the present invention is related to a pipelined analog - to - digital converter utilizing a power distribution scheme selectively delivering both constant and variable reference currents in selected proportions to a plurality of stages and operational transconductive amplifiers . this permits the adc to maintain an optimized speed over power consumption ratio over a wide data rate range . since the invention is capable of supporting a large operating range while maintaining very low power consumption relative to the data rate , the pipelined adc in accordance with the present invention is particularly adaptable to a large number of applications .