Susceptibility of flash ADCs to electromagnetic interference

Integrated devices acquiring environmental, industrial or biomedical signals are ubiquitous and require sensor systems to be situated in electromagnetically hostile environments and continue to operate reliably. The susceptibility to injected electromagnetic interference by an 8-bit flash Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) was measured using the direct power injection method (IEC 62132-4). The analysis of the immunity results and the susceptibility of the internal structure of the device are presented. Measurements show that the supply port is immune to interference but the analog input and reference voltage input ports are quite susceptible. Better understanding of the susceptibility of a flash ADC to EMI enables designers to reduce the cost of preventative measures implemented at the system level and improve the reliability of sensor systems.