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This article presents a high-dynamic-range (DR) voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)-based front end for sensor readout applications. Unlike conventional VCO-based quantizers, which suffer from large voltage-to-frequency non-linearities, the proposed design leverages differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) from compression theory to substantially reduce the amplitude of the signal incident to the VCO quantizer, thereby achieving an ultra-low total harmonic distortion (THD) of -112 dB. In addition, background digital gain calibration is employed to overcome gain deviation of the VCO, thus ensuring a robust design. Together with dynamic element matching (DEM), the techniques enable a high DR using only the first-order noise shaping inherent in VCO-based quantizers and a moderate 32× oversampling ratio. Fabricated in 65 nm, the sensor front end consumes 3.2- μW power and achieves an SNDR of 89 dB …