Concept of Superconducting Comparator for Pipeline A/D Converter

This paper presents the design, simulation of performance, and layout of a one-bit comparator for a pipeline analog-to-digital converter. It has been designed for the low critical temperature technology of the European Fluxonics Foundry and the part excluding the digital readout has been fabricated. Simulation shows that the incoming signal amplitude is reduced by a nearly constant amount above the threshold of the comparator, which is seen as a decrease of about 38% of the power transmission coefficient at the carrier frequency.