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ANALOG AND MIXED MODE VLSI

VI SEM E&C

DATA CONVERTER FUNDAMENTALS

Introduction

Why data Conversion?

Most real-world signals are analog in nature.
Real-world signals-Continuous time, Continuous amplitude
However Digital signal processing allows us to efficiently
manipulate information.

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Digital abstraction-discrete time, discrete amplitude
To take advantage of DSP we must be able to move from

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analog to digital and back as needed

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What is data Converter?
A device that converts a signal from analog to digital domain
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and vice versa.

What type of systems require data converters?
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Any system that requires real inputs from outside world that
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need to be processed digitally or any system that wants to

convert digital data to analog signal that can be interpreted in
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the outside world need a converter.

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How does a data converter fit in to signal chain?

Data converters typically accept analog signals from sensors

once these signals have been conditioned, and pass off digital
data to a processor.
They can also accept digital data from these devices and pass
them off for signal conditioning and analog system output.

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Applications- wide range.

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Performance requirements such as resolution and bandwidth

are set by intended applications.
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Portable devices-push the limits of technology by requiring

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faster speed and lower power.

Communications: Wireless transceivers, Modems
Computing and control: Imagers,displays, Multimedia
Measurement & Instrumentation: Test equipment, Industrial and
scientific Instrumentation, Sensors & actuators.
Consumer Electronics: Video/Audio, Control (Automotive,
Appliances, etc).
Embedded data Conversion

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Types of Data Converters

Two types:
1. Analog to digital Converter(ADC)
2. Digital to analog Converter(DAC)
Analog to digital converter consists of two basic functions.
Sampling: convert a continuous time input signal to a discrete
time representation.
Quantization: convert a continuous amplitude input signal to a
discrete amplitude representation.
Input signal must be bandlimited to no more than FS to
prevent aliasing.

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Uniform Sampling and Quantization

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Uniform Sampling and Quantization

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-Sample signal Uniformly in time

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-Quantize signal Uniformly in amplitude

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Issues:
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How fast to sample?

How much noise added to quantization?
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How can we reconstruct signal back to analog form?

Discrete time signals

-Discrete time signals are simply a sequence of numbers with a set of

corresponding discrete time indexes.
-Intermediate signal values are not defined.
-Mathematically convenient but non-physical:use the term sampled
data signals.

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-Representing signals in discretetime domain determines an

increase in ambiguity in frequency domain; undesired frequency
translation /interaction(aliasing)

Sampling theory

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Fig. shown below illustrates the sampled signal in time and frequency
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domain.
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Types of Sampling

Nyquist rate Sampling: Sampling at twice the signal frequency

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Down sampling

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Up sampling
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Over Sampling
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Down Sampling fs<2fb

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Data Converter Building blocks

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Sample and Hold Circuits

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Operational Amplifiers,OTAs
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Comparators
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Filters
Current sources
Reference Circuits
Logic Circuits

Data Converters key parameters

Performance parameters are

Sampling freq
Resolution.
Precision Parameters are

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Sampling frequency is the speed at which samples are

measured and converted
-inversely related to sample time.
-measured in samples per second.

Resolution is the number of digital bits that the converter will

use.
-determines to what granularity a data converter can identify an
analog signal.
-12 bit converter will have 212 different voltage levels it can
identify.

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Throughput is the amount of digital data a converter uses in a
given amount of time.

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-12 bit Conveter running at 100KSPS has 1.2Mbps throughput.
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INL and DNL
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INL(Integral Nonlinearity error)

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-deviation of the values on the actual transfer function from the ideal
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transfer function once the gain and offset errors are nullified.
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-The summation of differential nonlinearities from the bottom up to a

particular step , determines the value of the INL at that step.
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INL(Integral Nonlinearity error)
-INL is defined as the integral of DNL.
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-good INL gaurantees good DNL.

-INL error-how far away from the ideal transfer function value the
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measured converter is.

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-Can not be corrected are calibrated.

-inherent in the design and manufacuring of the converter.
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-Point used as zero occurs of LSB before the first code transition.
-The full scale point is defined as level LSB beyond last code
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transition.
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-deviation is measured from centre of each particular code to the true

straight line between these two points.

