4/25/2017 Pipelinevs.

SigmaDeltaADCforCommunicationsApplications

Pipelinevs.SigmaDeltaADCforCommunicationsApplications
ByNoelO'Riordan,MixedSignalIPGroup,Silicon&SoftwareSystems
(S3)

Introduction

TheAnalogtoDigitalConverter(ADC)isakeycomponentindigital
communicationsreceivechannels,andthecorrectchoiceofADCiscritical
foroptimizingsystemdesign.Inthisarticle,wediscusswhatdesign
factorsdrivetheselectionoftheADC,howtospecifytheADCandwhento
choosebetweenaPipelineADCandaSigmaDelta(/)ADC.

1ADC

TwoofthemostpopularADCarchitecturestodayarethePipelineADCand
theSigmaDeltaADC.Traditionallyeachhashaditsowndistinct
applicationareas,andinterestingly,nowadays,therearesomeareas
wherebothcanbeapplied.Wewilllookatthisanddeterminehowto
maketheappropriateADCchoice.

1.1ADCBasics

Tocorrectlyconvertacontinuousanalogsignaltoitsdiscretedigital
representation,theADCsamplingfrequency(orsamplingrateinMS/s)
mustbetwicethebandwidthofthesignal.Inpracticetheinputsignals
bandwidthmustbelimitedbyananalogAntiAliasingfilter,andthe
minimumADCsamplingfrequencyisreferredtoastheNyquist
frequency.

Aswewillsee,theADCisoftenoperatedatahighersamplingrateto
relaxthefilteringrequirements,andtheOverSamplingRatio(OSR)isthe
numberoftimestheactualsamplingrateisgreaterthantheminimum
Nyquistfrequency.

Convertingacontinuousanalogsignalintoadiscretedigitalcode,involves
unavoidableerrorsduetoquantisationnoise,devicenoiseandcircuitnon
idealities.ThenumberofbitsfortheADCisdependentontheSignalto
NoiseandDistortionRatio(SNDR)requiredinthedigitalmodemdecoder.
AccuratedeterminationoftheSNDRspecificationisvitalforselectingthe
bestADC:ifitisoverdimensioned,thepowerandareaoftheADCwill
increaserapidly.AnotherrelatedkeyADCspecificationistheEffective
NumberofBits(ENOB),beingtheachievabledynamicresolutionofthe
ADC.

1.2PipelineADC

APipelineADCconsistsofacascadeofstages,eachofwhichcontainsa
lowresolutionADC,DACandamplifier,thatsuccessivelyconvertthe

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analoginputintoitsdigitalrepresentation,whileprocessingthedataina
pipelinedmanner.

PipelineADCsarecommonlyusedforpowerefficienthighspeed
conversionofwidebandwidthinputsignals(e.g.10to100MHz).TheADC
samplingfrequencyisusuallytheNyquistfrequencyorlowerusingsmall
OSRs(e.g.2or4)andtheADCoutputcoderesolutionistypicallybetween
8and14bit.

ThepipelineADCisanopenlooparchitecture,havingasmallinherent
latency(e.g.4to6clockcycles),andadirectrelationshipbetweenthe
inputsignalandtheoutputcode.

PipelineADCsaretypicallyimplementedinCMOSprocessesusing
SwitchedCapacitor(SC)discretetimecircuitry.APipelineADCneedsa
nontrivialanalogAntiAliasingfilter,whichconsumesadditionalpowerand
area.

1.3SigmaDelta(/)ADC

SigmaDelta(/)ADCsaresignificantlydifferentfrompipelineADCsand
someoftheconventionalspecificationsshouldnotbeapplieddirectly.
TheyarecapableofachievinghighENOB/SNDR(e.g.10to12ENOBand
above),forlowtomediuminputsignalbandwidths(e.g.100kHzto
10MHz).

