Self-calibration in high speed current steering CMOS D/A converters

This paper describes a novel approach to self-calibration applied to current steering CMOS DACs. The basic idea is to use regulated cascode current sources with degenerated resistances. The drop voltage across the degenerated resistance measures the current, thereby allowing calibration. A suitable architecture for achieving continuous calibration is described. The paper also discusses some design problems and proposes a new differential switch current cell which alleviates the glitches deriving from the clock-feedthrough effect