Lecture 1 - Introduction to Data

Converters

Dr. Mohamed Refky Amin Dr. Mohamed M. Aboudina

refky.master@gmail.com maboudina@eng1.cu.edu.eg
http://scholar.cu.edu.eg/refky/
Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering Department (EECE)
Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University
 Outline of this Lecture
▪ Important Information
▪ Course Objective
▪ References
▪ Course Plan
▪ Introduction
▪ Assignments and Homework
▪ Project

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 Important Information
General Information
ELC 609 – Elective course.

Lecture: Saturday 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Office hours: By email

All class activities (Assignments, Returned Assignments , ..

etc.) will be available on this google drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4UTkSa_NZ_1
M1ZHeGhtWlNucjQ?usp=sharing

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 Important Information
General Information
Please name your deliverables according to the following
convention:
– YourName_Assignment#1.pdf ( or doc .. .etc)
– Place it in the corresponding week folder under the deliverables folder.
– After the deadline, the Week folder will be locked (read only).
– DO NOT EMAIL ASSIGNMENTS or PROJECT REPORTS.

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 Important Information
General Information
• The course will be divided into three parts

• Dr. Mohamed Refky will teach the first and last part of the
course (7-8 lectures).

• The middle part of the course will be taught by Dr. Mohamed

Aboudina through WebEx (4 lectures).

• A total of 5 hours of study is required each week (1 reading + 2

assignments + 2 project)

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 Important Information
First Part of the Course
• An email list is needed by the end of today. This list will be
used for announcements.
• 3 volunteers are needed to try the WebEx with Dr. Aboudina.

• For Dr. Aboudina’s part:

– lectures and videos are posted. Try to watch the videos before
attending the lecture. Lecture time will be mostly used for
discussions and problem solving.
– If you have a reliable internet connection at home, you can
attend it from there.

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 Course Objective
Objective
Acquire a thorough understanding of the basic principles and
challenges in data converter design
• Focus on concepts, architectures and design challenges
• Preparation for further study of state-of-the-art “fine-tuned”
realizations

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 Course Objective
Strategy
Acquire breadth understanding via a complete system walkthrough
and a survey of existing architectures and techniques

Acquire depth understanding through a project that entails design

and thorough characterization of a specific circuit example in
modern technology

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 References
Reference List
• R. Plassche, CMOS Integrated Analog-to-Digital and
Digital-to-Analog Converters, 2nd ed., Kluwer, 2003
• B. Razavi, Data Conversion System Design, IEEE Press,
1995
• F. Maloberti, Data Converters, Springer, 2007
• R. Schreier and G. Temes, Understanding Delta-Sigma Data
Converters, IEEE Press, 2005
• IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits and Systems
• IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems.
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 Course Plan
Grading
Total Grade (100)

Final Exam (40) Assignments (30) Project: (30)

Assignments and Simulations (30)

▪ All assignments are due 10 days after the lecture.
▪ Late assignments are penalized with -20% for each week.
▪ Assignments do not need to be turned in if we have a project
milestone due that week
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 Course Plan
Grading
Total Grade (100)

Final Exam (40) Assignments (30) Project: (30)

Project: (30)
▪ Will start from next week.
▪ Topics will be presented at the end of this lecture.
▪ Transistor-level simulation will be performed.

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 Course Plan
Grading
Total Grade (100)

Final Exam (40) Assignments (30) Project: (30)

Project: (30)
▪ The output must be in the form of a scientific paper (4-8 pages).
▪ Project Report/Paper due on week 11.

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 Course Plan
Grading
Total Grade (100)

Final Exam (40) Assignments (30) Project: (30)

Project: (30)
BONUS: If you submit this paper to one of the Circuits
Conferences (For example ISCAS)

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 Introduction
Data Converters
Data converters act as an interpreter between the analog and
digital domains.

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 Introduction
Data Converters
The Design trend is to increase the digital part of the system. This
means moving the ADC toward the input of the system.

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 Introduction
Data Converters
The Design trend is to increase the digital part of the system. This
means moving the ADC toward the input of the system.

Analog Circuit Digital Circuit

Harder to design Easier to design

Higher power consumption Lower power consumption

Larger IC area Smaller IC area

Immune to noise (Noise margin)

Technology scaling introduces challenges Gain a lot from technology scaling (speed,
that need to be deal with power,…)

Moving the ADC towards the input introduces challenges.

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 Introduction
Data Converters Challenges
Simulation Challenges
– Thousands of transistors result in very lengthy simulations
– Dealing with high frequency input result in more simulation time.

