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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Latter article is mixed-signal circuit integration. Specifically, the article mentions that ADCs, DACs, and power circuits will need to be integrated to drive the next wave of FPGA evolution. Originally, Stellamar set out to replicate in the ADC world what the Sigma-Delta DAC did to the DAC world. Most traditional DACs gave way to the Sigma-Delta version because of its mostly digital nature and ease of integration. If the same could be done for ADCs, then the industry would have a robust solution for the integration of ADCs into FPGAs. It was this challenge that sparked our innovation to create the most flexible, cost-effective way to implement analog functions in digital fabric. An A2D without the A At Stellamar, we have created an All-Digital ADC requiring no analog block. By using an LVDS pin-pair, only a few passive components, and some specialized proprietary signal processing, an analog Sigma-Delta ADC performance can be replicated with digital-only library cells. This proprietary technology allows All-Digital ADCs to reap all the benefits that digital design has over its analog counterparts to realize [for the ADC function(s)]:50% lower power on average68% smaller area on averageProcess technology independenceReduced risk and cycle timeDigital integration and synthesisEasier radiation-hardened design The difference can easily be seen using the simple block diagrams shown in Figure 1 (A traditional ADC interface) and Figure 2 (An All-Digital ADC interface). Figure 1. Traditional ADC interface In the traditional analog ADC approach, the good news is that creating the ADC is usually a vendor’s responsibility. This specialization of labor can get very high tolerances and performance. The bad news is that these ADCs are usually external and large. Multiple pins are needed to connect to an ASIC or FPGA. By not controlling the ADC development, designers trade off optimization for reduced design cycles. The vendor’s solution is most likely an overdesigned part for the system, which we gladly take because it is too much headache to design an optimized ADC. Figure 2. An All-Digital ADC interface With this All-Digital approach, a designer does not have to use external ADCs, which can take up critical board space. The ADC is right is the digital fabric and is much easier to implement. The Digital ADC only uses 2 pins and a couple discrete components as depicted in Figure 2. This means that you now have the ability to embed one or more ADCs in the digital
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