Book excerpt: High Speed Data Converters covers high speed data converters from the perspective of a leading high speed ADC designer and architect, with a strong emphasis on high speed Nyquist A/D converters. For our purposes, the term "high speed" is defined as sampling rates that are greater than 10 MS/s. The book is intended for engineers and students who design, evaluate or use high speed data converters. A basic foundation in circuits, devices and signal processing is required. The book is meant to bridge the gap between analysis and design, theory and practice, circuits and systems. It covers basic analog circuits and digital signal processing algorithms. There is a healthy dose of theoretical analysis in this book, combined with the practical issues and intuitive perspectives. Topics covered include: * Introduction to high-speed data conversion * Performance Metrics * Data Converter Architectures * Sampling * Comparators * Amplifiers * Pipelined A/D Converters * Time-interleaved Converters * Digitally Assisted Converters * Evolution and Trends