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US 7,525,471 B2Granted
Wide-input windowed nonlinear analog-to-digital converter for high-frequency digitally controlled SMPS
AssigneeExar Corporation
InventorsAleksandar Prodić, Zdravko Lukić
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Abstract
In embodiments, a new analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture can be used with switch-mode power supplies (SMPS) operating at switching frequencies higher than 10 MHz. Analog-to-digital converter embodiments can achieve very low power consumption, fast conversion time, and can be implemented with a simple hardware. Another noteworthy benefit is that certain ADC embodiments feature a non-linear gain characteristic that provides improved load transient response for digital controllers.
Claims10
An Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) circuit comprising:
- a first differential input stage and a second differential input state to receive input voltages as low as zero volts and to produce a reference bias voltage and an output bias voltage;
- a reference delay line to receive the reference bias voltage and an output measurement delay line to receive the output bias voltage, each containing different numbers of delay cells;
- and
- an error decoder to determine an output voltage error by comparing propagation times of a clock signal (CLK) through the reference delay line and the output measurement delay line and send a digital equivalent of the output voltage error to a digital compensator.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.