A method has been disclosed that relates to electrical variability compensation technique for configurable-output circuits. The compensation technique can be applied to a generality of circuits whose output has to vary between two electrical limits spanning the range in between them according to a specific code given as input. A switching sequence that is process gradient-direction agnostic has been disclosed which limits variability. An electric device comprising a processing gradient-direction agnostic configurable-output circuit has been also disclosed.

Included are a loop filter, a quantization circuit section, and a current steering digital-analog conversion section. The quantization circuit section converts a loop filter output into a digital value. The current steering digital-analog conversion section is provided in a feedback loop that feeds back the output of the quantization circuit section to the loop filter. Then, each of the analog-digital converters includes a first input signal current path, a second input signal current path, a first feedback current path, and a second feedback current path. The first input signal current path feeds a first input signal current to an input end of a first stage integrator of the loop filter. The second input signal current path feeds a second input signal current, a current opposite in sign to the first input signal current, to an input end of a second stage integrator of the loop filter. The first feedback current path connects one feedback output end of the current steering digital-analog conversion section to the input end of the first stage integrator of the loop filter. The second feedback current path connects other feedback output end of the current steering digital-analog conversion section to the input end of the second stage integrator of the loop filter.

A signal processing circuit includes a filter generating a quantizer input signal from a noise shaping input signal and a quantizer output signal. A quantizer divides the quantizer input signal by a scaling factor to produce a noise shaping output signal and multiplies the noise shaping output signal by the scaling factor to produce the quantizer output signal. Receiver circuitry scales the quantizer output signal by a second scaling factor. A dynamic range optimization circuit compares a current value of the noise shaping input signal to a threshold value, lowers or raises the scaling factor in response to the comparison, and proportionally lowers or raises the scaling factor such that a ratio between the scaling factor and second scaling factor remains substantially constant.

An interpolative divider divides an input clock signal according to a divide ratio and supplies an output clock signal. An integer divider receives the input clock signal and supplies an integer divider output signal. A phase interpolator is coupled to the integer divider and delays the integer divider output signal according to a quantization error. The phase interpolator includes first and second current sources. The first current source turns on k unit current elements during a first part of a charging cycle to charge a first capacitor to a first voltage, 0kM, k and M are integers, and k is determined by the digital quantization error. The second current source turns on k+M unit elements to charge a second capacitor during a second part of the charging cycle. The output clock signal transitions when the first voltage equals the second voltage.

A method for arranging a current source array of a DAC and a layout of a common-source current source array are provided in embodiments of the present disclosure for improving linearity and related performance of the DAC. The method includes, determining a number R of rows and a number C of columns of a common-source current source array; dividing the common-source current source array into M sub-arrays; segmenting the DAC to obtain (2.sup.X1) groups of thermometer encoding current sources and Y groups of binary encoding current sources; arranging the (2.sup.X1) groups of the thermometer encoding current sources into the M sub-arrays, arranging Y groups of binary encoding current sources into the M sub-arrays based on a number of binary encoding current sources in each of Y groups; arranging bias current sources evenly into the common-source current source array; and arranging other current sources as dummy cells.

Included are a loop filter, a quantization circuit section, and a current steering digital-analog conversion section. The quantization circuit section converts a loop filter output into a digital value. The current steering digital-analog conversion section is provided in a feedback loop that feeds back the output of the quantization circuit section to the loop filter. Then, each of the analog-digital converters includes a first input signal current path, a second input signal current path, a first feedback current path, and a second feedback current path. The first input signal current path feeds a first input signal current to an input end of a first stage integrator of the loop filter. The second input signal current path feeds a second input signal current, a current opposite in sign to the first input signal current, to an input end of a second stage integrator of the loop filter. The first feedback current path connects one feedback output end of the current steering digital-analog conversion section to the input end of the first stage integrator of the loop filter. The second feedback current path connects other feedback output end of the current steering digital-analog conversion section to the input end of the second stage integrator of the loop filter.

The analog-to-digital converter includes a quantizer for outputting a quantized signal, a sampling circuit for sampling an analog input signal, a dithering circuit for generating an added voltage, and an integrating circuit for integrating a signal on which the added voltage is superimposed and outputting an integration result to the quantizer. The dithering circuit includes a variable capacitance circuit and a control circuit. The variable capacitance circuit includes a plurality of capacitors. The control circuit controls the capacitance of the variable capacitance circuit to a capacitance smaller than the capacitances of the capacitors, and causes the variable capacitance circuit to generate an added voltage.

An integrated circuit including a segmented successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes a first capacitive structure with a first plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents that each include a first terminal selectively connected to one of a plurality of input voltage nodes and a second terminal connected to a common conductor, and second capacitive structure with a second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents that each include a first terminal selectively connected to one of the plurality of input voltage nodes and a second terminal connected to the common conductor. The first and second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are arranged in an array in which none of the first plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are directly adjacent to one another and none of the second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are directly adjacent to one another in a first row in the array.

An integrated circuit including a segmented successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes a first capacitive structure with a first plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents that each include a first terminal selectively connected to one of a plurality of input voltage nodes and a second terminal connected to a common conductor, and second capacitive structure with a second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents that each include a first terminal selectively connected to one of the plurality of input voltage nodes and a second terminal connected to the common conductor. The first and second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are arranged in an array in which none of the first plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are directly adjacent to one another and none of the second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are directly adjacent to one another in a first row in the array.

The current disclosure is related to a column and line digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with a hybrid coupler for generating quadrature analog signals. The DAC may include an array of unit power amplifiers (cells). A first portion of the cells of the array may be coupled to a first column decoder to receive in-phase components of digital signals and a second portion of the cells may be coupled to a second column decoder to receive quadrature components of the digital signals. The first portion of the cells of the array may generate in-phase components of analog signals and the second portion of the cells of the array may generate quadrature components of the analog signals. A hybrid coupler of the DAC may receive the in-phase and quadrature components of the analog signals with a similar phase, delay the quadrature components by a phase delay (e.g., 90 degrees), and output the resulting analog signals.