Energy-Efficient Data Converters for Low-Power Sensors

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are employed in many applications, such as for monitoring bio-potential signals and environmental information. These applications require high-resolution (> 12-bit) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) at low-sampling rates (several kS/s). Such sensor nodes are usually powered by batteries or energyharvesting sources hence low power consumption is primary for such ADCs. Normally, tens or hundreds of autonomously powered sensor nodes are utilized to capture and transmit data to the central processor. Hence it is profitable to fabricate the relevant electronics, such as the ADCs, in a low-cost standard complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) process. The two-stage pipelined successive approximation register (SAR) ADC has shown to be an energy-efficient architecture for high resolution. This thesis further studies and explores the design limitations of the pipelined SAR ADC for high-resolution and low-speed applications. The first work is a 15-bit, 1 kS/s two-stage pipelined SAR ADC that has been implemented in 0.35-µm CMOS process. The use of aggressive gain reduction in the residue amplifier combined with a suitable capacitive array digital-to-analog converter (DAC) topology in the second-stage simplifies the design of the operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) while eliminating excessive capacitive load and consequent power consumption. A comprehensive power consumption analysis of the entire ADC is performed to determine the number of bits in each stage of the pipeline. Choice of a segmented capacitive array DAC and attenuation capacitorbased DAC for the first and second stages respectively enable significant reduction in power consumption and area. Fabricated in a low-cost 0.35-µm CMOS process, the prototype ADC achieves a peak signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio (SNDR) of 78.9 dB corresponding to an effective number of bits (ENOB) of 12.8-bit at a sampling frequency of 1 kS/s and provides a Schreier figure-of-merit (FoM) of 157.6 dB. Without any form of calibration, the ADC maintains an ENOB > 12.1-bit up to the Nyquist bandwidth of 500 Hz while consuming 6.7 µW. Core area of the ADC is 0.679 mm 2. The second work is a 14-bit, tunable bandwidth two-stage pipelined SAR ADC which is suitable for low-power, cost-effective sensor readout circuits. To overcome the high open-loop DC gain requirement of the OTA in the gain-stage, a 3-stage x