DNL (Differential Nonlinearity error)

-difference between the actual step width (for an ADC) or step
height(for DAC) and the ideal value of 1 LSB.
-In ADC there is also a possibility that there can be missing codes.(if
DNL> -1LSB)i.e. one or more of the possible 2 n binary codes are
never output.
DNL specifies the deviation of any adjacent code in the transfer
function of DAC or ADC from an ideal code width of 1 LSB.

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-DNL is determined by subtracting the locations of successive code

transition points after compensating for gain and offset errors.
-positive DNL implies that the code is longer than the ideal code
width.

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- negative DNL implies that the code is Shorter than the ideal
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code width
- DNL is measured in the increasing code direction of the transfer
curve.
- The transition of code N is compared to that of code N+1.
- For DAC, DNL error of -1LSB implies that the output did not
increase for increasing input code.
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- For DAC, DNL error of greater than -1LSB implies that the
device is non-monotonic.
- For an ADC,DNL error of greater than -1LSB implies that at
least one code is missing, meaning that there is no analog
voltage which will generate a particular code.
- Manufactures includeNo missing Codesspec.

Gain and Offset error

- Gain error has a non ideal slope.

- Ideally, in the graphs above, as the analog input increases at a

certain rate, the output codes would also increase at the same

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rate.
- If the output codes increase at a different rate than the analog
input does, then it results in gain error.

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Gain error can be defined as the difference between the level that
produces the greatest code and the smallest code, versus the ideal
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levels that produce these codes
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In an ideal situation, data converter would begin to notice deviations

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from true zero voltage.

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However, because of offset error, a small constant analog voltage is

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always present before the conversion begins to function linearly.

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Dynamic Characteristics

1. SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio)

- RMS value representing the ratio of the amplitude of the

desired signal to noise power below one half of the frequency.
- Measure of strength of a signal to background noise.

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- Contributes to the overall dynamic performance of the device at
higher frequencies and affects the linearity at those
frequencies.

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- In audio world, a low SNR means the device has lots of hiss
and static high rating. s
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- Key measure of Data converter.
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2. Total Hormonic Distortion

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- The ratio of sum of the powers of all hormonic frequencies above

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the fundamental frequency to the power of the funadamental

frequency.(dB)
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-expression of distortion effect of signal harmonics on the original

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signal.
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3.ENOB(Effective Number of bits)

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-The number of bits achieved in a real system, discounting bits

that are affected by noise.
-Another way of specifying SNR.

4. SFDR(Spurious dynamic range)

-Distance in dB between the fundamental input and the worst spur.
-headroom available in FFT plot.
-difference between the signal amplitude and the first and largest
harmonic spur.
-measure of signal quality.
-higher values are desirable.

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Data Converters Building blocks

Sample and Hold Circuits

Operational Amplifiers,OTAs
Comparators
Filters
Current sources
Reference Circuits
Logic Circuits

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Data Converters blocks-DAC

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Digital n-bit word

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For an n-bit word, the MSB has a weight of

2 (n-1) = 2 n / 2 where n is the total number of bits in the word,
LSB has a weight of 1.
The Least and Most Significant Bits(LSB & MSB) are just what
their name implies.

Digital coding techniques

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Thermometer code

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Thermometer-code differs from a binary code in that a

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thermometer-code has 2N - 1 digital inputs to represent 2N

different digital values,
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Typically, in a thermometer-code the number of 1s represent

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the decimal value.

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Features
Low DNL errors
Guarnteed monotonocity
Reduced glitch area
Increased complexity(binary code needs only N digital inputs to
represent 2N different digital values.)

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The transfer function of DAC is a series of discrete points as

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shown in fig.
1 LSB corresponds to the height of a step between successive
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analog outputs,
A DAC can be thought of as a digitally controlled potentiometer
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whose output is a fraction of the full scale analog voltage

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determined by the digital input data.

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Resolution: The number of bits in the digital input word.

Each of the possible digital input word has its own unique
analog output voltage.

