A SUC-Based Full-Binary 6-bit 3.1-GS/s 17.7-mW Current-Steering DAC in 0.038 mm²

A 6-bit full-binary compact and low-power current-steering digital-to-analog converter (DAC) designed for 60-GHz Wireless Personal Area Network applications is presented. The closely located circuit components based on the stacked unit cell minimize the parasitic capacitance and enhance the high-frequency dynamic linearity. The proposed binary structure realizes a compact DAC by eliminating the need for additional circuits, such as thermometer decoders, and thus reduces power consumption. A prototype 6-bit 3.1-GS/s full-binary DAC was fabricated in a 90-nm CMOS process. The DAC exhibits a spurious-free dynamic range of >37.2 dB up to 3.1 GS/s over the Nyquist input. The chip consumes 17.7 mW of power and occupies 0.038 mm2of core size.