This paper reports a 130-nm CMOS programmable cascade ΣΔ modulator for multistandard wireless terminals, covering three standards: GSM, Bluetooth and UMTS. The modulator is reconfigured at both architecture- and circuit level in order to adapt its performance to the different standard specifications with optimized power consumption. The design of the building blocks is based upon a top-down CAD methodology that combines simulation and statistical optimization at different levels of the system hierarchy. Transistor-level simulations show correct operation for all standards, featuring 13-bit, 11.3-bit and 9-bit effective resolution within 200-kHz, 1-MHz and 4-MHz bandwidth, respectively.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (with support from the European Regional Development Fund) under contract TEC2004-01752/MIC.Peer reviewed