Ultralow-Voltage High-Speed

ANALOG TO DIGITAL
converter(Flash ADC)
UJJAYINI DEBNATH
03102072017
M.tech, VLSI design
 Introduction
• analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are required for
many applications, such as disk drive front-ends,
high-speed backplanes, ultra wideband receivers,
and millimeter-wave receivers
• Conventionally, the highly digital flash architecture
is the most suitable candidate for high-speed
applications “because of its low latency”
 FLASH ADC

A flash ADC (also known as a direct-

conversion ADC) is a type of an alog-to-digital
converter that uses a linear voltage ladder
with a comparator at each "rung" of the
ladder to compare the input voltage to
successive reference voltages.
 Why FLASH ADCs are fast?
• Flash analog-to-digital converters, also known as
parallel ADCs, are the fastest way to convert an
analog signal to a digital signal.
• Flash ADCs are ideal for applications requiring very
large bandwidth, but they consume more power
than other ADC architectures and are generally
limited to 8-bit resolution.
 Implementation

A 2-bit flash ADC example implementation with bubble error

correction and digital encoding
 Implementation

• Flash ADCs have been implemented in many

technologies, such as BJT, complementary
metaloxide FET (CMOS)
• Implementations consisted of a reference ladder of well
matched resistors connected to a reference voltage.
• Each tap at the resistor ladder is used for one comparator
• thus generates a logical 0 or 1 depending on whether the
measured voltage is above or below the reference
voltage of the resistor tap.
• Offset calibration-A test signal is applied, and the offset
of each comparator is calibrated to below the LSB value
of the ADC.
 What is RESOLUTION in ADCs?
• (ADC) resolution can be used to describe the general
performance of an ADC.
• Resolution and accuracy are terms that are often
interchanged.
• The resolution of an A/D converter (ADC) is specified
in bits and determines how many distinct output
codes (2n) the converter is capable of producing.
Energy and resolution graph

Due to its similarities to digital circuits, supply voltage lowering is

an effective method in reducing its power consumption
 ULTRALOW-VOLTAGE STRATEGY
• A sampling circuit is an essential part of an ADC.
Moreover, it also determines the fundamental
energy consumption for a given resolution as
expressed below –
Es = 24kT 22N

• where Es is the sampling energy limited by the

thermal noise, k is the Boltzmann
constant(1.3806*10^-3 m^2 kg s^-2 k^-1), T is the
ambient temperature, and N is the resolution.
 Application

• like radar detection, wideband

radio receivers, electronic test equipment,
and optical communication links,
• Also a small flash ADC circuit may be present
inside a delta-sigma modulation loop.
• Flash ADCs are also used in NAND
flash memory, where up to 3 bits are stored
per cell as 8 voltages level on floating gates.
 Benefits and drawbacks

• Flash converters are extremely fast compared

to many other types of ADCs
• a flash converter is also quite simple
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 REFERENCE

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