Spectral Spurs due to Quantization in Nyquist ADCs

This paper presents intuitive yet quantitative insights into the harmonics of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) output spectra. It derives the spectral signatures associated with imperfections in practical ADCs. This understanding leads to remedies based on architecture and time-averaging, which are combined to propose a calibration-free pipeline CMOS ADC that simulations show is capable of better than 100-dB spurious-free dynamic range in the presence of real-life imperfections.