A new method for estimating the aperture uncertainty of A/D converters

Aperture uncertainty measurements are strongly influenced by quantization, converter nonlinearity and test setup noise. The proposed method solves the difficulties arising from quantization, and nonlinearity. The method estimates the noise distribution function by fine adjustment of the input signal offset. The contribution of jitter-induced voltage noise is separated from additive noise in two different ways. Finally, the aperture uncertainty, assumed independent of the frequency, is estimated by varying the signal frequency. Experimental results obtained on 8 and 10 bit converters are discussed.