The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 23, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 17, 2003
Chia-Liang Lin, Union City, CA (US);
Realter Semiconductor Corp., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes N stages implemented within a single integrated circuit and connected in series to form a pipeline. The first stage of the pipeline receives the analog signal as its input, and each of the first N−1 stages of the pipeline supplies an analog residue signal as input to a next succeeding stage of the pipeline. Each stage includes an amplifier for amplifying its input signal to produce a sample voltage stored in an internal sampling capacitor and generates output data indicating an approximate magnitude of its stored sample voltage. The magnitude of the analog residue signal produced by each stage indicates a difference between the voltage represented by that stage's output data and its sample voltage. The amplifiers of the first N-M stages of the pipeline are powered by a higher supply voltage than the amplifiers of the last M stages of the pipeline to maximize the sample voltages in the first N-M stages, thereby reducing the influence of thermal noise on the sample voltages in those stages.