US Patent 11218158 Digital estimation of transfer functions in continuous-time analog-to-digital converters

In one aspect, a transfer function (TF) estimation circuit configured to generate an estimate of a TF undergone by signals between an input of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) of a feedforward path of a continuous-time (CT) stage of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and an output of a backend ADC of the ADC is disclosed. The TF estimation circuit includes one or more circuits configured to generate a first cross-correlation output by cross-correlating digital versions of signals based on a test signal provided to the CT stage and an output signal of the backend ADC, generate a second cross-correlation output by cross-correlating digital versions of signals based on the test signal and an output signal of a quantizer of the feedforward path of the CT stage, and generate the estimate of the TF based on the first and second cross-correlation outputs.