| 1. |
- Afzal, Nadeem
(författare)
-
Complexity and Power Reduction in Digital Delta-Sigma Modulators
- 2014
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A number of state-of-the-art low power consuming digital delta-sigma modulator (ΔΣ) architectures for digital-to-analog converters (DAC) are presented in this thesis. In an oversampling ΔΣ DAC, the primary job of the modulator is to reduce the word length of the digital control signal to the DAC and spectrally shape the resulting quantization noise. Among the ΔΣ topologies, error-feedback modulators (EFM) are well suited for so called digital to digital modulation.In order to meet the demands, various modifications to the conventional EFM architectures have been proposed. It is observed that if the internal and external digital signals of the EFM are not properly scaled then not only the design itself but also the signal processing blocks placed after it, may be over designed. In order to avoid the possible wastage of resources, a number of scaling criteria are derived. In this regard, the total number of signal levels of the EFM output is expressed in terms of the input scale, the order of modulation and the type of the loop filter.Further on, it is described that the architectural properties of a unit element-based DAC allow us to move some of the digital processing of the EFM to the analog domain with no additional hardware cost. In order to exploit the architectural properties, digital circuitry of an arbitrary-ordered EFM is split into two parts: one producing the modulated output and another producing the filtered quantization noise. The part producing the modulated output is removed after representing the EFM output with a set of encoded signals. For both the conventional and the proposed EFM architectures, the DAC structure remains unchanged. Thus, savings are obtained since the bits to be converted are not accumulated in the digital domain but instead fed directly to the DAC.A strategy to reduce the hardware of conventional EFMs has been devised recently that uses multiple cascaded EFM units. We applied the similar approach but used several cascaded modified EFM units. The compatibility issues among the units (since the output of each proposed EFM is represented by the set of encoded signals) are resolved by a number of architectural modifications. The digital processing is distributed among each unit by splitting the primary input bus. It is shown that instead of cascading the EFM units, it is enough to cascade their loop filters only. This leads not only to area reduction but also to the reduction of power consumption and critical path.All of the designs are subjected to rigorous analysis and are described mathematically. The estimates of area and power consumption are obtained after synthesizing the designs in a 65 nm standard cell library provided by the foundry.
|
|
| 2. |
- Andersson, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
-
A Vernier Time-to-Digital Converter With Delay Latch Chain Architecture
- 2014
-
Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems - II - Express Briefs. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1549-7747 .- 1558-3791. ; 61:10, s. 773-777
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new Vernier time-to-digital converter (TDC) architecture using a delay line and a chain of delay latches is proposed. The delay latches replace the functionality of one delay chain and the sample register commonly found in Vernier converters, hereby enabling power and hardware efficiency improvements. The delay latches can be implemented using either standard or full custom cells, allowing the architecture to be implemented in field-programmable gate arrays, digital synthesized application-specific integrated circuits, or in full custom design flows. To demonstrate the proposed concept, a 7-bit Vernier TDC has been implemented in a standard 65-nm CMOS process with an active core size of 33 mu m x 120 mu m. The time resolution is 5.7 ps with a power consumption of 1.75 mW measured at a conversion rate of 100 MS/s.
|
|
| 3. |
- Andersson, Niklas, 1975-
(författare)
-
Design of Integrated Building Blocks for the Digital/Analog Interface
- 2015
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The integrated circuit has, since it was invented in the late 1950's, undergone a tremendous development and is today found in virtually all electric equipment. The small feature size and low production cost have made it possible to implement electronics in everyday objects ranging from computers and mobile phones to smart prize tags. Integrated circuits are typically used for data communication, signal processing and data storage. Data is usually stored in digital format but signal processing can be performed both in the digital and in the analog domain. For best performance, the right partition of signal processing between the analog and digital domain must be used. This is made possible by data converters converting data between the domains. A device converting an analog signal into a digital representation is called an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a device converting digital data into an analog representation is called a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). In this work we present research results on these data converters and the results are compiled in three different categories. The first contribution is an error correction technique for DACs called dynamic element matching, the second contribution is a power efficient time-to-digital converter architecture and the third is a design methodology for frequency synthesis using digital oscillators.The accuracy of a data converter, i.e., how accurate data is converted, is often limited by manufacturing errors. One type of error is the so-called matching error and in this work we investigate an error correction technique for DACs called dynamic element matching (DEM). If distortion is limiting the performance of a DAC, the DEM technique increases the accuracy of the DAC by transforming the matching error from being signal dependent, which results in distortion, to become signal independent noise. This noise can then be spectrally shaped or filtered out and hereby increasing the overall resolution of the system. The DEM technique is investigated theoretically and the theory is supported by measurement results from an implemented 14-bit DAC using DEM. From the investigation it is concluded that DEM increases the performance of the DAC when matching errors are dominating but has less effect at conversion speeds when dynamic errors dominate.The next contribution is a new time-to-digital converter (TDC) architecture. A TDC is effectively an ADC converting a time difference into a digital representation. The proposed architecture allows for smaller and more power efficient data conversion than previously reported and the implemented TDC prototype is smaller and more power efficient as compared to previously published TDCs in the same performance segment.The third contribution is a design methodology for frequency synthesis using digital oscillators. Digital oscillators generate a sinusoidal output using recursive algorithms. We show that the performance of digital oscillators, in terms of amplitude and frequency stability, to a large extent depends on the start conditions of the oscillators. Further we show that by selecting the proper start condition an oscillator can be forced to repeat the same output sequence over and over again, hence we have a locked oscillator. If the oscillator is locked there is no drift in amplitude or frequency which are common problems for recursive oscillators not using this approach. To find the optimal start conditions a search algorithm has been developed which has been thoroughly tested in simulations. The digital oscillator output is used for test signal generation for a DAC or used to generate tones with high spectral purity using DACs.
