Cyclic DAC

A cyclic DAC is a serial DAC. In a serial DAC the conversion is done sequentially.
.One clock pulse is required to convert one bit. The cyclic DAC is as shown in Fig.

The input bits are fed one bit at a time. Depending on the value, the switch is either
connected to VRef or ground. Dk .VRef is summed with half of the previous output and
applied to the S/H circuit. The output at the end of the Kth cycle is
Vout (K) =
The accuracy of this connecter is dependent on the accurate performance of the 0.5
amplifier, S/H circuit and the summer.

Example
Find the value of the output voltage at the end of the each cycle for a 4 bit cyclic
DAC with D = 1101. VRef = 5V.
Sol :
VRef = 5V

D = 1101

The digital input 1101 corresponds to 1310

= 4.06 V

Clock cycle

Vout (K)

Pipeline DAC
The cyclic DAC takes N clock cycles to convert a N bit number. Instead of
feeding back the output back to the input each time, the number of stages is increased to
N in the pipeline DAC. Fig 5.10 shows a 3 bit pipeline DAC.

Each stage works on the conversion. If the input bit is 1, VRef is added to the
output of the previous stage divided by two and the value is passed to the next stage. If
the input bit is 0, the previous stage output is divided by two and the result is passed on.
The process will become clear in example given below.

The signal is passed down the pipeline, as each stage works on one conversion the
previous stage can begin processing another. Hence an initial N clock cycle delay is
experienced as the signal moves down the pipeline. After N clock cycles conversion takes
place at every clock cycle.
This architecture is fast. The area occupied is N times more than the cyclic DAC.
For high resolutions the amplifier gain must be accurate.

Example
Find the output voltage for a 3 bit pipeline DAC for inputs 001, 110 and 101 VRef
= 5v.
Sol :
001

Using the conventional method the output are :

=

110

101

Clock
Vout (1)
cycles
1
5x

2.5 x

5x

2.5 V

1.25 x

VOut (2)

VOut

2.5 x

D0

D1
0

D2
0
0

1
0

1
1

The circled values pertain to the input 001 and its output 0.625V. The underlined
values pertain to input 110 and its output 3.75 V. The remaining is input 101 output
3.125V. The first output is obtained at the third clock cycle. Subsequent clock cycles give
the other conversions. The number of clock cycles here are five as against a cyclic DAC
which would require nine clock cycles for three 3 bit numbers.

ADC architectures
ADC architectures are mainly of four types, Flash, Pipeline, Successive
approximation and Oversampled ADCs. Here again as in DACs ADCs can be serial or
parallel.
Flash ADC
This type of ADC shown in Fig has the highest speed. It is a parallel ADC.

Fig. illustrates a 3 bit Flash ADC.

The reference voltage is divided into

voltage is

Voltage values. At each node i the

.i. The input voltage is compared with the scaled voltage and the

comparator output is 1 or 0. The 2N 1 : N decoder converts the input 2N 1 bits to a

N bit digital word.
The area occupied by a Flash ADC on a chip doubles with each bit of increased
resolution. The number of comparators is 2N -1. Apart from area power consumption by
the comparators is also an issue to be considered. Although the speed is high it is limited
by the switching of the comparators and the digital logic.
Example
For a 3 bit Flash ADC list the voltage at the nodes, the output of the comparator
and the digital output VRef = 5V
Sol :
The voltage at the nodes can be calculated as

For example V2 =

= 1.25 V.

V1 = 0.625 V, V2 = 1.25 V, V3 = 1.875 V,

V4 = 2.5 V, V5 = 3.125 V, V6 = 3.75 V and V7 = 4.375 V
Range of Vin

C7

C6

C5

C4

C3

C2

C1

D0

D1

D2

0 - .625

0.625 1.25

1.25 1.875

1.875 2.5

2.5 3.125

3.125 3.75

3.75 4.375

4.375 - 5

Accuracy issues of Flash ADC

Accuracy of the ADC is dependent on the matching of the resistor string and the
input offset voltage of the comparator. Ideally the comparator should switch when V+ and
V- are equal. The offset voltage of the comparator prohibits this from occurring. The
comparator output V0 = 1 when V+

and V0 = 0 when V+ < V- + Vos. The

switching point for the ith comparator is

Vsw, i = Vi + Vos,i

Where Vos i, is the offset voltage of the ith comparator. INL is given by
INL

= VSW, i - Vi ideal
= Vi + Vos, i - Vi ideal
From the resistor string DAC the voltage on the ith tap is given by equation

5.6 substituting for Vi - Vi ideal

INL =
The worst case INL will occur at the middle of the string i = 2N-1 then

DNL calculations can be made by using equation .

