This paper describes the design of an interpolated pipeline analog-to-digital converter (ADC). By introducing the interpolation technique into the conventional pipeline topology, it becomes possible to realize a more than 10-bits resolution and several hundred MS/s ADC using low-gain open-loop amplifiers without any multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) calibration. In this paper, linearity requirement of the amplifier is analyzed with the relation of reference range and stage resolution first. Noise characteristic is also discussed with amplifier's noise bandwidth and load capacitance. After that, sampling speed and SNR characteristic are examined with various amplifier currents. Next, the resolution optimization of the pipeline stage is discussed based on the power consumption. Through the analysis, reasonable parameters for the amplifier can be defined, such as transconductance, source degeneration resistance and load capacitance. Also, optimized operating speed and stage resolution for interpolated pipelined ADC is shown. The analysis in this paper is valuable to both the design of interpolated pipeline ADCs and other circuits which incorporate interpolation and amplifiers.

This paper presents a 12-bit interpolated pipeline analog to digital converter (ADC) using body voltage controlled amplifier for current biasing and common mode feedback (CMFB). The proposed body voltage control method allows the amplifier to achieve small power consumption and large output swing. The proposed amplifier has a power consumption lower than 15.6mW, almost half of the folded cascode amplifier satisfying 12-bit, 400MS/s ADC operation. Moreover, the proposed amplifier secures 600mV output swing, which is one drain source voltage (VDS) wider compared with the telescopic amplifier. The 12-bit interpolated pipeline ADC using the proposed amplifier is fabricated in a 1P9M 90nm CMOS technology with a 1.2V supply voltage. The ADC achieves an effective number of bit (ENOB) of about 10-bit at 300MS/s and an figure of merit (FoM) of 0.2pJ/conv. when the frequency of the input signal is sufficiently low.

A 6-bit, 7 mW, 700 MS/s subranging ADC using Capacitive DAC (CDAC) and gate-weighted interpolation fabricated in 90 nm CMOS technology is demonstrated. CDACs are used as a reference selection circuit instead of resistive DACs (RDAC) for reducing settling time and power dissipation. A gate-weighted interpolation scheme is also incorporated to the comparators, to reduce the circuit components, power dissipation and mismatch of conversion stages. By virtue of recent technology scaling, an interpolation can be realized in the saturation region with small error. A digital offset calibration technique using capacitor reduces comparator's offset voltage from 10 mV to 1.5 mV per sigma. Experimental results show that the proposed ADC achieves a SNDR of 34 dB with calibration and FoM is 250 fJ/conv., which is very attractive as an embedded IP for low power SoCs.