Preamplifier, comparator and analog-to-digital converting apparatus including the same

• US 9,438,258 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2015
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
• Original Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
• Inventors: Yoo, Si-Wook
• Primary Examiner(s): Mai, Lam T
• Application Number:
  US14/816,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20160269039A1
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 341130-160, 330/252
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/312 the loading circuit of an amplifying stage comprising one or more switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/45302 the common gate stage of a cascode dif amp being controlled
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/45179 using MOSFET transistors as the active amplifying circuit H03F3/45278 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/45188 Non-folded cascode stages
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 5/2481 with at least one differential stage
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 1/123 Simultaneous, i.e. using one converter per channel but with common control or reference circuits for multiple converters
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 1/145 the steps being performed sequentially in series-connected stages H03M1/141, H03M1/143, H03M1/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 1/56 Input signal compared with linear ramp

Abstract

A preamplifier may include: a common active load suitable for providing output impedance; an output polarity changing unit suitable for changing an output polarity of output nodes; a multi-differential input stage suitable for receiving an input voltage, a coarse ramping voltage, a fine ramping voltage and a common mode voltage, and sampling the common mode voltage and the coarse ramping voltage for amplification operations; and a coupling blocking unit suitable for blocking a coupling between the output nodes and input nodes that are included in the multi-differential input stage.

Claims

1. A preamplifier comprising:

a common active load suitable for providing output impedance;

an output polarity changing unit suitable for changing an output polarity of output nodes;

a multi-differential input stage suitable for receiving an input voltage, a coarse ramping voltage, a fine ramping voltage and a common mode voltage for differential amplification operations; and

a coupling blocking unit suitable for blocking a coupling between the output nodes and the multi-differential input stage.

2. The preamplifier of claim 1, further comprising an inverter suitable for inverting a comparator enable signal, and transmitting an inverted comparator enable signal to the coupling blocking unit.

3. The preamplifier of claim 2, wherein the inverter uses the same voltage as a power supply voltage.

4. The preamplifier of claim 1, wherein the output polarity changing unit comprises first and second switches suitable for setting a first output as an output at a reset point, and changing the output from the first output to a second output before a comparison operation.

5. The preamplifier of claim 1, wherein the output polarity changing unit outputs a high state signal during coarse conversion, and outputs a low state signal during fine conversion.

6. The preamplifier of claim 1, wherein the coupling blocking unit comprises first and second cascode transistors that operate in a saturation region until the input voltage is compared.

7. The preamplifier of claim 1, wherein the multi-differential input stage samples a common mode voltage and a coarse ramping voltage based on a sampling control signal.

8. The preamplifier of claim 7, wherein the sampled coarse ramping voltage and the sampled common mode voltage have a differential relationship for the preamplifier.

9. A comparator comprising:

a preamplifier suitable for blocking a coupling between output and input nodes by changing an output polarity of the output nodes, sampling a common mode voltage and a coarse ramping voltage based on a sampling control signal, generating a coarse conversion result through the output node by amplifying a difference between an input voltage and the sampled coarse ramping voltage, and generating a fine conversion result through the output nodes by amplifying a difference between a fine ramping voltage and the sampled common mode voltage; and

a signal processor suitable for generating the sampling control signal based on the coarse conversion result, and generating a comparison signal based on the coarse conversion result and the fine conversion result.

10. The comparator of claim 9, wherein the preamplifier comprises:

a common active load suitable for providing output impedance;

an output polarity changing unit suitable for changing the output polarity of the output node;

a multi-differential input stage suitable for receiving the input voltage, the coarse ramping voltage, the fine ramping voltage and the common mode voltage and sampling the common mode voltage and the coarse ramping voltage; and

a coupling blocking unit suitable for blocking the coupling between the output nodes and the multi-differential input stage.

11. The comparator of claim 10, wherein the preamplifier further comprises an inverter suitable for inverting a comparator enable signal, and transmitting the inverted comparator enable signal to the coupling blocking unit.

12. The comparator of claim 11, wherein the inverter uses the same voltage as a power supply voltage.

13. The comparator of claim 10, wherein the coupling blocking unit comprises first and second switches suitable for setting a first output as an output at a reset point, and changing the output from the first output to a second output before a comparison operation.

14. The comparator of claim 10, wherein the output polarity changing unit outputs a high state signal during coarse conversion, and outputs a low state signal during fine conversion.

15. The comparator of claim 10, wherein the coupling blocking unit comprises first and second cascode transistors that operate in a saturation region until the input voltage is compared.

16. The comparator of claim 9, wherein the sampled coarse ramping voltage and the sampled common mode voltage have a differential relationship for the preamplifier.

17. The comparator of claim 9, wherein the signal processor comprises:

an amplifier suitable for amplifying the coarse conversion result and the fine conversion result;

a controller suitable for generating the sampling control signal based on the coarse conversion result; and

a selector suitable for selecting the coarse conversion result through the controller and the fine conversion result from the amplifier based on a select signal to output the comparison signal.

18. The comparator of claim 9, wherein the signal processor comprises:

a controller suitable for generating the sampling control signal based on the coarse conversion result; and

a selector suitable for selecting the coarse conversion result through the controller and the fine conversion result from the preamplifier based on a select signal to output the comparison signal.

19. An analog-to-digital converting apparatus comprising:

a preamplifier suitable for blocking a coupling between output and input nodes by changing an output polarity of the output nodes, sampling a common mode voltage and a coarse ramping voltage based on a sampling control signal, generating a coarse conversion result through the output nodes by amplifying a difference between an input voltage and the sampled coarse ramping voltage, and generating a fine conversion result through the output nodes by amplifying a difference between a fine ramping voltage and the sampled common mode voltage;

a signal processor suitable for generating the sampling control signal based on the coarse conversion result, and generating a comparison signal based on the coarse conversion result and the fine conversion result; and

a code decision unit suitable for deciding a coarse digital code and a fine digital code based on the comparison signal to output digital data.

20. The analog-to-digital converting apparatus of claim 19, wherein the preamplifier comprises:

a common active load suitable for providing output impedance;

an output polarity changing unit suitable for changing the output polarity of the output node;

a multi-differential input stage suitable for receiving the input voltage, the coarse ramping voltage, the fine ramping voltage and the common mode voltage, and sampling the common mode voltage and the coarse ramping voltage; and

a coupling blocking unit suitable for blocking the coupling between the output nodes and the multi-differential input stage.