Designing A/D Converters for the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has four infrared cameras to view the stars. One of the most critical components in the signal path that converts starlight infrared analog signals to digital signals, for subsequent image processing, is an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. Three of the four IR cameras use arrays of A/D converters designed by a single individual, Dr. Lanny Lewyn. Those three cameras are the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), and the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS). The A/D performance in the NIRCam is mission-critical, because the NIRCam is used to perform the precision alignment of the 18 primary mirror segments.