A book is like a window that allows you to look into the world. The window is
shaped by the author and that makes that every window presents a unique view of
the world. This is certainly true for this book. It is shaped by the topics and the
projects throughout my career. Even more so, this book reflects my own style of
working and thinking.
That starts already in Chap. 2. When I joined Philips Research in 1979, many of
my colleagues used little paper notebooks to keep track of the most used equations
and other practical things. This notebook was the beginning for Chap. 2: a collection
of topics that form the basis for much of the other chapters. Chapter 2 is not intended
to explain these topics, but to refresh your knowledge and help you when you need
some basics to solve more complex issues.
In the chapters discussing the fundamental processes of conversion, you will recognize
my preoccupation with mathematics. I really enjoy finding an equation that
properly describes the underlying mechanism. Nevertheless mathematics is not a
goal on its own: the equations help to understand the way the variables are connected
to the result. Real insight comes from understanding the physics and electronics. In
the chapters on circuit design I have tried to reduce the circuit diagrams to the simplest
form, but not simpler. . . I do have private opinions on what works and what
should not be applied. Most poor solutions have simply been left out, sometimes
you might read a warning in the text on a certain aspect of an interesting circuit.
Another of my favorites is the search for accuracy. In Chap. 11 you will find a detailed
description, but also in the earlier chapters, there is a lot of material referring
to accuracy.
Circuit design and analog-to-digital circuit design is about bridging the gap between
technology and systems. Both aspects have been treated less than they deserve.
Still I hope it will be sufficient to create an interest to probe further.
This book is based on my lectures for graduate students who are novice in analogto-
digital design. In the classes my aim is to bring the students to a level where they
can read and interpret the literature (such as IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits)
and judge the reported results on their merits. Still that leaves a knowledge gap with
the designer of analog-to-digital converters. For those designers this book may serve
as a reference of principles and background.