A 16-bit cascaded sigma-delta pipeline A/D converter

A low-noise cascaded multi-bit sigma-delta pipeline analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a low over-sampling rate is presented. The architecture is composed of a 2-order 5-bit sigma-delta modulator and a cascaded 4-stage 12-bit pipelined ADC, and operates at a low 8X oversampling rate. The static and dynamic performances of the whole ADC can be improved by using dynamic element matching technique. The ADC operates at a 4 MHz clock rate and dissipates 300 mW at a 5 V/3 V analog/digital power supply. It is developed in a 0.35 μm CMOS process and achieves an SNR of 82 dB.