TheSigmaDelta(/)architectureemploysfeedbackfromthedigitalto
theanalogdomainandreliesonahighOSR(e.g.10to128).Thehigh
oversamplingratioallowsverysimpleanalogantialiasingfilterstobe
used,savingsystempowerandarea,butdorequiresomeextradigital
filtering.Asaresultofthefeedback,theSigmaDelta(/)ADCcan
becomeunstableforlargeinputsignals,andloseperformancesosome
sortofoverloaddiagnosticsarenecessary.Inaddition,thereisnodirect
relationshipbetweentheinputsignalandthedigitaloutputcode,so
dynamiclinearityspecificationslikeSpuriousFreeDynamicRange(SFDR)
areoftenusedinsteadofDifferentialandIntegralNonLinearity

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(DNL/INL).

SigmaDelta(/)ADCscanbeimplementedasDiscreteTime(DT)or
ContinuousTime(CT)circuits.DiscreteTimeSwitchedCapacitorSigma
Delta(/)ADCsareeasilyprogrammablefordifferentbandwidths,donot
requirecalibrationandarerelativelyinsensitivetoclockjitter(whichcan
degradeperformance).WewillfocusonDTSCSigmaDelta(/)ADCsin
thisdiscussion.

2ReceivePathDesign

Atypicalreceivepathusedindigitalcommunicationssystemsisshown
below.

TheAnalogBaseBand(ABB)isofinteresthere.Gainisrequiredtoamplify
thesignal.Filteringisrequiredtoprovideantialiasing,bybandlimiting
thesignalpresentedtotheADC,inordertoreducenoiseandattenuate
interferencesignals(especiallyimportantinwirelessapplications).In
designingsuchasystem,thegoalistotradeoffgain,noiselinearity,
undertheconstraintsofminimisingpoweranddiearea.

Thegainandfilteringcanbedistributedatdifferentpointsinthereceive
path.Notethatdigitalcommunicationpathsareconvenientlyimplemented
bysplittingthesignalintotwocomponents,commonlytermedIandQ.For
basebandapplications,suchaswirelinecommunicationsthiscanbe
handledinthedigitalmodemandsoonlyonereceivepath(andADC)is
needed.Forwirelessapplications,suchasWLAN/WiMAX/LTE,theRFdown
conversionresultsintheneedfortworeceivepathsandtwoADCs,often
termedIQADC.Inthedigitaldomain,someformofdecimationfilteris
typicallyused,tochangethesamplingratedowntotheNyquistfrequency,
irrespectiveofwhetheraSigmaDelta(/)oraPipelineADCischosen.

3SpecifyingtheADC

Basedontheapplicationsstandard,theENOB/SNDRrequiredfortheADC
canbecalculated.FilteringplaysalargeroleindeterminingtheADC

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ENOB.Forexample,inwirelessapplications,oftenonehalfoftheADC
ENOBfigureisneededtohandleinterferencesignalsthatmaybepresent.
Wewillconsiderthreeapplications:1)widebandwireline,2)wireless
broadbandand3)highresolutionnarrowbandwidthwireless.

3.1WidebandWireline

ExamplesofsuchapplicationsarePowerlineCommunicationsandCable
Modem.Thebandwidthisoftheorderof40MHzto100MHzandENOB
requiredvariesfrom9.0toabove10ENOB.ThePipelineADCisideally
suitedfortheseapplications.

For9ENOBandslightlyabove,a10bitPipelineADCoperatingfrom8to
80MS/scanbeemployed,featuringanareaof0.3mm2whiledissipating
lessthan20mW[1].For10ENOBandabove,a12bitPipelineADC
operatingat64MS/sisrecommended,typicallyfeaturing0.6mm2and
60mW[2].

Specialconsiderationshouldalsobegiventothefactthattheinputsignal
isacompositemultitoneOFDMsignalandnotasimplesinewave,ashas
traditionallybeenusedtospecifyADCs.ThemultitonenatureofOFDM
signalsmeansthissignalisinfactcomposedbyamultitudeoflow
amplitudesinewavesandthishasamajorimpactforexampleinrelaxing
therequiredsamplingclockjitter.

NeedlesslyspecifyingtoohighanENOBfortheADCwillresultinextra
complexityandcost.HighENOBswithsamplingratesgreaterthan
100MS/s(e.g.256MS/s)canbesupportedwithanInterleavedPipeline
approach[3].

