A digital background calibration algorithm of a pipeline ADC based on output code calculation

This paper proposes a digital background calibration algorithm to correct linearity errors in a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The algorithm does not modify the analog circuit of pipelined stages and calibrates the raw conversion output by using a backend digital logic. Based on the analysis of the output codes, the calibration logic estimates the bit weight of each stage and corrects the outputs. An experimental 14-bit pipelined ADC is fabricated to verify the algorithm. The results show that INL errors drop from 20 LSB to 1.7 LSB, DNL errors drop from 2 LSB to 0.4 LSB, SNDR grows from 57 to 65.7 dB and THD drops from −58 to −81 dB. The linearity of the pipelined ADC is improved significantly.