Special Section on Data Converters

Sai-Weng Sin, University of Macau, China,
Qiang Li, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany,

Modern electronic systems—from 5G/6G radios, data-center optics, and automotive lidar to battery-powered IoT sensors and neural interfaces—rely on data converters to translate real-world signals into the digital domain and back. As bandwidth, dynamic range, and energy-efficiency requirements continue improving, designers must push beyond traditional Nyquist and oversampling architectures, exploit various innovative techniques, including, for example, dynamic amplifiers, discrete-/continuous-time and time-domain techniques, embed sophisticated digital assistance and calibration, and co-optimize with many peripheral blocks that ultimately govern overall converter performance. 

This special section seeks original contributions, as well as in-depth review papers highlighting state-of-the-art techniques and future research directions in data-converter theories, circuits, and systems. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: high-speed, high-resolution, and energy-efficient ADCs/DACs; continuous-time and time-based converters; digitally assisted and machine-learning-driven calibration; application-specific converters for emerging domains; peripheral circuits and subsystems (references, clocking, drivers, etc.); and modeling, verification, and design-automation techniques. Original paper submissions should be validated with measured silicon results to substantiate practical feasibility and quantified performance benefits. For review or tutorial papers, measurement results are also welcome and encouraged.

Authors are invited to submit papers following the IEEE Open Journal of the Solid-State Circuits Society (OJ-SSCS) guidelines, within the remit of this Special Section call. Topics include (but are not limited to):

• High-Speed Data Converters
• High-Resolution Data Converters
• Energy-Efficient Data Converters
• Data Converters in the Continuous-Time or Time-Domain
• Digitally Assisted, Calibration, or Machine Learning driven Techniques for Data Converters
• Application-Specific Data Converters
• Peripheral Circuits and Subsystems for Data Converters
• Methodology, Modeling, Verification, and Design Automation for Data-Converter Design

All submitted manuscripts are strongly encouraged to

1. conform to OJ-SSCS’ normal formatting requirements and page count limits.
2. validate principal claims with experimental results;
3. be submitted online at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/oj-sscs 

Please note that you need to select “Data Converters” when you submit a paper to this Special Section.

• Special Section Open for Submissions: September 15, 2025
• Paper Submission Deadline: November 20, 2025
• First Notification: December 26, 2026
• Revision Submission: January 20, 2026
• Final Decision: February 5, 2026
• Publication Online: February 15, 2026