A continuous-time delta-sigma modulator, CTDSM (400, 500, 700, 800) is described that comprises: an operational transconductance amplifier, OTA, (406, 506, 706, 806) having an input port (404, 504, 719, 739, 819, 839) configured to receive an analog input signal and an output port (408, 508, 707, 708, 807, 808); an input low pass filter network comprising at least one input resistor, R1, (402, 502, 702, 722, 802, 822) at least one first shunt capacitor, C1, (403, 503, 703, 803) and at least one feedback resistor, Rdac (410, 510, 710, 810, 730, 830) connected to the input port of the OTA; an output filter network comprising a shunt second resistor, R2, (415, 515, 715, 815) in parallel to a second shunt capacitor, C2, (414, 514, 714, 814), and coupled to the output port (408, 508, 707, 708, 807, 808) of the OTA; a quantizer (413, 513, 713, 813) connected to the output filter network and having at least one output connected to the input port of the OTA via the at least one feedback resistor, Rdac; and wherein the input and output port of the OTA connected by a third feedforward-feedback capacitor, C3, (409, 509, 709, 729, 809, 829) arranged to provide a positive feedback around the OTA.

Radio-frequency (RF) receivers having bandpass sigma-delta analog sigma analog-to-digital converters (ADC) designed to digitize signals in the RF domain are described. Such bandpass ADCs utilize one or more of the following techniques to enhance noise immunity and reduce power consumption: generation of in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) paths in the digital domain, n.sup.th order resonant bandpass filtering with n>1, and signal sub-sampling in an i.sup.th Nyquist zone with i>1. Compared to RF receivers in which the I and Q paths are generated in the analog domain, these RF receivers exhibit higher IRRs because they are not susceptible to in-phase/quadrature (IQ) mismatch. Using n.sup.th order resonant bandpass filtering with n>1 attenuates unwanted image tones. The bandpass ADC-based RF receivers described herein exhibit enhanced immunity to noise, achieving for example image rejection ratios (IRR) in excess of 95 dB.

Described is an apparatus which comprises: a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) having a DAC cell with p-type and n-type current sources and an adjustable strength current source which is operable to correct non-linearity of the DAC cell caused by both the p-type and n-type current sources; and measurement logic, coupled to the DAC, having a reference DAC cell with p-type and n-type current sources, wherein the measurement logic is to monitor an integrated error contributed by both the p-type and n-type current sources of the DAC cell, and wherein the measurement logic is to adjust the strength of the adjustable strength current source according to the integrated error and currents of the p-type and n-type current sources of the reference DAC cell.

A current sensing system and delta sigma modulator architecture are discloses for sensing and digitizing a current input signal from a high impedance signal source with improve power efficiency. The delta sigma modulator integrates a signal condition stage within the delta sigma modulator feedback loop by utilizing a capacitive summation stage. For given gain, resolution, and bandwidth requirements, the delta sigma modulator architecture achieves reduced power consumption by advantageously reducing the number of nodes in the system that require a high dynamic range. Additionally, the delta sigma modulator has very high input impedance such that the input of the delta-sigma modulator can be connected directly to a high impedance signal source, without the need for a front-end pre-amplifier stage, or the like.

An apparatus may include a delta sigma modulator. A first portion of the delta sigma modulator may form a digital predictor while a second portion of the delta sigma modulator may form an analog approximator. An output of the analog approximator may be coupled with a quantizer. The digital predictor, the analog approximator, and the quantizer may form a digitizing loop configured to convert an analog input into a digital output. The digital predictor may be configured to generate, based on a polarity of one or more digital outputs from the quantizer, a digital prediction of an expected amplitude of the analog input. The quantizer may be configured to respond to the digital prediction by adjusting a dynamic range of the digitizing loop including by changing a quantization step size used by the quantizer to quantize the analog input. Related methods are also provided.

Included are an integration circuit unit integrating a difference between a value of an analog input signal and a feedback value, a quantization circuit unit converting an output of the integration circuit unit into a digital value, a first current-steering digital-analog converting unit generating the feedback value in accordance with an output of the quantization circuit unit, and a second current-steering digital-analog converting unit differing from the first current-steering digital-analog converting unit. Also, an output terminal of the first current-steering digital-analog converting unit or an output terminal of the second current-steering digital-analog converting unit is connected to an input terminal of the integration circuit unit.

The present disclosure provides a converting module formed in a first die. The first die is coupled to a bus having a bus bit width. The converting module includes an analog-to-digital converter, configured to generate a first digital signal having a first bit width different from the bus bit width; and a sigma-delta modulator, coupled to the analog-to-digital converter, and configured to generate a second digital signal according to the first digital signal. The second digital signal has a bit width equal to the bus bit width. The sigma-delta modulator includes a filter and a quantizer. The number of bits outputted by the quantizer is equal to the bus bit width.

A digital microphone includes built-in self-test features. The features may include capability to apply different bias voltages to a MEMS capacitor sensor of the digital microphone, simulating application of different sound pressures to the digital microphone. The features may also include a digital oscillator, for applying a test signal to an analog front end of the microphone.

A circuit includes a first integration stage, a quantizer, a second integration stage coupled between the first integration stage and the quantizer, and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The first integration stage includes a first input node pair configured to receive a pair of differential analog input signals, and the quantizer is configured to generate a digital signal based on the pair of differential analog input signals and a clock signal. The second integration stage includes a second input node pair, and the DAC is configured to receive the digital signal and output feedback signals to at least one input node pair of the first input node pair or the second input node pair.

A pipeline ADC architecture with suitable feedback can implement noise shaping. By feeding back the residue generated by the last residue generating stage to selected locations in the pipeline ADC, the delays in a pipeline ADC can create a finite impulse response (FIR) filtered version of the quantization error. The FIR filtered quantization error is added to the signal and evaluated by the pipeline ADC, which results in spectral shaping of the quantization noise. Unlike a conventional pipeline ADC, the output of the backend stage is scaled and filtered by a noise transfer function (NTF) of the residue generating stages prior to combining the output with other outputs of the pipeline ADC. The processing of the shaped quantization noise by the backend stage results in further noise suppression.