ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the measurement of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) prototypes using needle probes. It explains a typical measurement setup, and the design and setup decisions that need to be considered for a successful measurement. Furthermore, a full measurement setup using needle probing for high-speed ADCs is described. An efficient shift-register-based approach for an on-chip memory to handle the large aggregated output data of highly interleaved ADCs is presented. Finally, we show an on-chip memory implementation to capture the high-speed ADC output at full speed. Some of the problems discussed here are more pronounced for needle probing compared to a PCB-based measurement setup. Two methods to generate differential signals will be discussed next. Two sets of measurements have been performed: first, using standard needle probes without decoupling capacitors, and second, using custom needle probes with decoupling capacitors at the tip of the needle that supplied the reference voltage.
