• Journal of Semiconductor Engineering
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.99-108
• /
• 2021

Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC) seem to become the hottest ADC architecture during the past decade in implementing energy-efficient high performance ADCs. In this overview, we will review what kind of circuit techniques and architectural advances have contributed to place the SAR ADC architecture at its current position, beginning from a single SAR ADC and moving to various hybrid architectures. At the end of this overview, a recently reported compact and high-speed SAR-Flash ADC is introduced as one design example of SAR-based hybrid ADC architecture.

• Journal of IKEEE
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.8-16
• /
• 2010

This paper presents a design of the successive approximation ADC(SA-ADC) applicable to a midium-low speed analog-front end(AFE) for the maximum 15MS/s CCD image processing. SA-ADC is effective in applications ranging widely between low and mid data rates due to the large power scaling effect on the operating frequency variations in some other way of pipelined ADCs. The proposed design exhibits some distinctive features. The "differential capacitor-coupling scheme" segregates the input sampling behavior from the sub-DAC incorporating the differential input and the sub-DAC output, which prominently reduces the loading throughout the signal path. Determining the MSB(sign bit) from the held input data in advance of the data conversion period, a kind of the signed successive approximation, leads to the reduction of the sub-DAC hardware overhead by 1 bit and the conversion period by 1 cycle. Characterizing the proposed design in a 3.3 V $0.35-{\mu}m$ CMOS process by Spectre simulations verified its validity of the application to CCD analog front-ends.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.671-687
• /
• 2022

It has been reported that about 47% of groundwater wells within 10 km from the coastline in the western/southern coastal areas of Korea were affected by seawater. It has been interpreted that the cause of groundwater salinization is seawater intrusion. The Gilsan stream in the Seocheon area was a tidal stream until the Geumgang estuary dam was constructed and operated. Therefore, it is likely that the Gilsan stream catchment was deposited with sediments containing high-saline formation water prior to the use of landfill farmland at this catchment area. The groundwater in this study area showed EC values ranging from 111 to 21,000 µS/cm, and the water quality types were diverse including Ca(or Na)-HCO₃, Ca(or Na)-HCO₃(Cl), Na-Cl(HCO₃), Na-Cl types. It is believed that this diversity of water quality is due to the mixing of seawater and fresh groundwater generated by infiltration of precipitation and surface water through soil and weathered part. In this study, we discussed whether this water quality diversity and the presence of saline groundwater are due to present seawater intrusion or to remnant high-saline pore water in sediments during flushing out process. For this, rain water, surface water, seawater, and groundwater were compared regarding the water quality characteristics, tritium content, oxygen/hydrogen stable isotopic composition, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio. The oxygen/hydrogen stable isotopic compositions indicated that water composition of saline groundwaters with large EC values are composed of a mixture of those of fresh groundwater and surface water. Also, the young groundwater estimated by tritium content has generally higher NO₃ content. All these characteristics showed that fresh groundwater and surface water have continued to affect the high-saline groundwater quality in the study area. In addition, considering the deviation pattern in the diagrams of Na/Cl ratio versus Cl content and SAR (sodium adsorption ratio) versus Cl content, in which two end members of fresh surface-ground water and seawater are assumed, it is interpreted that the groundwater in the study area is not experiencing present seawater intrusion, but flush out and retreating from ancient saline formation water.