System for designing and testing a sigma-delta modulator using response surface techniques

The present invention provides a method and apparatus which uses data containing non-linearity information regarding the integrator circuits used in over-sampled Analog-to-Digital Converters to predict the Signal-to-Distortion Ratio and the Signal-to-Noise Ratio. Input response data used to evaluate the device is either obtained from simulations when designing the integrator circuit, or in situ testing of the integrators when testing an over-sampled Analog-to-Digital Converter integrated circuit. The non-linearity data can be generated by simulating or testing the Analog-to-Digital Converter circuit for several hundred clock cycles and measuring the inputs and outputs of each integrator. This data is used to predict the Signal-to-Distortion Ratio and the Signal-to-Noise Ratio.