Advanced Strategies for Uncertainty-Guided Live Measurement Sequencing in Fast, Robust SAR ADC Linearity Testing

TL;DR

This paper presents an improved uncertainty-guided live measurement sequencing method for fast, real-time SAR ADC linearity testing, combining algorithmic enhancements and model extensions to significantly reduce test runtime.

Contribution

The paper introduces an enhanced UGLMS method with a rank-1 EKF update, covariance-inflation, and polynomial mismatch modeling, enabling faster and more accurate ADC linearity testing.

Findings

Reconstructs INL/DNL in 36 ms for 16-bit ADCs

Achieves 8x speedup over previous methods for 16-bit ADCs

Maintains accuracy with reduced test runtimes

Abstract

This paper builds on our Uncertainty-Guided Live Measurement Sequencing (UGLMS) method. UGLMS is a closed-loop test strategy that adaptively selects SAR ADC code edges based on model uncertainty and refines a behavioral mismatch model in real time via an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), eliminating full-range sweeps and offline post-processing. We introduce an enhanced UGLMS that delivers significantly faster test runtimes while maintaining estimation accuracy. First, a rank-1 EKF update replaces costly matrix inversions with efficient vector operations, and a measurement-aligned covariance-inflation strategy accelerates convergence under unexpected innovations. Second, we extend the static mismatch model with a low-order carrier polynomial to capture systematic nonlinearities beyond pure capacitor mismatch. Third, a trace-based termination adapts test length to convergence, preventing premature stops and redundant iterations. Simulations show the enhanced UGLMS reconstructs full Integral- and Differential-Non-Linearity (INL/DNL) in just 36 ms for 16-bit and under 70 ms for 18-bit ADCs (120 ms with the polynomial extension). Combining the faster convergence from covariance inflation with reduced per-iteration runtime from the rank-1 EKF update, the method reaches equal accuracy 8x faster for 16-bit ADCs. These improvements enable real-time, production-ready SAR ADC linearity testing.