A 10-bit 1-GSample/s Nyquist current-steering CMOS D/A converter

Abstract

In this paper, a 10 bit 1 GS/s current-steering CMOS D/A converter is presented. The measured INL is better than +/-0.2 LSB. The 1 GS/s conversion rate has been obtained by a fully custom designed thermometer decoder. The dynamic limitations have been solved, resulting in more than 61 dB measured SFDR in the interval from DC to Nyquist at all conversion rates up to 1 GS/s. At this conversion rate, the power consumption equals 110 mW. The chip has been processed in a standard 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS technology and has an active area of only 0.35 mm/sup 2/.