High speed analog to digital conversion circuitry using quantum mechanical tunneling structures

Abstract

Analog to digital conversion circuitry (,) is disclosed, comprising multiple quantization circuits (,), having a quantization resistor (,) coupled between inputs of adjacent quantization circuits, wherein each quantization circuit comprises an input source follower circuit (,) having an input coupled to an analog voltage input and an output, an output source follower circuit (,) having an input and an output coupled to a digital voltage output (,), a base transistor (,) having a first terminal coupled to the output of said input source follower circuit, a reset transistor circuit (,) coupled to said first terminal and adapted to selectively ground said first terminal responsive to an external signal, a resonant tunneling diode structure (,) coupled at a first end to a second terminal of said base transistor and at a second end to ground, and a dynamic hysteresis loading circuit (,) coupled to a third terminal of said base transistor and to the input of said output source follower circuit.