Abstract: Linear behaviour of bootstrap switches is of critical importance in low-voltage analogue circuits and understanding the major factors affecting the linearity helps design a better switch. This study presents a theoretical approach for evaluating the distortion of bootstrap switches in the frequency domain based on the Volterra series. Five major factors affecting the linearity of the bootstrap switch are examined. In order to obtain a general design guideline the analysis is done in two parts. First, the distortion because of the nonlinear I–V characteristic of the main transistor of the switch is considered. In the second part, the distortion because of sampling errors, such as clock feed-through and charge injection, are added to the analysis. The theoretical results are verified by circuit simulations in a 0.18 um CMOS process, using HSpice.

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