An N-bit digital word is mapped in to an equivalent analog voltage by

scaling a reference.

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Analog output of unipolar DAC is

Vref need special care for design.

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VLSB is the voltage change when one LSB changes.

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Data Converters DAC spec-Nonlinearity

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The maximum analog voltage that can be generated is known as

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full-scale voltage, VFS(does not equal to Vref, because the

resolution is finite) and is defined as the difference between Vref
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and VLSB or the analog output for the largest digital word
(1111) and the analog output for the smallest digital
word(000..0).

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Consider 3 bit DAC.

Vref: 5V
Vout = F Vref F-fraction determined by n-bit word
F=D/2N Vout(max) = 7/8 Vref.
Max. analog voltage generated-full scale voltage VFS

I LSB = Vref/2N

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For 3-bit DAC 1 LSB= 5/8 V = 0.625V
MSB causes the output to change by Vref.

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Ex- Find the resolution of DAC if the output voltage is desired to
change in 1mV, Vref is 5V. s
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Solution : DAC must resolve
1mV/5V = 0.0002 =.02%
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Accuracy required = 1/2N =0.0002

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N=Log (5V/1mV)= 12.29 = 13 bits

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Comparison of 3,8 16 bit DAC with Vref=5v

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Resolution Comb 1LSB % accuracy Vfs

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3 8 0.625V 12.5 4.375V

8 256 19.5mV 0.391 4.985V
16 65,536 76.29uV 0.00153 4.9999V

Increasing the resolution by 1 bit increases the accuracy by a

factor of 2.
Precision required to map the analog voltage at high resolution
is very difficult to achieve,
Vout approaches that of Vref as N increases.

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DAC-Nonlinearity

Differential Nonlinearity:
Ideal increments as per the ideal curve= 0.625V=1LSB
Nonideal components cause the analog increments to differ
from ideal values.The difference between actual and ideal-
differential nonlinearity is
DNLn = Actual increment height of transition n Ideal
increment height
N-number corresponding to digital input transition.

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Differential Nonlinearity:Example
n=3, Vref=5V
1LSB=1/8 of Vout/Vref
DNL 1=DNL 2=DNL 7=0
DNL 3=1.5 LSB-1 LSB =0.5 LSB=0.3125V
DNL 4=0.5 LSB-1 LSB =-0.5 LSB
DNL 5=0.25 LSB-1 LSB =-0.75 LSB
DNL 6=1.75 LSB-1 LSB =0.75 LSB

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Differential Nonlinearity:Example
Plot DNL in LSB versus input digital code.
DNL for the converter is 0.75LSB since the overall error of DAC is
defined by its worst-case DNL.
Generally, DAC will have 1/2 LSB of DNL ,if it is to be n-bit
accurate.

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Differential Nonlinearity:Example
5-bit DAC with .75LSBs of DNL has resolution of 4-bit DAC.
If the DNL for DAC is less than -1LSBs, then DAC is said to be
nonmonotonic.
DAC-should exhibit monotonicity if it is to function witout error.

The DNL specification measures how well a DAC can generate

uniform analog LSB multiples at its output.

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Integral Nonlinearity:
Another important Static characteristic of DAC.
Difference between the data converter output values and a
reference straight line drawn through the first and last output
values.
INL defines the linearity of overall transfer curve as

INL n = Output value for input code n output value of the

reference line at that point.

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INL-other errors(gain and offset are zero)
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Integral Nonlinearity:
Converter with N-bit resolution will have less than 1/2 LSB of DNL or
INL.
For ex- 13 bit DAC having greater than 1/2 LSB of DNL or INL
actually has the resolution of 12bit DAC.
0.5LSB = Vref/2 N+1
Integral Nonlinearity:Ex
3-bit DAC, Vref=5V

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Integral Nonlinearity:
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INL2 = INL4 = INL6= INL7=0

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INL1 = INL3 = 0.5LSB

INL5 = -0.75LSB
INL for the DAC is considered to be its wirst case INL of +0.5 LSB
and -0.75 LSB.
Another method: Best-fit-minimize INL

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Offset ERROR:
Analog output should be 0V for D=0 s.
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However, an offset exists.-seen as shift in the transfer curve.
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Gain ERROR:
Gain error exists if the slope of the best-fit line through the transfer
curve is different from the slope of the best-fit line for the ideal case.
Gain error=Ideal slope-Actual slope.

