An Ultra-Wideband 7-Bit 5-Gsps ADC Implemented in Submicron InP HBT Technology

An ultra-wideband 7-bit 5-Gsps analog-to-digital converter (ADC), fabricated in a 4-level interconnect, 0.8 mum Indium-Phosphide (InP) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology, is presented. This monolithic folding/interpolating ADC includes a front-end master-slave sample and hold and a pipeline stage sample and hold. The chip achieves 6 effective number of bits (ENoB) Nyquist performance at a sample rate of 5 Gsps, while dissipating 8.4 W. Furthermore, an ENoB performance of greater than 5.7 is maintained at analog input frequencies up to 7.5 GHz. This effective resolution-bandwidth product performance is significantly higher than any other previously reported monolithic ADC with sample rate ges 3 Gsps.