Many medical, environmental, and industrial control applications rely on wide-dynamic-range sensors and A/D converter systems. For most photo-detector-based applications, the input-current is integrated onto a capacitor, either with a variable time, or a variable capacitor value, followed by a sample-and-hold and a voltage A/D converter. The penalty for achieving wide-dynamic-range with the above approach is power and circuit complexity.
We propose to use the unique properties of current-input continuous-time Delta-Sigma A/D converters to combine the photo-detector current-integration with simultaneous wide-dynamic-range A/D conversion, using programmable reference currents and programmable clock frequencies.
A programmable current-input wide-dynamic-range Delta-Sigma A/D converter is designed and fabricated using MOSIS AMI 1.5 um 5 V CMOS process. The programmable A/D converter test results exhibit a consistent 12-bit resolution over the programmability range of the reference-currents, from 17.2 nA to 4.4 uA. The supply-current varies from 60 uA to 240 uA, whereas the A/D converter sample-rates increase from 4 Samples/s to 1 kSamples/s, achieving an overall system-dynamic-range of 20-bits.
An RF-powered version is designed and fabricated using MOSIS ON 0.5 um 3 V CMOS process. It is designed to work at 128 Samples/s to 11.25 kSamples/s sample-rates, achieving 12-bit resolution with only 128 oversampling ratio. The A/D converter supply-current is designed to range from 10 uA to 70 uA to allow its integration with an RF-power source. The RF-powered version of the programmable Delta-Sigma A/D converter includes an on-chip voltage regulator that generates a stable 3 V DC-voltage, and consumes only 15 uA current.
","abstract_html":"<p>Many medical, environmental, and industrial control applications rely on wide-dynamic-range sensors and A/D converter systems. For most photo-detector-based applications, the input-current is integrated onto a capacitor, either with a variable time, or a variable capacitor value, followed by a sample-and-hold and a voltage A/D converter. The penalty for achieving wide-dynamic-range with the above approach is power and circuit complexity. </p><p>We propose to use the unique properties of current-input continuous-time Delta-Sigma A/D converters to combine the photo-detector current-integration with simultaneous wide-dynamic-range A/D conversion, using programmable reference currents and programmable clock frequencies. </p><p>A programmable current-input wide-dynamic-range Delta-Sigma A/D converter is designed and fabricated using MOSIS AMI 1.5 um 5 V CMOS process. The programmable A/D converter test results exhibit a consistent 12-bit resolution over the programmability range of the reference-currents, from 17.2 nA to 4.4 uA. The supply-current varies from 60 uA to 240 uA, whereas the A/D converter sample-rates increase from 4 Samples/s to 1 kSamples/s, achieving an overall system-dynamic-range of 20-bits. </p><p>An RF-powered version is designed and fabricated using MOSIS ON 0.5 um 3 V CMOS process. It is designed to work at 128 Samples/s to 11.25 kSamples/s sample-rates, achieving 12-bit resolution with only 128 oversampling ratio. The A/D converter supply-current is designed to range from 10 uA to 70 uA to allow its integration with an RF-power source. The RF-powered version of the programmable Delta-Sigma A/D converter includes an on-chip voltage regulator that generates a stable 3 V DC-voltage, and consumes only 15 uA current.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Aleksanyan, Arnak"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Brooke, Martin"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011","date_published":"2011","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:07:17Z","subjects":["Electrical Engineering","delta-sigma adc","low power sensor","programmable adc","rfid"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3956","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Brooke, Martin"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Aleksanyan, Arnak"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2011-06-09T13:00:15Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-05-28T04:30:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2011"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Electrical Engineering","delta-sigma adc","low power sensor","programmable adc","rfid"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3956"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Many medical, environmental, and industrial control applications rely on wide-dynamic-range sensors and A/D converter systems. For most photo-detector-based applications, the input-current is integrated onto a capacitor, either with a variable time, or a variable capacitor value, followed by a sample-and-hold and a voltage A/D converter. The penalty for achieving wide-dynamic-range with the above approach is power and circuit complexity.
We propose to use the unique properties of current-input continuous-time Delta-Sigma A/D converters to combine the photo-detector current-integration with simultaneous wide-dynamic-range A/D conversion, using programmable reference currents and programmable clock frequencies.
A programmable current-input wide-dynamic-range Delta-Sigma A/D converter is designed and fabricated using MOSIS AMI 1.5 um 5 V CMOS process. The programmable A/D converter test results exhibit a consistent 12-bit resolution over the programmability range of the reference-currents, from 17.2 nA to 4.4 uA. The supply-current varies from 60 uA to 240 uA, whereas the A/D converter sample-rates increase from 4 Samples/s to 1 kSamples/s, achieving an overall system-dynamic-range of 20-bits.
An RF-powered version is designed and fabricated using MOSIS ON 0.5 um 3 V CMOS process. It is designed to work at 128 Samples/s to 11.25 kSamples/s sample-rates, achieving 12-bit resolution with only 128 oversampling ratio. The A/D converter supply-current is designed to range from 10 uA to 70 uA to allow its integration with an RF-power source. The RF-powered version of the programmable Delta-Sigma A/D converter includes an on-chip voltage regulator that generates a stable 3 V DC-voltage, and consumes only 15 uA current.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Wide-Dynamic-Range Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma A/D Converter for Low-Power Energy Scavenging Applications"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Brooke, Martin"],"dc:creator":["Aleksanyan, Arnak"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2011-06-09T13:00:15Z"],"dc:date.available":["2013-05-28T04:30:06Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2011"],"dc:description.abstract":["Many medical, environmental, and industrial control applications rely on wide-dynamic-range sensors and A/D converter systems. For most photo-detector-based applications, the input-current is integrated onto a capacitor, either with a variable time, or a variable capacitor value, followed by a sample-and-hold and a voltage A/D converter. The penalty for achieving wide-dynamic-range with the above approach is power and circuit complexity.
We propose to use the unique properties of current-input continuous-time Delta-Sigma A/D converters to combine the photo-detector current-integration with simultaneous wide-dynamic-range A/D conversion, using programmable reference currents and programmable clock frequencies.
A programmable current-input wide-dynamic-range Delta-Sigma A/D converter is designed and fabricated using MOSIS AMI 1.5 um 5 V CMOS process. The programmable A/D converter test results exhibit a consistent 12-bit resolution over the programmability range of the reference-currents, from 17.2 nA to 4.4 uA. The supply-current varies from 60 uA to 240 uA, whereas the A/D converter sample-rates increase from 4 Samples/s to 1 kSamples/s, achieving an overall system-dynamic-range of 20-bits.
An RF-powered version is designed and fabricated using MOSIS ON 0.5 um 3 V CMOS process. It is designed to work at 128 Samples/s to 11.25 kSamples/s sample-rates, achieving 12-bit resolution with only 128 oversampling ratio. The A/D converter supply-current is designed to range from 10 uA to 70 uA to allow its integration with an RF-power source. The RF-powered version of the programmable Delta-Sigma A/D converter includes an on-chip voltage regulator that generates a stable 3 V DC-voltage, and consumes only 15 uA current.
"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10161/3956"],"dc:subject":["Electrical Engineering","delta-sigma adc","low power sensor","programmable adc","rfid"],"dc:title":["Wide-Dynamic-Range Continuous-Time Delta-Sigma A/D Converter for Low-Power Energy Scavenging Applications"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:07:17Z"}