Single-Ended ADC With Thermometer Decoder for Low-Power Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Prior art analog to digital converters (ADCs) are highly consumptive of power and provide relatively low resolution, making them unsuitable for applications with limited power budgets and requiring high performance and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
The development of novel ADC designs and architectures that enable high-resolution digital format data conversion with simultaneous drive and sense capabilities, utilizing a single line for both power provision and signal sensing, and incorporating non-linear N-bit digital to analog converters (DACs) to achieve broad dynamic range and low power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If prior art ADC designs are used, then device complexity is reduced, but power consumption is high and resolution is low
Solution Approach 1:
The ADC is divided into multiple parallel sub-ADCs, each handling a portion of the input range. This segmentation allows each sub-ADC to operate at lower power while collectively achieving high resolution through the thermometer decoder that combines their outputs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new architectural dimension by using a thermometer decoder that maps multiple analog input ranges to digital outputs. This dimensional transformation enables high-resolution conversion without the traditional power consumption penalties by distributing the conversion workload across multiple parallel paths.
2Measurement precision
If prior art ADC designs are used, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision is low
Solution Approach 1:
The complex high-resolution conversion task is segmented into multiple simpler sub-ADC operations. Each sub-ADC handles a specific input range with simpler circuitry, and the thermometer decoder combines these segmented results to achieve the overall high resolution.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple sub-ADC outputs are merged through the thermometer decoder to produce the final high-resolution digital output. This merging process combines the results from parallel simpler converters to achieve the precision of a much more complex single converter.
3Measurement precision
If single-ended architecture is used, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves high precision in a single-ended architecture by introducing a dimensional transformation through the thermometer decoder. This decoder creates a many-to-one mapping from multiple sub-ADC outputs that effectively synthesizes high-resolution data without requiring the complexity of differential architectures.
Data Source
AI summary
A high resolution analog to digital converter (ADC) with improved bandwidth senses an analog signal (e.g., a load current) to generate a digital signal. The ADC operates based on a load voltage produced based on charging of an element (e.g., a capacitor) by a load current and a digital to analog converter (DAC) output current (e.g., from a N-bit DAC). The ADC generates a digital output signal representative of a difference between the load voltage and a reference voltage. This digital output signal is used directly, or after digital signal processing, to operate an N-bit DAC to generate a DAC output current that tracks the load current. In addition, quantization noise is subtracted from the digital output signal thereby extending the operational bandwidth of the ADC. In certain examples, the operational bandwidth of the ADC extends up to 100s of kHz (e.g., 200-300 kHz), or even higher.