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Latency:
Total time from the moment that the input digital word changes to the
analog output value has settled to within a specified tolerance.

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Signal to Noise Ratio-SNR:

-ratio of Signal power to the noise at the analog output.
Dynamic Range:
Largest output signal over the smallest output signal.
Related to resolution
N-bit DAC can produce a maximum of 2N -1 multiples of LSBs and
a minimum value of 1LSB.

Dynamic Range:
Largest output signal over the smallest output signal.
Related to resolution

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DR = 20log(2N - 1)/1 DB
16 bit DR is 96.33db.

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Resolution of an A/D Converter is the number of output bits it

has(3-bits, in this example)

Resolution may also be defined as the size of the LSB or one

count.

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Sample-and-hold(S/H) are critical in ADC.

Characterize S/H circuit-performing data conversion.
Analog signal is instantly captured and held until the next
sampling period.
However, a finite amount of time is required for sampling.
During sampling period, analog signal may continue to vary-
track-and-hold or T/H.

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S/H circuits operate in both static(hold mode) and
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dynamic(sample mode)
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Sample Mode
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.Acquisition time: Time required for the S/H to track the analog
signal to within a specified tolerance, once the sampling
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command has been issued.

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Worst case acquisition time would correspond to the time

required for the output to transition from 0 to Vin(max).
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S/H circuits use amplifiers as buffers.

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Sample Mode
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.Acquisition time:
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Output of T/H is limited by the amplifiers slew rate.

If the amplifier is not compensated correctly, and the phase
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margin is too small, then a large overshoot occur which

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requires a longer settling time.

Error tolerance at the output of S/H dependent on amplifierss
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offset, gain error and linearity.

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Hold Mode

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1.Pedestal error: occurs as result of charge injection and clock
feedthrough.
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Part of the charge built up in the channel of the switch is
distributed onto the capacitor,slightly changing its voltage.
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Clock couples onto the capacitor via overlap capacitance

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between the gate and the source or drain.

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Droop error:
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related to leakage of current from the capacitor due to parasitic

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impedances and to the leakage through reverse biased diode formed

by drain of the switch.
Leakage current: compensated by making drain area small.
Minimize droop: increase the value of the capacitor.
Tradeoff,however increase time required to charge the capacitor to
the value of the input signal.

Aperture Error
Transient effect that introduces error occurs between the sample and
hold modes.

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Finite amount of time,referred to as aperture time, is required to

disconnect the capacitor from the analog input source.
Aperture Uncertainty or aperture jitter:creating sampling error.

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Aperture Error
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Related to the frequency of the signal and the worst case aperture
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error occurs at the zero crossing, where dV/dt is the greatest.

This assumes that the S/H circuit is capable of sampling both positive
and negative voltages.
The amount of error that can be tolerated is directly related to the
resolution of the conversion.

Example:
Given Vin= A sin 2*pi*f*t A=2V f=100KHz
Aperture uncertainity is 0.5ns.
Find the sampling error

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Solution: dV/dt = 2*pi*f* A cos 2*pi*f*t

Maximum slew rate occurs when cosine term is = 1,
dV/dt (max) = 2*pi*f*A.
Sampling error = dV(max)= 0.628mV

For ADC, the input is an analog signal with an infinite number of

values, which has to be quantized into an N-bit digital word.
ADC, however has to quantize the infinite-valued analog signal into
many segments so that
Number of quantization levels=2N

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Transfer curve: stair case

Maximum output of ADC will be 111(2N -1) corresponds to
Vin/Vref7/8.
Error caused by quantization.

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1 LSB = Vref/2N = 0.625V for Vref=5V

Quantization Error:
Difference between the actual analog input and the value of the
output(staircase) given in voltage.

