Hokkaido University Research Profiles

Japanese

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  • Low-power A/D Converters for Sensing

    Use of time to digital converter for A/D converter and its low power consumption

    Single-Slope A/D converters, which involve the simplest configuration, are used in various forms (image sensors, etc.). However, one drawback is their slow conversion speed. With this technique high speed and low power consumption can be achieved simultaneously.

    Research

    Single-Slope A/D converters convert analog values to time and then digitize them. By using the Time to Digital Converter (TDC), the conversion time can be greatly reduced. However, power consumption increases significantly. Intermittent operation of the TDC is effective to reduce the power consumption of the TDC part by a factor of several times ten, enabling both high speed and low power consumption. The features of this method are as follows:
    Realization of low-power, high-speed, small-area A/D converters
    ・Synchronization and consistency of two measurements with high precision and coarse accuracy are guaranteed in principle
    ・The A/D conversion characteristics are continuous and easy to correct.