SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering CMOS digital-to-analog converter

Xueqing Li, Hua Fan, Qi Wei, Zhen Xu, Jianan Liu and Huazhong Yang

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 Corresponding author: Wei Qi, Email:weiqi@tsinghua.edu.cn

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Abstract: A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering digital-to-analog converter (DAC) was fabricated in a 0.13 μm CMOS process. In conventional high-speed current-steering DACs, the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) is limited by nonlinear distortions in the code-dependent switching glitches. In this paper, the bottleneck is mitigated by the time-relaxed interleaving digital-random-return-to-zero (TRI-DRRZ). Under 250-MS/s sampling rate, the measured SFDR is 86.2 dB at 5.5-MHz signal frequency and 77.8 dB up to 122 MHz. The DAC occupies an active area of 1.58 mm2 and consumes 226 mW from a mixed power supply of 1.2/2.5 V.

Key words: DACcurrent-steeringSFDRwide-bandtime-interleaved



[1]
Tseng W H, Fan C W, Wu J T. A 12-bit 1.25-GS/s DAC in 90 nm CMOS with >70 dB SFDR up to 500 MHz. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2011, 46(12):2845 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2164302
[2]
Lin C H, van der Goes F M L, Westra J R, et al. A 12 bit 2.9 GS/s DAC with < -60 dBc beyond 1 GHz in 65 nm CMOS. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2009, 44(12):3285 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2032624
[3]
Tang Y, Briaire J, Doris K, et al. A14 b 200 MS/s DAC with SFDR > 78 dBc, IM3<-83 dBc and NSD < -163 dBm/Hz across the whole Nyquist band enabled by dynamic-mismatch mapping. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2011, 46(6):1371 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2126410
[4]
Engel G, Kuo S, Rose S. A 14b 3/6 GHz current-steering RF DAC in 0.18μm CMOS with 66 dB ACLR at 2.9 GHz. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2012:458
[5]
Van de Sande F, Lugil N, Demarsin F, et al. A 7.2 GSa/s, 14 bit or 12 GSa/s, 12 bit signal generator on a chip in a 165 GHz fT BiCMOS process. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2012, 47(4):1003 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2012.2185172
[6]
Schofield W, Mercer D, Onge L S. A 16 b 400 MS/s DAC with < -80 dBc IMD to 300 MHz and < -160 dBm/Hz noise power spectral density. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2003:126
[7]
Doris K, Briaire J, Leenaerts D, et al. A 12 b 500 MS/s DAC with > 70 dB SFDR up to 120 MHz in 0.18μm CMOS. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2005:116
[8]
Schafferer B, Adams R. A 3 V CMOS 400 mW 14 b 1.4 GS/s DAC for multi-carrier applications. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2004:360
[9]
Bugeja A R, Song B S, Rakers P L, et al. A 14-b, 100-MS/s CMOS DAC designed for spectral performance. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1999, 34(12):1719 doi: 10.1109/4.808897
[10]
Lin W T, Kuo T H. A compact dynamic-performance-improved current-steering DAC with random rotation-based binary-weighted selection. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2012, 47(2):444 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2168651
[11]
Van den Bosch A, Steyaert M, Sansen W. An accurate statistical yield model for CMOS current-steering D/A converters. IEEE Int Symp Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 2000:Ⅳ.105 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/858699/
[12]
Duinmaijer A C J, Welbers P G. Matching properties of MOS transistors. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1989, 24(5):1433 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.1989.572629
[13]
Van der Plas G, Vandenbussche J, Sansen W, et al. A 14-bit intrinsic accuracy Q random walk CMOS DAC. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1999, 34(12):1708 doi: 10.1109/4.808896
[14]
Lin C H, Bult K. A 10-b, 500-MSample/s CMOS DAC in 0.6 mm2. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1998, 33(12):1948 doi: 10.1109/4.735535
[15]
Zhao Qi, Li Ran, Qiu Dong, et al. A 14-bit 1-GS/s DAC with a programmable interpolation filter in 65 nm CMOS. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(2):025004 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/2/025004
[16]
Palmers P, Steyaert M S J. A 10-bit 1.6-GS/s 27-mW current-steering D/A converter with 550-MHz 54-dB SFDR bandwidth in 130-nm CMOS. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Ⅰ, 2010, 57(11):2870 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2010.2052491
Fig. 1.  The traditional current-steering DAC architecture and code-dependent switching glitches.

Fig. 2.  The $sinc$ roll-off in the spectrum of NRZ, RZ outputs[9].

Fig. 3.  The applied TRI-DRRZ approach to suppressing code-dependent switching glitches.

Fig. 4.  The PRNG generator.

Fig. 5.  Micrograph of the fabricated DAC.

Fig. 6.  DAC architecture.

Fig. 7.  The layout of the MSB current source and switch unit in Fig. 6 for high output impedance.

Fig. 8.  Typical zero-averaged models of gradient error distributions in the chip. (a) Linear errors. (b) Quadratic errors.

Fig. 9.  (a) The applied latch and (b) the corresponding waveform illustrations of nodes X1/X2/X1'/X2'.

Fig. 10.  The measurement setup diagram.

Fig. 11.  The measured INL performance of the 14-bit DAC.

