A Time-Interleaved 2 nd-Order  Modulator Achieving 5-MHz Bandwidth and 86.1-dB SNDR Using Digital Feed-Forward Extrapolation

Abstract

This article presents a 4 × time-interleaved (TI) 2nd-order discrete-time (DT) delta-sigma modulator (DSM). We propose a digital feed-forward extrapolation by first digitizing the internal analog nodes’ information from one channel, and then extrapolating the other channels in the digital domain. As a result, this DSM only needs two operational amplifiers (op-amps) to realize four interleaving paths, thus reducing analog hardware overheads. Meanwhile, we linearize the digital feed-forward paths through injected dithering. We present the derivation of extrapolating TI DSM starting from a single-channel DSM, while we also list and compare several conventional TI approaches. Implemented in 28-nm CMOS, this modulator achieves an equivalent output-sampling rate of 2.08 GS/s, 208 × oversam- pling ratio (OSR), and a signal to noise and distortion ratio (SNDR)/spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 86.1 dB/98 dB with 5-MHz bandwidth (BW). The power consumption is 23.1 mW, which results in a Schreier Figure of Merit (FoM) of 169.5 dB.