive level shifters implemented in front of the SSFs to develop gate voltages in excess of the supply voltage, fully exploit the signal swing capability of SFs, and facilitate ultra-low voltage operation. Reference voltages are deliberately designed to obtain the desired level shifting value. During the hold mode, the parasitic signal path is shorted to ground, and the feedthrough phenomenon is suppressed. Unlike the conventional techniques for hold-mode feedthrough removal, e.g. a T-switch, the proposed S/H circuits exhibit a wider bandwidth and much larger load driving capability in the tracking mode. The simulation results indicate that these S/H circuits can achieve a sampling rate up to 2.5GSPS. Featuring distinct advantages, these three kinds S/H circuits will fulfill the different specifications of various high-speed applications, especially high-speed ADCs.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T04:13:49Z
format Thesis
id ntu-10356/52549
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T04:13:49Z
publishDate 2013
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/525492023-07-04T16:19:48Z Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters Huang, Jiong. Lau Kim Teen School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Microelectronics Centre DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Electronic circuits Implemented in front of the comparator arrays, the sample-and-hold (S/H) or track-and-hold (T/H) circuits are indispensable for high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to minimize the aperture error and fully exploit their speed potential, by keeping the input signal of the comparators constant for a sufficiently long period to settle their output values. As the performance of the S/H circuits determines the overall performance of the data acquisition systems, stringent requirements are imposed on them in terms of speed and accuracy. Hence, the S/H circuits are often deemed as the design bottle-neck. Under low supply voltages, there is substantial tradeoff among bandwidth, signal swing, distortion, noise, chip area, and power consumption. Particularly, as the open-loop architecture is chosen over its closed-loop counterpart to achieve high throughput, input-dependent distortions are fully exposed. For sampling switches, the most frequently used components, the causes of these distortions, like the on-resistance modulation, the channel charge injection (CCI), the sampling instant variation and the hold-mode feedthrough, are identified and stressed. Since they can hardly be removed by the preceding circuitry, the nonlinear distortions should be minimized in the S/H circuits. There are numerous techniques developed to cope with these artifacts, but they ought to meet the speed requirement of the S/H circuits. In this dissertation, three basic open-loop S/H topologies are studied, namely, switched-capacitor (SC), switched-source follower (SSF) and series sampling (SS); the innate features of each are reviewed. To enhance the performance while sustaining high speed, innovative modifications are tailored to each topology, instead of employing any cumbersome techniques. For the SC-based T/H circuits, the sampling rate is mainly determined by the rate of the formation and removal of the channel of the sampling switch, and thus can be very high. The modified gate bootstrapping technique is proposed to regulate the on-resistance of the sampling switch without seriously affecting the sampling rate. However, the sampling switch alone cannot drive any capacitive load, so input/output buffers have to be implemented. The novel source follower (SF) buffers are proposed that feature the error compensation and bandwidth enhancement technique; they facilitate resolution up to 7.5 bits at the sampling rate of 4 giga-samples per second (GSPS) according the simulation results. The other two kinds of S/H circuits accommodate larger signal swing and have the hold-mode feedthrough removed. They have the capacitive level shifters implemented in front of the SSFs to develop gate voltages in excess of the supply voltage, fully exploit the signal swing capability of SFs, and facilitate ultra-low voltage operation. Reference voltages are deliberately designed to obtain the desired level shifting value. During the hold mode, the parasitic signal path is shorted to ground, and the feedthrough phenomenon is suppressed. Unlike the conventional techniques for hold-mode feedthrough removal, e.g. a T-switch, the proposed S/H circuits exhibit a wider bandwidth and much larger load driving capability in the tracking mode. The simulation results indicate that these S/H circuits can achieve a sampling rate up to 2.5GSPS. Featuring distinct advantages, these three kinds S/H circuits will fulfill the different specifications of various high-speed applications, especially high-speed ADCs. Master of Engineering 2013-05-17T02:31:54Z 2013-05-17T02:31:54Z 2013 2013 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52549 en 147 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Electronic circuits
Huang, Jiong.
Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters
title Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters
title_full Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters
title_fullStr Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters
title_full_unstemmed Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters
title_short Sample-and-hold circuits for ultra-high-speed analog-to-digital converters
title_sort sample and hold circuits for ultra high speed analog to digital converters
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Electronic circuits
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52549
work_keys_str_mv AT huangjiong sampleandholdcircuitsforultrahighspeedanalogtodigitalconverters