Fig. 12.  The measured SFDR without TRI-DRRZ at (a) 5.5-MHz and (b) 122-MHz.

Fig. 13.  The measured SFDR with TRI-DRRZ at (a) 5.5-MHz and (b) 122-MHz.

Fig. 14.  SFDR performance comparison.

Table 1.   Comparisons between recently published $\geqslant$ 200-MS/s, 12-14-bit CMOS DACs.

[1]
Tseng W H, Fan C W, Wu J T. A 12-bit 1.25-GS/s DAC in 90 nm CMOS with >70 dB SFDR up to 500 MHz. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2011, 46(12):2845 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2164302
[2]
Lin C H, van der Goes F M L, Westra J R, et al. A 12 bit 2.9 GS/s DAC with < -60 dBc beyond 1 GHz in 65 nm CMOS. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2009, 44(12):3285 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2032624
[3]
Tang Y, Briaire J, Doris K, et al. A14 b 200 MS/s DAC with SFDR > 78 dBc, IM3<-83 dBc and NSD < -163 dBm/Hz across the whole Nyquist band enabled by dynamic-mismatch mapping. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2011, 46(6):1371 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2126410
[4]
Engel G, Kuo S, Rose S. A 14b 3/6 GHz current-steering RF DAC in 0.18μm CMOS with 66 dB ACLR at 2.9 GHz. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2012:458
[5]
Van de Sande F, Lugil N, Demarsin F, et al. A 7.2 GSa/s, 14 bit or 12 GSa/s, 12 bit signal generator on a chip in a 165 GHz fT BiCMOS process. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2012, 47(4):1003 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2012.2185172
[6]
Schofield W, Mercer D, Onge L S. A 16 b 400 MS/s DAC with < -80 dBc IMD to 300 MHz and < -160 dBm/Hz noise power spectral density. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2003:126
[7]
Doris K, Briaire J, Leenaerts D, et al. A 12 b 500 MS/s DAC with > 70 dB SFDR up to 120 MHz in 0.18μm CMOS. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2005:116
[8]
Schafferer B, Adams R. A 3 V CMOS 400 mW 14 b 1.4 GS/s DAC for multi-carrier applications. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2004:360
[9]
Bugeja A R, Song B S, Rakers P L, et al. A 14-b, 100-MS/s CMOS DAC designed for spectral performance. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1999, 34(12):1719 doi: 10.1109/4.808897
[10]
Lin W T, Kuo T H. A compact dynamic-performance-improved current-steering DAC with random rotation-based binary-weighted selection. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 2012, 47(2):444 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2011.2168651
[11]
Van den Bosch A, Steyaert M, Sansen W. An accurate statistical yield model for CMOS current-steering D/A converters. IEEE Int Symp Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 2000:Ⅳ.105 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/858699/
[12]
Duinmaijer A C J, Welbers P G. Matching properties of MOS transistors. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1989, 24(5):1433 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.1989.572629
[13]
Van der Plas G, Vandenbussche J, Sansen W, et al. A 14-bit intrinsic accuracy Q random walk CMOS DAC. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1999, 34(12):1708 doi: 10.1109/4.808896
[14]
Lin C H, Bult K. A 10-b, 500-MSample/s CMOS DAC in 0.6 mm2. IEEE J Solid-State Circuits, 1998, 33(12):1948 doi: 10.1109/4.735535
[15]
Zhao Qi, Li Ran, Qiu Dong, et al. A 14-bit 1-GS/s DAC with a programmable interpolation filter in 65 nm CMOS. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(2):025004 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/2/025004
[16]
Palmers P, Steyaert M S J. A 10-bit 1.6-GS/s 27-mW current-steering D/A converter with 550-MHz 54-dB SFDR bandwidth in 130-nm CMOS. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Ⅰ, 2010, 57(11):2870 doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2010.2052491
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    Received: 09 January 2013 Revised: 04 March 2013 Online: Published: 01 August 2013

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      Xueqing Li, Hua Fan, Qi Wei, Zhen Xu, Jianan Liu, Huazhong Yang. A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering CMOS digital-to-analog converter[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(8): 085013. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085013 X Q Li, H Fan, Q Wei, Z Xu, J N Liu, H Z Yang. A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering CMOS digital-to-analog converter[J]. J. Semicond., 2013, 34(8): 085013. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085013.Export: BibTex EndNote
      Citation:
      Xueqing Li, Hua Fan, Qi Wei, Zhen Xu, Jianan Liu, Huazhong Yang. A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering CMOS digital-to-analog converter[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, 34(8): 085013. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085013

      X Q Li, H Fan, Q Wei, Z Xu, J N Liu, H Z Yang. A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering CMOS digital-to-analog converter[J]. J. Semicond., 2013, 34(8): 085013. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085013.
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      A 14-bit 250-MS/s current-steering CMOS digital-to-analog converter

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/34/8/085013
      Funds:

      the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China SS2013AA011203

      the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China 20110002110058

      Project supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. SS2013AA011203) and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20110002110058)

      More Information
      • Corresponding author: Wei Qi, Email:weiqi@tsinghua.edu.cn
      • Received Date: 2013-01-09
      • Revised Date: 2013-03-04
      • Published Date: 2013-08-01

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