The offset voltage is assumed symmetrical in both positive and negative

directions.

Two Step flash ADC

Fig. Shows the basic block diagram of a two step flash ADC. This
configuration contains two complete ADCs. The first converter generates a rough
estimate of the value of the input and the second ADC generates a fine tuned
value. The advantage of this type of architecture is the reduction in the number of
the comparators. As compared to a simple flash ADC which requires 2N-1
comparators for a two step flash ADC the number of comparators are 2 (2N/2-1)
since the MSB and LSB bits are split. For example for N = 4, 2N-1 = 15
comparators and 2 (2N/2-1) = 6 comparators. The gap widens as the resolution
increases.
The trade off being the time taken for conversion since it takes two steps.
Speed is controlled by the bandwidth and settling time required by the residue
amplifier and the sub tractor.
The conversion process takes two steps. In the first step the analog signal is
sampled, and given to the Flash ADC which converts the MSBs. The DAC
converts it back to the analog values and is given to the sub tractor. The output of

the subtractor is the difference between the DAC output and S / H circuit output.
The residue signal is multiplied by 2N/2 and given to the second flash ADC. The
second ADC produces the LSB. Some architectures use the same set of
comparators in order to perform both conversions. The conversion process will
become clearer from example below
Example:
For a 4 bit ADC give the output for analog inputs 2V, 5V, 8V, 12V.

16V
Solution:
The 4 bit digital output for the analog inputs are :
2V

0010

5V

0101

8V

1000

12V

1100

The two step flash ADC consists of two 2 bit ADCs. The conversion step
for the 2 bit ADC is :
Input

Output

0-4V

00

4-8V

01

8-12V

10

12-16V

11

For the DAC the input and output are swapped.

V1=DAC

Vin

D3 D2

2V

00

0V

2V

8V

10

5V

01

4V

1V

4V

01

output

V2 = VinV1

V3 = V2. 2N/2
= 4V2

D1 D0

8V

10

8V

0V

0V

00

12V

11

12V

0V

0V

00

Accuracy Issues:
The overall accuracy of the two step flash ADC is dependent on the
accuracy of the MSB ADC. The MSB ADC must have the worst care INL and
DNL of that of a N-bit ADC whereas the second ADC can have the INL and DNL
of that of a N/2 bit ADC. The DAC also must be equally accurate.
The sub tractor and amplifier must subtract and amplify the signal to within
I LSB. For every bit increase in resolution the open loop gain requirement of the
amplifier doubles. Linearity of the amplifier is an aspect that needs to be
considered while designing an ADC. If the amplifier is not designed correctly nonlinearity is introduced. As a result of which harmonic distortion occurs, resulting
in an error in the ADC.

Pipeline ADC
The pipeline ADC is an N. Step converter with 1 bit conversion per stage.
Each stage consists of a S/H circuit, a summer and an amplifier with gain 2. The
configuration for a 3-bit ADC is shown in Fig.below.

The conversion process is as follows, the input signal is sampled and

compared with
by 2. If Vin <

. If Vin >

is passed down the pipeline after multiplying

output of the comparator is 0 and Vin is passed to the amplifier.

The advantage of this ADC is its high throughout. Disadvantage being that
is takes N clock cycles before the first digital output occurs. Also the area covered
on the chip is high. The accuracy of the first stage is very crucial else the error will
propagate down the pipeline.

Example
For a 3-bit pipeline ADC analyze the conversion process. Indicate the
intermediate values.

= 5V, Vin = 2V, 3.

Solution :
To convert the analog values directly,
D=

. The digital code is the equivalent of the whole number.

For
Vin =

2V

D=

= 3.2

011

3.5V

D=

= 5.6

101

4V

D=

= 6.4

110

i) For Vin = 2V
Since Vin <

i.e.,

Then V3 = 2Vin = 4V

2 < 2.5V

D2 = 0

4 > 2.5V

D1 = 1

10

V2 = (4 2.5) 2 = 3V

3> 2.5V

D0 = 1

Similarly for the other inputs

Vin

V3

V2

D2

D1

D0

3.5V

2V

4V

4V

3V

1V

Integrating ADCs
This type of ADC integrates the input signal and correlates the integration time
with a digital counter. There are two types of integrating ADCs single slope and
dual slope ADCs. These ADCs are used in high resolution applications but have
relatively slow conversion. They are in expensive to produce. Fig illustrates a
single slope ADC.

