Rethinking ADC Architecture: A New Approach to Analog-to-Digital Converter Design

In today’s analog-to-digital converter (ADC) market, engineers must balance performance, availability, cost, and long-term supply chain risk. ADC architecture decisions increasingly shape not just system capability, but design flexibility over the full lifecycle of a product.

When we entered the data converter market, we did it deliberately. We started with pin-to-pin, drop-in compatible ADCs, not because that was the end goal, but because it removed friction. Engineers didn’t have to redesign boards, requalify systems, or take unnecessary risk just to evaluate something new or avoid the “golden screw” problem. That mattered. Our first products made evaluation safe, familiar, and practical.

(Image source: Silanna)

Plural is a patented, platform-based ADC architecture built on decades of deep data-converter experience. It delivers 10-, 12-, 14-, and 16-bit single and dual channel 5 MSPS – 250 MSPS solutions, with each core die factory-configurable into dozens of SKUs. This approach allows Silanna to deliver broad portfolios without long design cycles or enormous CAPEX investments. In Q4 2025 alone, we launched 65 products, followed by 30 more in Q1 2026, compressing what takes legacy vendors decades into just a few quarters.

Now the Conversation Changes

With our latest releases, we’re no longer just compatible, we’re differentiated. Integrated DSP functions across the portfolio enable decimation, interleaving, IQ baseband processing, IF/RF-to-baseband conversion, and more performed directly in the ADC rather than offloaded to the rest of the system. Architectural flexibility delivers the industry’s smallest packages, shrinking dual-channel ADCs from 9×9 mm down to as small as 3.4×3.4 mm, with full DSP capability enabled across the lineup. Built-in calibration ensures consistent performance across the full military temperature range (−55 °C to +125 °C), even at speeds above 125 MSPS, capabilities legacy suppliers simply don’t deliver at scale. These advantages are delivered with shorter lead times and ASPs that are approximately 30% lower than traditional legacy vendor offerings.

Engineers should now evaluate Silanna on its own merits—not as an alternative, but as a primary choice. This is especially true for teams outside the legacy vendors’ top-100 customer lists: companies building serious systems without privileged access to roadmaps, custom silicon, or even live support. Silanna provides same-day, direct access to architects and designers for customers of any size, because trust is earned through performance, value, and genuine partnership.

Innovation should be judged by what it enables, not by who it’s reserved for. That’s the market we’re building for—and that’s where Plural belongs.