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Using Distortion Shaping Technique to Equalize ADC THD Performance Between ATEs

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Abstract

In this paper, we describe how a phase switching technique is used to control the harmonic contents of a generated sinusoidal signal using digital signal processing techniques. We will describe how this technique equalizes the harmonic performance of arbitrary waveform generators installed in a large scale integration test system, allowing extended performance testing of the total harmonic distortion of an analog-to-digital converter that ordinarily would be possible only using more advanced test equipment. Once a device has been characterized and correlated to the bench, a test engineer is required to release the product into production. One of the major issues surrounding this exercise is the difference in the obtained results between testers of the same manufacture for parameters sensitive to harmonics, noise, and spurious components such as total harmonic distortion. By using the techniques developed in this paper, the user will be able to deploy an academic solution to an industrial problem and extend the range of test equipment that ordinarily would need to be discarded for such test requirements. We will then show the gauge repeatability and reproducibility between two testers of the same manufacture, and how using the described technique produces a better correlation, thus allowing less stringent guard-bands to guarantee the performance of those devices that have performance criteria close to the device specification. This work also goes some way to proving previous papers’ works on distortion shaping testing to enhance the spectral performance of arbitrary waveform generators.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Full Service Foundry, ams AG, Premstaetten, Austria

    Peter Sarson

  2. Division of Electronics and Informatics, Gunma University, Kiryu, Gunma, 376-8515, Japan

    Haruo Kobayashi

Authors
  1. Peter Sarson
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  2. Haruo Kobayashi
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Correspondence to Peter Sarson.

Additional information

Responsible Editors: M. J. Barragan and W. R. Eisenstadt

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Sarson, P., Kobayashi, H. Using Distortion Shaping Technique to Equalize ADC THD Performance Between ATEs. J Electron Test 33, 295–303 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10836-016-5630-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10836-016-5630-0

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