A/D architectures of the future

At the present time, the monolothic A/D and D/A markets are dominated by converters which rely on weighted arrays and resistor strings and operate at supply voltage in excess of 5V. In the future, as technology scales and supply voltages drop, the question arises of whether the present techniques will continue to dominate or will techniques that can better exploit the increased density of digital circuits take over. Examples of the digitally intensive approach are the interpolative A/Ds used PCM Codecs and techniques based on sigma-delta modulation. Proponents of these various contenders are on the panel and tradeoffs will be discussed.