SBIR Phase II: An Eight-bit Superconducting Analog-to- Digital Converter with 10GHz Input Bandwidth

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95-03344 Bradley This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address a new capability for digital data acquisition and recording of high speed signals over an extended frequency range, from dc to 20 GigaHertz. A new instrument, called a transient digitizer, will be able to characterize high speed electronics (or any signature convertible to an electric signal) by recording these signals and storing them for analysis. Phase I developed a comparator designed to be the basis of an ultra-high speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with an order-of-magnitude higher performance than is currently available. Phase II goals are to design, fabricate, and test the full superconducting ADC system. Superconducting electronics combine very low noise with the high switching speeds required in fast, high-sensitivity measurements. An advantage of this approach is that magnetic flux quantitization permits many precise, equally spaced thresholds with a single comparator. ADCs with this characteristic require much less complex circuitry and have no need for resistors with very precise values. Improved digitizers would find extensive application in high speed electronics designed for optical fiber interfaces, switching networks, communication, and computers.