Current steering cell with code-dependent nonlinearity cancellation and fast settling for low-power low-area high-speed digital-to-analog converters

An apparatus comprising:

• a first transistor of a differential switch pair of a cell of a digital-to-analog converter, wherein a gate of the first transistor of the differential switch pair is arranged to receive an input signal to the cell;
• a second transistor of the differential switch pair, wherein a gate of the second transistor of the differential switch pair is arranged to receive an inverted version of the input signal;
• a first transistor of a cross-coupled switch pair, wherein a gate of the first transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair is arranged to receive the input signal;
• a second transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair, wherein a gate of the second transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair is arranged to receive the inverted version of the input signal;
• a first node coupled with i) a non-gate terminal of the first transistor of the differential switch pair and ii) a first non-gate terminal of the second transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair;
• a second node coupled with i) a non-gate terminal of the second transistor of the differential switch pair and ii) a first non-gate terminal of the first transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair;
• and
• a current-to-voltage converter coupled with the first node and the second node to produce an output voltage that corresponds to the input signal,
• wherein a second non-gate terminal of the first transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair is coupled with a second non-gate terminal of the second transistor of the cross-coupled switch pair via a common node, wherein the common node is not coupled with a voltage source or a ground.

A method comprising:

• receiving, within a cell of a digital-to-analog converter, an input signal that corresponds to at least a portion of a digital value;
• generating an inverted version of the input signal;
• driving gate terminals of a differential switch pair of the cell based on the input signal and the inverted version of the input signal;
• driving gate terminals of a cross-coupled switch pair of the cell based on the input signal and the inverted version of the input signal to reduce or eliminate a net differential transient current between switch output terminals of the differential switch pair, wherein respective source terminals of the cross-coupled switch pair are coupled together via a common node, wherein the common node is not coupled with a voltage source or a ground;
• and
• operating a current-to-voltage converter to produce a voltage output based on the switch output terminals.