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Applications Information
(Continued)
7.0 DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE
Many applications require the A/D converter to digitize AC
signals, but conventional DC integral and differential nonlin-
earity specifications don’t accurately predict the A/D convert-
er’s performance with AC input signals. The important speci-
fications for AC applications reflect the converter’s ability to
digitize AC signals without significant spectral errors and
without adding noise to the digitized signal. Dynamic char-
acteristics such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and total har-
monic distortion (THD), are quantitative measures of this
capability.
An A/D converter’s AC performance can be measured using
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) methods. A sinusoidal wave-
form is applied to the A/D converter’s input, and the trans-
form is then performed on the digitized waveform. The re-
sulting spectral plot might look like the ones shown in the
typical performance curves. The large peak is the fundamen-
tal frequency, and the noise and distortion components (if
any are present) are visible above and below the fundamen-
tal frequency. Harmonic distortion components appear at
whole multiples of the input frequency. Their amplitudes are
combined as the square root of the sum of the squares and
compared to the fundamental amplitude to yield the THD
specification. Guaranteed limits for THD are given in the
table of Electrical Characteristics.
Signal-to-noise ratio is the ratio of the amplitude at the
fundamental frequency to the rms value at all other frequen-
cies, excluding any harmonic distortion components. Guar-
anteed limits are given in the Electrical Characteristics table.
An alternative definition of signal-to-noise ratio includes the
distortion components along with the random noise to yield a
signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ration, or S/(N + D).
The THD and noise performance of the A/D converter will
change with the frequency of the input signal, with more
distortion and noise occurring at higher signal frequencies.
One way of describing the A/D’s performance as a function
of signal frequency is to make a plot of “effective bits” versus
frequency. An ideal A/D converter with no linearity errors or
self-generated noise will have a signal-to-noise ratio equal to
(6.02n + 1.8) dB, where n is the resolution in bits of the A/D
converter. A real A/D converter will have some amount of
noise and distortion, and the effective bits can be found by:
where S/(N + D) is the ratio of signal to noise and distortion,
which can vary with frequency.
As an example, an ADC10461 with a 4.85 V
P-P
, 100 kHz
sine
wave
input
signal
signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio of 59.2 dB, which is
equivalent to 9.54 effective bits. As the input frequency
increases, noise and distortion gradually increase, yielding a
plot of effective bits or S/(N + D) as shown in the typical
performance curves.
will
typically
have
a
8.0 SPEED ADJUST
In applications that require faster conversion times, the
Speed Adjust pin (pin 14 on the ADC10462, pin 17 on the
ADC10464) can significantly reduce the conversion time.
The speed adjust pin is connected to an on-chip current
source that determines the converter’s internal timing. By
connecting a resistor between the speed adjust pin and
ground as shown in Figure 4 the internal programming
current is increased, which reduces the conversion time. As
an example, an 18k resistor reduces the conversion time of
a typical part from 600 ns to 350 ns with no significant effect
on linearity. Using smaller resistors to further decrease the
conversion time is possible as well, although the linearity will
begin to degrade somewhat (see curves). Note that the
resistor value needed to obtain a given conversion time will
vary from part to part, so this technique will generally require
some “tweaking” to obtain satisfactory results.
For applications that require guaranteed performance using
the speed adjust pin, the ADC10662 and ADC10664 are
tested and guaranteed for static and dynamic performance
with a fixed value of speed-up resistor.
A
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