• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.454-464
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• 2023

This paper proposes a low-power 8-bit asynchronous SAR ADC with a sampling rate of 1 MS/s for sensor node applications. The ADC uses bootstrapped switches to improve linearity and applies a VCM-based CDAC switching technique to reduce the power consumption and area of the DAC. Conventional synchronous SAR ADCs that operate in synchronization with an external clock suffer from high power consumption due to the use of a clock faster than the sampling rate, which can be overcome by using an asynchronous SAR ADC structure that handles internal comparisons in an asynchronous manner. In addition, the SAR logic is designed using dynamic logic circuits to reduce the large digital power consumption that occurs in low resolution ADC designs. The proposed ADC was simulated in a 180-nm CMOS process, and at a 1.8 V supply voltage and a sampling rate of 1 MS/s, it consumed 46.06 𝜇W of power, achieved an SNDR of 49.76 dB and an ENOB of 7.9738 bits, and obtained a FoM of 183.2 fJ/conv-step. The simulated DNL and INL are +0.186/-0.157 LSB and +0.111/-0.169 LSB.