A digital input class-D audio amplifier with a sixth-order pulse-width modulation (PWM) modulator is presented. This modulator moves the PWM generator into the closed sigma-delta modulator loop. The noise and distortions generated at the PWM generator module are suppressed by the high gain of the forward loop of the sigma-delta modulator. Therefore, at the output of the modulator, a very clean PWM signal is acquired for driving the power stage of the class-D amplifier. A sixth-order modulator is designed to balance the performance and the system clock speed. Fabricated in standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology, this class-D amplifier achieves 110 dB dynamic range, 100 dB signal-to-noise rate, and 0.0056% total harmonic distortion plus noise.
This paper presents a novel field-programmable analog array (FPAA) architecture featuring a dual mode including discrete-time (DT) and continuous-time (CT) operation modes, along with a highly routable connection boxes (CBs) based interconnection lattice. The dual mode circuit for the FPAA is capable of achieving targeted op- timal performance in different applications. The architecture utilizes routing switches in a CB not only for the signal interconnection purpose but also for control of the electrical charge transfer required in switched-capacitor circuits. This way, the performance of the circuit in either mode shall not be hampered with adding of programmability. The proposed FPAA is designed and implemented in a 0.18 μm standard CMOS process with a 3.3 V supply voltage. The result from post-layout simulation shows that a maximum bandwidth of 265 MHz through the interconnection network is achieved. The measured results from demonstrated examples show that the maximum signal bandwidth of up to 2 MHz in CT mode is obtained with the spurious free dynamic range of 54 dB, while the signal processing precision in DT mode reaches 96.4%.