An Ultrahigh-Speed resonant-tunneling analog-to-digital converter

A flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that uses resonant-tunneling complex gates is proposed. The ternary quantizers, consisting of monostable-to-multistable transition logic (MML) circuits, convert the analog input signal into the ternary thermometer code. This code is then converted into the binary Gray-code output by a multiple-valued multiple-input monostable-bistable transition logic element (M-2-MOBILE). By assuming InP-based resonant-tunneling diode (RTD) and heterojunction field-effect transistor technology, we have carried out SPICE simulation that demonstrates a 4-bit, 10-GS/s ADC operation. The input bandwidth, defined as a frequency at which the effective number of bit decreases by 0.5 LSB, was also estimated to be 500 MHz. Compact circuit configuration, which is due to the combination of MML and M-2-MOBILE, reduces the device count and power dissipation by a factor of two compared with previous RTD-based ADCs.