Patent · US Expired

Delta-sigma modulator for an analog-to-digital converter with low thermal noise performance

US5274375A · kind A · utility

67Cited by
15References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 17, 1992
Grant dateDec 28, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 17, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03M3/452
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An analog-to-digital converter includes a two-bit delta-sigma modulator. The delta-sigma modulator is comprised of a first stage integrator (10) that feeds a noise shaping circuit (18). The output of the noise shaping circuit (18) is input to a two-threshold imbedded ADC (20) to provide the two-bit output. This output of the imbedded ADC (20) is input to a digital filter (22) to provide the filtered digital output, this filtering high-frequency noise. The output of the imbedded ADC (20) is also fed back through a three-level DAC (24) to a summing junction on the input of the integrator (10). The three-level DAC 24 has three states that are output with one state being a "do nothing" state. The thermal noise performance of the delta-sigma modulator as a function of the quantizer threshold voltages is first simulated and then the value of the quantizer thresholds selected to provide optimum signal-to-thermal noise performance.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.