This paper presents an overview of outstanding theoretical problems in delta-sigma modulator based electronic digital-to-analog circuits and outlines quantization noise conditioning techniques that are being employed to address these problems. Both the problems and the conditioning techniques are described in the context of a special class of electronic circuits called frequency synthesizers.

Abstract— In this paper, a generic and simple approach to design Continuous-Time Sigma-Delta Modulators (CT ƩΔMs) based on Finite Impulse Response Digital-to-Analog Converter (FIR DAC) is introduced. The numerical conversion from Continuous-Time to Discrete-Time allows the designer to explore complex modulator architectures and different feedback DAC shapes, without dealing with difficult equat...

Mismatch-shaping digital-to-analog converters (DACs) have become widely used in high-performance delta–sigma data converters because they facilitate delta–sigma modulators with multibit quantization. Relative to single-bit quantization, multibit quantization significantly relaxes the analog circuit performance necessary to achieve a given level of data converter precision, but significant digit...