Providing a substantially constant reference voltage to a component from a reference buffer connected by a path. The load that would be offered to the reference buffer in desired durations is estimated, and a dummy load is added to the path such that the aggregate load on the path is approximately constant. In case of the stages of an ADC, the sub-code generated by each stage during a sampling phase is used to estimate the load that would be offered, and the dummy load is added in the hold phase to keep the reference voltage constant in the hold phase, as desired.
A discrete-time programmable-gain analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input circuit with multi-phase reference application, provides a high input impedance level substantially independent of input capacitor size and input signal gain setting. An input voltage is sampled at the common mode voltage of the input, using one or more reference capacitor(s) that has been charged in a previous clock phase to the reference feedback voltage. The sampled input voltage is then applied in series with a quantizer-controlled reference voltage to the input of an integrator in a second clock phase. The summing mode of the integrator is maintained at the reference common-mode voltage. Since the charge pulled from the input voltage source is substantially determined only by the quantization error and input noise voltage, the circuit has a high signal input impedance. Since the input voltage source is sampled with respect to its common-mode voltage, the common-mode input impedance is also high.
A discrete-time programmable-gain analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input circuit with input signal and common-mode current nulling, provides a high input impedance level substantially independent of input capacitor size and input signal gain setting. An input voltage is sampled using one or more reference capacitor(s) that have been charged with a net charge corresponding to a quantizer-controlled reference voltage in a preceding clock phase. Since the charge pulled from the input voltage source is substantially determined only by the quantization error and input noise voltage, the circuit has a high input impedance. The reference capacitor(s) may be discharged in a third clock phase, so that input-signal-dependent voltages are discharged from the capacitor(s). An additional sampling capacitor can be discharged in the first clock phase and coupled in parallel with the reference capacitor during the second clock phase, to set the gain with respect to the input voltage.