An improved spectral approach to estimate the integral non-linearity of analog-to-digital converters

This paper presents a spectrum-based method to estimate the integral non-linearity (INL) of an analog-to-digital converter. It relies on a previous work published in the literature that consists in expanding in Fourier series the analytical expression of a converter distorted signal output. The INL estimation process is then reduced to three operations: a discrete Fourier transform (DFT), a matrix inversion and an inverse DFT. In comparison with the initial approach, the algorithm proposed in this article reduces by two the set of parameters required to obtain the INL. This new method is validated on experimental data from the 12-bit ADC12D800RF converter run at 800MHz.