Patent · US Expired

Method for improving capacitor noise and mismatch constraints in a semiconductor device

US6880134B2 · kind B2 · utility

19Cited by
8References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 9, 2003
Grant dateApr 12, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 8, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F30/36
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method (50) is provided for improving switched capacitor performance by lowering a mismatch constraint to be equal to, or nearly equal to, a noise constraint. The mismatch constraint is lowered by increasing a finger spacing of a fringe capacitor design (10) while maintaining the same surface area covered by the fringe capacitor design (10). In another embodiment, a noise constraint is lowered by decreasing finger spacing. Lowering the noise constraint by decreasing finger spacing reduces the area of a fringe capacitor used in, for example, an analog-to-digital converter. Both embodiments may improve performance of the analog-to-digital converter by lowering power consumption, increasing speed, or both.

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