3.2BroadBandWireless

Herewewillexaminetwodifferentinputsignalbandwidths:4MHz(mobile
TV)and10MHz(LTE).AnIQADCisusedforthetwobasebandpathsafter
ZeroIFRFdownconversion.

TypicalsolutionsformobileTV(4MHz)area9ENOBPipelineADC
operatingatOSRof4(e.g.32MS/ssamplingrateforthe4MHzbandwidth)
ora10ENOBSigmaDelta(/)ADCwithanOSRof15(e.g.120MS/s
samplingrateforthe4MHzbandwidth).GoodexamplesofPipelineand
SigmaDelta(/)ADCs[4,5]showsimilarareas(0.65mm2)butthe
pipelinesolutionfeatureslessthanhalfthepower(15mWversus37mW)
mainlyduetothelowerENOBof9versus10fortheSigmaDelta(/)
ADC.Sothearchitecturechoicehereisbasedmainlyonsystemlevel
architecture.TheSigmaDelta(/)ADCallowstheorderoftheanalog
antialiasingfiltertobereducedby3,savingupto1.0mm2and10mW.A
digitaldecimatingfilterisneededforbothtypesofADCs,withtheSigma
Delta(/) needinganextradigitalfilteringstagethatconsumes1mW,
butnegligiblearea.BothADCsneedabufferbeforethemtodrivethe

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samplingcapacitor,andinthecaseofaSigmaDelta(/)ADCadditional
antialiasingfilteringcanbeeasilyincorporatedintothisbufferatlittle
cost.Inthisinstance,theSigmaDelta(/)ADCcanprovidealowerarea
receivepathsolution.

Fora10MHzinputbandwidth,atypicalimplementationusesa9ENOBIQ
PipelineADCsamplingat80MS/s(OSR=4)andconsuming40mW[4],ora
SigmaDelta(/)ADCwithsimilarENOBperformancesamplingat
180MS/s(OSR=9)andconsuming45mW[6].Inthiscase,thechoice
dependsmoreonthecustomerpreferenceandthepossibleneedfor
compatibilitywithhigherbandwidthsinthefuture,whichmighttendto
favouraPipelineADC.

ForhigherENOBsat10MHzinputbandwidthandabove,forexample10.5
ENOBasoftenrequiredinLTE,a12bitPipelineDualInputIQADC
samplingeachchannelat32MS/sseemstobeagoodsolution,featuring
58mWand0.65mm2forthecompleteIQsolution[7].

3.3NarrowBandWireless

Highresolutionsof1112ENOBarerequiredinbandwidthsofafew
hundredkHzforstandardslikeGSM.Inordertoachievesuchhigh
performancelevels,aPipelineADCwillrequirecalibration,whereasa
SigmaDelta(/)IQADCcanprovidethisresolutionwhileconsuming
only7.5mW[8].

Formultistandardreceivers,suchasSoftwareDefinedRadio,aSigma
Delta(/)ADCisthefavouredarchitecture,duetoitseaseof
programmabilityoverawiderangeofENOB/SNDRrequirements.

4Conclusion

ChoosingthecorrectADCisacrucialstepindesigningtheoptimum
receivepath,andattentionmustbepaidtoaccuratelyspecifyingtheADC
bytakingthefullsystemintoconsideration.Theinformationprovidedin
thisarticleshouldproveusefulinmakingthisselection.

S3provideacomprehensiveofferingofhighperformance,lowpower,
siliconprovenADCsforPipelineandSigmaDelta(/)architectures
coveringinputbandwidthsfrom100kHzto100MHz,inadvanceddeepsub
microntechnologies(40nm,65nm,90nm,130nm,0.180um)andin
multiplefoundryprocesses.

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S3MixedSignalIPPartsQuotedinthisArticle:

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4/25/2017 Pipelinevs.SigmaDeltaADCforCommunicationsApplications

[1]S3AD88M10BC90
[2]S3AD64M12BT65D
[3]S3AD256M12BT65
[4]S3ADIQ88M10BC90
[5]S3AD120M11BC90
[6]S3ADIQ180M10BSM90LP
[7]S3AD64MD12BT65D
[8]S3ADIQ160MSDC13

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