11-bit floating-point pipelined analog to digital converter in CMOS 0.18mum technology

As the technology advances, larger volume of circuitry is included in one chip such as in integrated sensor systems. An essential component in such sensor systems is Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) that converts the sensor output into digital data suitable for memories and processors. This project discusses the design of an 11-bit floating-point pipelined ADC designed especially for such systems. Because of the large number of circuit components in sensor systems silicon area and power consumption are limiting factors. Also sensors such as optical sensors produce a wide range of signal levels. Therefore the named ADC was chosen and designed to meet a low power consumption of 50mW and small silicon area usage of 0.837mm2 while having a large dynamic range of 90dB. The ADC circuit was designed and fabricated in 0.18mum CMOS technology that resulted in two fabricated chips.