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
- Andersson, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
-
Models and Implementation of a Dynamic Element Matching DAC
- 2003
-
Ingår i: Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing. - Netherlands : Springer. - 0925-1030 .- 1573-1979. ; 34:1, s. 7-16
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The dynamic element matching (DEM) techniques for digital-to-analog converters (DACs) has been suggested as a promising method to improve matching between the DAC''s reference levels. However, no work has so far taken the dynamic effects that limit the performance for higher frequenciesinto account. In this paper we present a model describing the dynamic properties of a DEM DAC and compare the simulated results with measurements of a 14-bit current-steering DEM DAC implemented in a 0.35-μm CMOS process. The measured data agrees well with the results predicted by the used model. It is also shown that the DEM technique does not necessarily increase the performance of a DAC when dynamic errors are dominating the achievable performance.
|
|
| 6. |
- Andersson, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
-
Power-efficient time-to-digital converter for all-digital frequency locked loops
- 2015
-
Ingår i: 2015 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON CIRCUIT THEORY AND DESIGN (ECCTD). - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 9781479998777 ; , s. 300-303
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- An 8-bit time-to-digital converter (TDC) for all-digital frequency-locked loops ispresented. The selected architecture uses a Vernier delay line where the commonlyused D flip-flops are replaced with a single enable transistor in the delay elements.This architecture allows for an area efficient and power efficient implementation. Thetarget application for the TDC is an all-digital frequency-locked loop which is alsooverviewed in the paper. A prototype chip has been implemented in a 65 nm CMOSprocess with an active core area of 75μmˆ120μm. The time resolution is 5.7 ps with apower consumption of 1.85 mW measured at 50 MHz sampling frequency.
|
|
| 7. |
- Andersson, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
-
Steady-state cycles in digital oscillators
- 2014
-
Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digital recursive oscillators locked in steady-state can be used to generate sinusoids with high spectral purity. The locking occurs when the oscillator returns to a previously visited state and repeats its sequence. In this work we propose a new search algorithm and two new search strategies to find all steady-states for a given oscillator configuration. The improvement in spurious-free dynamic range is between 7 and 40 dB compared to previously reported results. The algorithm is also able to find oscillator sequences for more frequencies than previously reported work. A key part of the method is the reduction of the search space made possible by a proposed extension of existing theory on recursive oscillators. Specific properties of digital oscillators in a steady-state are also discussed. It is shown that the initial states can be used to individually control the phase, amplitude, spectral purity, and also cycle length of the oscillator output.
|
|
| 8. |
- Andersson, Ola, et al.
(författare)
-
A 14-Bit dual current-steering DAC
- 2003
-
Ingår i: Proc. Swedish System-on-Chip Conf., SSoCC'03.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A 14-bit dual current-steering digital-to-analog converter implemented in a 0.25 µm CMOS process is presented in this work. Both implementation issues and measurement results are presented. The measured spurious-free dynamic range is higher than 73 dB for signal frequencies up to 3 MHz, and a measured multi-tone power ratio of approximately 71 dB is reported for an ADSL-like input.
|
|
| 9. |
- Andersson, Ola, et al.
(författare)
-
A differential DAC architecture with variable common-mode level
- 2002
-
Ingår i: Proc. 2002 IEEE Int. Symp. on Circuits and Systems, ISCAS'02. - 0780374487 ; , s. I-113-I-116
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A differential current-steering digital-to-analog converter (DAC) architecture allowing the common-mode level of the input signal to be varied is presented. Simulation results with models of different DAC nonlinearities indicate that the proposed architecture has a potential of improving the linearity of the converters.
|
|
| 10. |
- Andersson, Ola, et al.
(författare)
-
A method of segmenting digital-to-analog converters
- 2003
-
Ingår i: Proc. IEEE Southwest Symposium on Mixed-Signal Design, SSMSD'03. - 0780377788 ; , s. 32-37
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Segmented architectures are often used in digital-to-analog converters (DACs). Here we propose a DAC structure based on recursive decomposition of an N-bit binary DAC into two (N-1) bit DACs and one 1 bit DAC. A DAC model that includes matching errors has been simulated. The simulation results indicate that by using four layers of decomposition it is possible to achieve similar performance as when using seven bits of traditional segmentation.
|
|
