An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture to implement a non-linear flash ADC. The apparatus includes a non-linear resistor, a non-linear comparator, and an inverse non-linear encoder. The non-linear resistor has an input and a plurality of non-linear voltage outputs. The non-linear comparator ladder is coupled to the plurality of non-linear voltage outputs of the non-linear resistor. The non-linear comparator ladder includes a bank of comparators to compare an input signal to each of a plurality of non-linear voltage signals corresponding to the plurality of non-linear voltage outputs. The inverse non-linear encoder is coupled to the non-linear comparator ladder. The inverse non-linear encoder generates a digital output code based on the input signal and the plurality of non-linear voltage signals.