Presentation: Digitally Assisted Data Converters

Ahmed M. A. Ali, Analog Devices, IEEE Distinguished Lecturer



Abstract

Digitally assisted ADCs have become mainstream. The move to finer geometry processes and the insatiable need for higher resolution ADCs at higher sample rates have made digital assistance a necessity. In this talk, we discuss some of the advanced calibration techniques for high speed and high-resolution ADCs. These include techniques to correct for inter-stage gain errors, non-linearity, settling and memory errors. Techniques covered include correlation-based calibration, summing node calibration, split-ADC calibration, reference ADC calibration and statistical-based techniques. The talk will discuss the advantages and limitations of the different approaches, some of the practical considerations and some state-of-the-art and implementation examples.

Biography

Ahmed M. A. Ali received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees, with distinction and highest honor in electrical engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He is currently a Fellow at Analog Devices, where he has led the design and development of several industry and world firsts in the high-speed data converter field. Before joining Analog Devices, he was with Texas Instruments' Mixed-Signal R&D Labs and Wireless Infrastructure Business Unit. His past industrial experience also includes Anacad/Mentor Graphics and Siemens AG. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 2001 to 2007 and is currently serving as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers. He is the author of the book: "High Speed Data Converters", published by the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) in 2016. He is also the principal author of more than 30 papers and holds 50 patents. His research interests include analog IC design, high linearity sampling, digitally assisted converters, and signal processing. Dr. Ali received the S.J. Stein award from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the recipient of the George Stephenson Foundation award, the Catalyst Foundation fellowship award, the University of Pennsylvania fellowship, and several industry and academic excellence awards.

Talk Details