Include both analog and digital circuits (mixed signal), suffer from
noise coupling:
– Supply coupling
– Substrate Coupling
– Line-to-line coupling

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 Introduction
Data Converter Applications
Data Converter is a part of
almost any electronic device:
• Mobile Phones
• Audio, TV
• Digital Cameras
• Automotive Control
• Routers and Modems
• Appliances
• Toys

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 Introduction
Data Converter Applications
Data Converter is a part of
almost any electronic device:
• Storage Media
• Sound Cards
• Lab bench equipment
• Medical equipment

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 Data Converter
Data Converter Parameters
The important parameters that characterize
e: Data converters are:
• Speed
• Resolution
• Input range
• Power consumption
• Area

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 Data Converter
Data Converter Examples
High Speed, Low Resolution
A 6-bit 3.5-GS/s 0.9-V 98-mW Flash ADC in 90-nm CMOS

Degutchi, JSSC’08

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 Data Converter
Data Converter Examples
Medium Speed, Medium Resolution
A 1.2V 4.5mW 10b 100MS/s Pipeline ADC in a 65nm CMOS

Boulemnakher, ISSCC’08

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 Data Converter
Data Converter Examples
Low Speed, High Resolution
A High-Resolution Low-Power Oversampling ADC with
Extended-Range for Bio-Sensor Arrays 15-bit, 1MS/s (fS =
42MHz) and 38 mW.

Agah, VLSI’07

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 Course Contents
Time Table
Week Topic
1 Introduction to Data Converters.
2 Fundamentals
3 Sampling Circuits.
4 Nyquist-Rate DACs.
5-6 Flash ADCs
7-8 Two-step and Pipelined ADCs
9-10 Oversampling ADCs
11-12 Time to Digital Converters

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 Assignments and Homework
Time Table of the Assignments/Homework
Week Topic Assignments Due

2 Fundamentals Assignment 1: Matlab Assignment Tuesday of Week 3

Sampling
3 Assignment 2: Cadence – T&H circuit (ideal op-amp) Tuesday of Week 5
Circuits
4 DACs Homework 1: Two Problems from Old Exams Tuesday of Week 9
5 Flash ADCs Assignment 3: Cadence – Comparator Design Tuesday of Week 6
6 Flash ADCs Homework 2: Two Problems from Old Exams Tuesday of Week 9
7 Pipeline ADC Assignment 4: Matlab – System Level Design Tuesday of Week 8
8 Pipeline ADC Homework 3: Two Problems from Old Exams Tuesday of Week 9
9 Assignment 5: Matlab Assignment Tuesday of Week 10

10 Tuesday of Week 12

11 TADC Assignment 6: Cadence Assignment Tuesday of Week 12

12 TADC
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 Assignments and Homework
Deliverables Time Table
Week Deliverables
1 Setup Mail list and group formulation
2
3 Assignment Assignment 1: Matlab Assignment
4 Report Milestone 1: Behavior-level simulations
5 Assignment Assignment 2: Cadence – T&H circuit (ideal op-amp)
6 Assignment Assignment 3: Cadence – Comparator Design
7 Report Milestone 2: Circuit-level simulations
8 Assignment Assignment 4: Matlab – System Level Design
9 Homework Homework 1,2, and 3: Two Problems from Old Exams
10 Assignment Assignment 5: Matlab Assignment
11 Report Milestone 3: Circuit-level simulations
Assignment
12
Homework

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 Project
Governing Rules
Groups of 1-2 needs to be formed this week.

Email the group name and project title to:

refky.master@gmail.com and maboudina@eng1.cu.edu.eg
before next lecture.
Write in the email subject [ELC609 2017 Project]

The project is divided into 3 milestones (~ 3-4 weeks).

Submission of a each milestone on time is required.

The grade of the project is divide among all the milestones

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 Project
Milestones
Milestone 1: (Due Week 4) (7 Marks)
Behavior-level simulations including
– An explanation of any new idea.
– All the test benches of all the blocks and the system.
– System requirements and circuit requirements

Milestone 2: (Due Week 7) (8 Marks)

Circuit level simulations showing the achieved results versus the
circuit requirements

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 Project
Milestones
Milestone 3: (Due Week 11) (15 Marks)
Overall system simulations showing the achieved results versus
the project requirements and include
– All schematics
– All simulations results whether required or necessary (for
stability of feedback systems… etc)
– Final paper
– (More on this milestone later)

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 Project
Topics of the Project
Topic 1: Pipeline ADC
• Design a 11-bit, 100MSps pipeline ADC.

• Minimize Power Consumption

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 Project
Topics of the Project
Topic 2: Sigma-Delta TADC
• Design a 3nd order sigma delta TADC to work on a 1MHz
bandwidth

• Achieve the highest possible resolution.

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 Project
Topics of the Project
Topic 3: MASH TADC
• Design a 1-1-1 MASH TADC to work on a 1MHz bandwidth

• Achieve the highest possible resolution.

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