Abstract
This work proposes an energy-efficient C-2αC Charge-Sharing (CS)
successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter
(ADC). Instead of scaling capacitance, binary-weighted charges are
achieved by scaling the voltages at capacitor terminals using a C-2αC
ladder topology with only C and 2αC capacitance values. Unlike the
exponential capacitors scaling of the typical binary-weighted CS
digital-to-analog converters (DACs), this approach enables linear
scaling with bit number, simplifying the handling of comparator voltage
offset-induced charges. During conversion, C capacitor cells are
sequentially added to the comparator input for quantization in the
charge domain. This structure maintains a constant input capacitance of
~2C, allowing significant energy savings from an on-chip
voltage reference buffer. A 6-bit high-level model as
a proof-of-concept, marking the first CS SAR ADC architecture based on a
C-2αC DAC structure, to the best of the authors’ knowledge.