Quantization Error:
Qe =Vin V staircase
V staicase =D. Vref/2N
= D. VLSB
VLSB is value of 1 LSB in volts.

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Qe-expressed in terms of LSBs.
Qe-generated by subtracting the value of the staircase from the

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dashed line.

Quantization Error: s.
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Sawtooth waveform is centered about LSB.
Ideally magnitude of Qe will be between 0 and 1 LSB.
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If Qe is centered about zero so that error would be 1/2 LSB.

Here entire curve is shifted to left by LSB.
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Quantization Error:
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First code transition occurs when Vin/Vref 1/16. .(between 0 and

1/8)
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Therefore the range of Vin/Vref for the digital output corresponding to

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000 is half as wide as the ideal step.

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Last transition occurs when Vin/Vref 13/16.(between 6/8 and 7/8)

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DNL:
Similar to that of DAC.
DNL is the difference the actual code width of a nonideal converter
and the ideal case.
DNL=Actual step width-Ideal step width.

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Since the step widths can be converted to either volts for LSBs, DNL
can be defined in either units.

DNL:
Ideal step width=1/8
Videalstepwidth=1/8 Vref= 0.625V=1LSB
Example: 3-bit ADC, Vref=5V, find Qe in units of LSBs.

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DNL0=DNL4 =DNL5=0
DNL2 = 1.5 LSB-1LSB = 0.5LSB
DNL3= 0.5 LSB-1LSB = -0.5LSB
DNL5 = -0.5LSB
DNL6 = -0.5LSB
Overall DNL for the curve is 0.5LSB
As DNL increases in either direction, Qe worsens.

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DNL:

ADC with -1LSB DNL is guarnteed to have a missing code.

DNL5 = -1LSB- missing code.

ADC with -1LSB DNL is not guarnteed to have a missing code

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INL0=INL1 =INL4 =INL5 =INL7 =0

INL3 = 3/8 -5/16 = 1/16=0.5LSB
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INL6 =-0.5LSB
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Overall INL for the curve is 0.5LSB

INL determined by inspecting value of Qe.
INL=magnitude of Qe outside LSB band of Qe.

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Offset and Gain Errors:

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Identical to DAC.
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Offset errors occur when there is a difference begtween the value of

first code transition and the ideal value of LSB.
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Offset error is a constant value.

Qe becomes ideal after initial offset is overcome.
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Gain or Scale factor error-difference

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Gain or Scale factor error-

difference in the slope of a straight line drawn through the transfer
characteristic and the slope of an ideal ADC.

Aliasing.
Dynamic aspects of converter.

Falias = Factual - Fsample

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Signal to Noise Ratio(SNR)

-ratio of largest RMS input signal into the converter over the RMS
value of the noise.
SNR=20 log (Vin(max)/Vnoise
Vin(max) = Vref/2*21/2
= 2N VLSB/2*21/2

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Qe,RMS = VLSB/121/2

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SNR=20N log (2) + 20 log (121/2) - 20 log (2*21/2)
= 6.02N+1.76
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Signal to Noise Ratio(SNR)
Example:
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16-bit ADC, SNRD=88db Resolution=?

SNR= 6.02N+1.76
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N= 88-1.76/6.02 = 14.32 bits

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Mixed Signal layout Issues

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Analog ICs are more sensitive to noise than digital iCs.

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Sensitive analog nodes must be protected and shielded from

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any potential noise sources.

Grounding and power supply routing must also be considered.
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Most of the ADCs use switches controlled by digital signals.

Techniques for mixed-signal designs vary in complexity and

priority.
Successful design will always minimize the effect of the digital
switching on the analog circuits.

Mixed Signal layout Strategy

System level- Device level-Interconnect level
Interconnect considerations
Shielding

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Guard rings
Fully differential/Matching design
Power supply and Grounding Issues
Floorplanning

Types of DAC

Resistor String
R-2R ladder Network

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Current Steering
Charge scaling DAC
Cyclic DAC

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Pipeline DAC us
Resistor String DAC
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Most basic DAC.
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Simple resistor string of 2N identical resistors and switches,

Analog output voltage is voltage division of resistors at the
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selected output tap.

