A hybrid DAC switching technique for SAR ADCs

In recent years, the area of Wireless Sensor Networks has seen a tremendous growth and is instrumental in a multitude of applications ranging from health monitoring to geo fencing. Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) are vital to any low-cost, energy-efficient sensor node in that they convert the sensed signal into its digital counterpart, which is then used processed by the digital circuitry. In this paper, a Capacitive Digital-to-Analog Converter (CDAC) switching technique is proposed that is aimed toward the design of an energy-efficient ADC. The presented switching technique is more energy-efficient than the traditional CDAC architecture. Besides its energy efficiency, the technique reduces the overall size of the CDAC and its settling time. Theoretical analysis has been presented along with detailed simulation results as a proof of concept.