1 PhD Position in Digitally assisted ADC algorithm design in Ireland | University College Dublin

Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) are arguably one of the cornerstones of the digital age sitting at the boundary between the analog and digital worlds - they are an integral part of almost all interactive digital devices, be they simple sensors or more complex high bandwidth radios; they are ubiquitous.

Over the last decade the design of ADCs has turned to complex digital techniques to modify or otherwise enhance their performance. This can be used to either improve the performance of existing ADC designs or to allow simpler, and hence cheaper or lower power designs to be produced without compromise.

This project considers the design of ADCs using a mixture of analog and digital signal processing techniques to enable performance / power / size points otherwise not available today. Initially the focus will be on, but not limited to, background calibration algorithms for SAR based high speed / high performance ADCs. Work will be conducted in close collaboration with a local world class mixed signal IC design company facilitating the cross pollination of ideas and providing a path to silicon fabrication for the purpose of algorithm testing and verification.