Signal-Adaptive Analog-to-Digital Converters for ULP Wearable and Implantable Medical Devices

Abstract

The mission of this chapter is to introduce the reader the recent developments in the design of ultra-Low Power ADCs for Wearable and Implantable Medical Devices (WIMDs). The focus of this chapter will be on Signal-Adaptive Successive Approximation Register (SAR) ADC architectures and their derivatives, since the majority of the ULP medical devices rely on these architectures. The proposed chapter first provides an overview of the WIMDs, and electrophysiological signals. Then, basic SAR ADCs are introduced followed by the study of adaptive SAR ADCs. The chapter concludes with a brief summary of the other prevalent ADC architecture for WIMDs, namely the Level-Crossing ADCs.