Patent ID: 6985101

Claim:
A method for controlling the operation of a SAR conversion cycle, comprising the steps of: initiating the SAR conversion cycle by connecting one side of a plurality of capacitors in a capacitor array to a first capacitor reference voltage and the other side of the plurality of capacitors to the input of a comparator; sequentially switching in a plurality of compare cycles the one side of a select one or ones of the capacitors to a second capacitor reference voltage to change the voltage on the input of the comparator; initiating a compare operation after initiation of each compare cycle to compare the value on the input of the comparator with a compare reference voltage after a predetermined settling time has elapsed from the beginning of the initiation of each compare cycle; and during the compare cycle, reducing transients due to voltage variations on the input of the comparator as a result of the step of sequentially switching, the reduction operating for a predetermined portion of the associated compare cycle.