What are the limits to increasing the dynamic range of RF ADCS?

The dynamic range of an analogue to digital converter (ADC) can be specified in several ways which are application dependent. This problem has been addressed in industry by the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) standard for dynamic specifications for ADCs [1]. The most often used specification for RF applications is Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR). This is specified in the frequency domain through analysis of a suitable test signal such as two tones of equal amplitude. SFDR then indicates the range in amplitude between the maximum test signal amplitude and the amplitude of any unwanted or spurious signal. These spurious signals may be related to the presence of the test signal or they may be from other sources