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Resistor String DAC

Arch: typically results in good accuracy, provided that no output
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current is required and the values of resistors are within the

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specified error tolerance .

Ouput is monotonic
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Drawbacks
Converter output is always connected to 2N -1 switches that
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are off and one switch is ON.

For larger resolution, a large parasitic capacitance appears at
the output node, resulting in slower conversion speeds.

Alternative to Resistor String DAC

Input to the switch array is binary word since the decoding
is inherent in binary tree arrangement of the switch.
Another drawback in resistor string is
Balance between area and power dissipation.

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IC version of DAC larger area because of large prime

components for higher resolution
For low resolution use active resistors such as nwell resistors.
As resolution increases , relative accuracy of resistors becomes
important factor.
R can be made small to rteduce area, power dissipation would
then be critical issue as current flows through the resistor string
at all times.

Resistor String

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Problem
3bit resistor string DAC using binary switches, VrefV, PD=
5mW, Compute the analog output for each input digital data.
Imax= 5mW/5V =1mA
R= 1/8 * 5V/1mA = 625 ohms.

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Data Converters DAC-Nonlinearity

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Mismatch errors relate to Resistor String DAC

Accuracy of resistor string is related to matching between the
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resistors, which determine DNL and INL.

Let resistor Ri has mismatch error, so that
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Ri= R + Ri
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ideal + mismatch
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Suppose mismatches were symmetrical about the string, so

that sum of all the mismatch terms were zero or
N
2

i=1
Ri = 0

Value of voltage at the top ri is

Vi, ideal= (i) Vref/ 2N for i=1,2 .2N -1

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Actual value of ith voltage will be the sum of all resistors up to

and including resistor i, divided by the sum of all resistors in the
string

i i

k =1
Rk
k =1
R + Rk
Vi = N Vref = N
Vref
2 2 R

k =1
Rk

i
Vref i Vref

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Vi = N
+ N
Rk
2 2 R

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i
Vref Rk

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Vi = Vi, ideal + N
2 k =1 R
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INL of Resistor String DAC

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INL= Vi-Vi,ideal
Worst case INL when i=2N and Rk mismatch.
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i
Vref
INL = N Rk / R
2 k =1

INL of Resistor String DAC

If resistors mismatch by 2%, then
-.02RRk+.02R

i
Vref
INL = N Rk /R
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INL max = Vref/2N * 2N-1 *.02R/R =.01Vref

Ex:Find n if limited by INL

If resistors mismatch by 1%, then
-.01RRk+.01R

N 1

Vref 2
INL = Rk /R

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N
2 k =1

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INL max = Vref/2N * 2N-1 *.01R/R =.005Vref
=.025V s.
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INL max = LSB
1/2LSB = .025V = 5/2N+1
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DNL of worst case Resistor string DAC

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DNL= actual step height-ideal step height

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i
(i )Vref Vref Rk

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Vi Vi 1 = N
+ N
2 2 k =1 R
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Vref Ri
Vactual = N
1 +
2 R
DNL=Vactual Videal
= Vref/2N* Ri/R

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Ex: let R = 2%
DNL max= .02R/R * Vref/2N = .02LSB

DNL max 1/2 LSB

R-2R Ladder Network

Fewer resistors
Starting at the right end of network, resistance looking to right
of any node to groun is 2R.

Vout= -itot*Rf

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N 1
Vref 1
itot = Dk N

2R
2
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k =0

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Dk kth bit of input word
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Switch resistance is negligible.

voltage drop leading to error
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Total resistance of any horizontal branch R

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R = R + R/2
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Resistance of any vertical; branch is 2R + R

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R-2R Ladder Network
R-2R relationship to be maintained,
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Dummy switch size of a 2R switch will have to be placed in series

with the terminating resistor as well.
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Problem
3-bit DAC R=1k, Rf = 2k, Vref=5V
Switch resistances negligible.

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Integral Nonlinearity

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Current Steering
Uses current throughout conversion.
Requires precision current source.
Set of current sources

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