A low-power low-offset dynamic comparator for analog to digital converters

A comparator comprises a cross coupled circuit which produces a positive feedback. In conventional comparators, the mismatch between the cross coupled circuits determines the trade-off between the speed, offset and the power consumption of the comparator. A new low-offset low-power dynamic comparator for analog-to-digital converters is introduced. The comparator benefits from two stages and two operational phases to reduce the offset voltage caused by the mismatch effect inside the positive feedback circuit. Rigorous statistical analysis yields the input referred offset voltage and the delay of the comparator based on the circuit random parameters. The derivations are verified with exhaustive Monte-Carlo simulations at various corner cases of the process. A comparison between typical comparator and the proposed comparator in 180 nm and 90 nm has been made. The power consumption of the proposed comparator is about 44% of the conventional and its offset voltage is at least one-third of other mentioned conventional comparators. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.