Glitch Energy Reduction and SFDR Enhancement Techniques for Low-Power Binary-Weighted Current-Steering DAC

Abstract

This brief proposes a glitch reduction approach by dynamic capacitance compensation of binary-weighted current switches in a current-steering digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The method was proved successfully by a 10-bit 400-MHz pure binary-weighted current-steering DAC with a minimum number of retiming latches. The experiment results yield very low-glitch energy during major carry transitions at output, which is <1 pVs. This brief utilizes a layout structure to improve the spurious-free dynamic range at high signal frequencies. This chip was implemented in a standard 0.18-mu m CMOS technology and consumes 20.7 mW at 400 MS/s.