DARPA funds novel ADC architecture development
The architecture uses a patented innovation known as traveling pulse wave quantization (TPWQ) to increase the effective data rate of the conversion rate but at half the power consumption of established ADC approaches, IQ-Analog claims.
IQ-Analog is planning to design a prototype ADC IC that will operate at sample rates of over 60Hz and provide full spectrum conversion up to 30GHz. This is of interest to DARPA because of its ability to enhance radar and other electronic warfare systems, IQ-Analog said. The prototype IC is set to be manufacture in Globalfoundries’ 14nm FinFET process.
IQ-Analog is a private semiconductor company founded in 2004 by industry veterans who previously held managerial and technical roles at Conexant, Qualcomm and Broadcom. The company has an IP licensing business model and offers a variety of ADCs, DACs, and analog front-ends optimized for various manufacturing processes from leading foundries including TSMC, UMC, Globalfoundries, SMIC, Tower and IBM.
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