Linear Technology has introduced a range of ultra-low power 14- and 12bit, 25- to 125Msample/s ADCs that dissipate less than 1mW per Msample/s from a 1.8V supply. The LTC2145 ADCs incorporate two-channel simultaneous sampling, parallel output ADCs, and provide CMOS, or DDR CMOS or DDR LVDS (low-voltage differential signaling) digital outputs with programmable digital output timing, and programmable LVDS output current. At 25Msample/s, the 14 and 12bit versions of the LTC2140 consume 24mW/channel, while the 125Msample/s LTC2145 consumes 95mW/channel. At 14bits, the ADCs achieve over 73.2dB SNR (signal noise ratio) performance with 90dB spurious-free dynamic range at baseband. At 12bits, the ADCs deliver an SNR performance of more than 70.6dB. The ADCs also maintain portability in applications such as handheld test and instrumentation, radar and light detection and ranging, medical imaging, positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography scanners, military radios, smart antenna systems and a range of low-power communication systems. Additional power savings can also be achieved by placing the devices in two modes, namely standby or shutdown. The ADCs have an analogue power bandwidth of 750MHz and ultra-low jitter of 0.08psRMS that allows undersampling of intermediate frequencies.
