Kenet Incorporated

Jeffery D Kurtze

Michael P Anthony

An ADC implementation of a bucket brigade type charge transfer pipeline using Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Bucket Brigade Devices (BBDs) that can be used in Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converters and other applications. In one embodiment a control circuit provides independent control of charge storage and charge transfer timing. Other arrangements provide high-speed and high-accuracy (A/D) conversion by employing a 'boosted' charge-transfer circuit. The implementation can also achieve lower power consumption and improved resolution compared to other charge-domain methods by the use of a tapered pipeline, in which the amount of charge being processed is reduced in later pipeline stages compared to earlier ones. Still other embodiments enable implementing more than one decision threshold per stage, to support multi-bit resolution per stage and RSD-type A/D conversion algorithms.

Charge-domain pipelined analog-to-digital converter

A technique for correcting charge transfer inefficiencies in a Charge Coupled Device (CCD). The basic approach is to estimate the charge entering at a given stage in a CCD pipeline, and to then determine an estimate of the error introduced by the accumulated leftover charge that will be present at a second point, farther down the pipeline. The error is then corrected by injecting a correcting charge at a third point, farther still down the CCD pipeline. The invention is used, in one embodiment, to correct the output of a charge to digital converter, although principals of the invention may be used for other types of circuits.

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Hudson, NH, United States of America

Jeffery D Kurtze