Digital-domain self-calibration and built-in self-testing techniques for high-speed integrated A/D converters using white gaussian noise

• Main Authors: ORTIGUEIRA, MANUEL DUARTE, EVANS, GUIOMAR GASPAR DE ANDRADE EVANS, UNTERWEISSACHER, MARTIN, PAULINO, NUNO FILIPE SILVA VERISSIMO, GOES, JOAO CARLOS DA PALMA
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 03.11.2004
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL; CODING; DECODING; ELECTRICITY

The invention concerns a design technique for self-calibrating the linearity of high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADC). A white Gaussian noise (WGN) input stimulus is employed for generating a digital histogram at the output of the ADC. The calibrating codes are then computed from this digital histogram using a simple digital logic unit comprising adders, registers and a read-only memory (ROM) table. The present invention can thereby reduce the complexity of the self-calibrating circuitry while enabling real-time calibration in high-speed ADCs. The white Gaussian noise generator and the calibrating logic unit can be embedded within the ADC integrated circuit and additionally be utilized as a cost-effective built-in self-testing (BIST) solution.