A VCO-Based ADC with Relaxation Oscillator for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

This paper describes a voltage controlled oscillator(VCO) -based ADC for biomedical applications which employs a relaxation oscillator for voltage-to-frequency conversion. The proposed circuit uses a redundant pair of capacitors to mitigate the conversion error resulting from the time required for resetting the capacitor. A switch matrix with feedback helps sustain oscillations. Further, the VCO frequency approaches zero as the input voltage approaches zero unlike a converter with ring oscillator, thereby reducing power consumption. Post-layout simulation of the proposed ADC designed with a 28 nm FDSOI CMOS technology shows an ENOB of 8 and power consumption of 12 uW from a 0.7 V supply.