11

The single slope ADC consists of a ramp generator, an interval counter, a

comparator and a counter that generates the output digital word. The input analog
signal is sampled and held and given to the positive terminal of the comparator.
The counters are reset. Clock is applied to both interval counter and AND gate. At
the first clock pulse the ramp generator begins to integrate

. If Vin is greater

than the ramp voltage the output of the comparator is high. The clock pulses are
passed through the AND gate and the output counter counts it. At the instant the
ramp voltage becomes greater than the input voltage, as shown in Fig. , the output
of the comparator goes low. The AND gate cuts off the clock pulses. The number
of clock pulses passed through the AND gate (Fig. ) is counted by the output
counter and the equivalent digital code is displayed.
The maximum value of the input voltage is the full scale value. The counter
must increment to 2N Clock cycles. This implies that the clock frequency must be
many times faster than the bandwidth of the input signal. The conversion time tc is

12

Sampling rate
If the analog signal bandwidth is 20 KHZ, for an 8 bit converter the clock
frequency would be 2N times 2/tc or 10.24 MHZ.
Any jitter in the clock will affect the overall accuracy of the ADC. The
ramp generator must have a linear slope to within the accuracy of the Converter.
The linearity of the ramp generator is dependent on the specifications of the opamp like open-loop gain, settling time, offset etc. Offset voltages of the S/H circuit
and comparator will vary the clock pulses. There is a time delay from the time the
comparator output is equal to the time the counter displays the result. The
reference voltage must also stay constant for the entire period of conversion. All
these points are to be considered while designing the ADC.
The second type of integrating ADC is the dual slope converter. The
advantage of this type of architecture is that it eliminates the dependence of the
conversion process on the linearity and accuracy of the slope. A block diagram of
the ADC is shown in Fig.

13

Two integrations are performed here. One on the input voltage and second
on the reference voltage. The input signal is assumed to be negative since the
expected slope at the output of the inverting integrator is positive. The input
signal is sampled and held and integrated for a fixed interval. As is evident from
the Fig. 5.15 b the slope of the input voltages for two different values is different.
The integration takes place for a fixed time but the slopes are dependent on the
input voltages. After the counter overflows i.e. after 2N cycles it resets. The switch
is then thrown to

. Since

is positive the inverting integrator output will

begin discharging towards zero, with a constant slope. The time taken to discharge
to zero is proportional to the input voltage. From Fig. B, the slopes are different
for Vin1 and Vin2. The time taken to discharge is different t1 and t2. This time t1
and t2 will be translated to the digital code.
The first integration period requires 2N clock cycles. The maximum time
taken for the second integration is again 2N Clock cycles. Hence the maximum
time taken for conversion is 2.2N clock cycles.

14

Successive Approximation ADC

The successive approximation converter performs a binary search through

all possible quantization lands before converging on the final digital answer. The
block diagram is shown in Fig.

The N-bit shift register controls the timing of the conversion. The sampled
input voltage is compared with the DAC output. The comparator output controls
the direction of the binary search. The output of the SAR is the actual digital
value. 1 is shifted through N-bits BN-1 to B0 after each conversion. The first
output of the SAR is 100.000, which gets converted to
output of the DAC. The DAC output at each stage is compared with Vin. If

at the
is

greater than Vin, the comparator output is 1 and the comparator resets DN-1 to 0.
If

is less than Vin, the comparator output is 0 and DN-1 remains 1. DN-1 is

the actual MSB of the output code. Next BN-2 is set to 1. DN-2 is set to 1 and

15

comparison is made with

or

based on the value of DN-1 being 0 or

1 respectively. Accordingly the comparator output sets the next bit to 1. The
process repeats until the output of the DAC converges to the value of Vin within
the resolution of the converter. Example will make the process clear.

Example
For the block diagram in Fig. 5.16 give the intermediate values for Vref = 8V,
N=3 and Vin=3.5V, 6.5V.
Sol:
With Vre f = 8V it can be inferred that every rise in 1v of the input the output
digital value will rise by 1.
3.5V analog will translate to 011

Cycles

Vin

B2

D2D1D0 Vout

B1

Comp

D2 D1 D0

out

B0

T1

3.5v

100

100

Vref/2 >Vin

000

T2

3.5 v

010

010

Vref/4<Vin

010

T3

3.5v

001

011

(1/4+1/8)Vref<Vin

011

T1

6.5v

100

100

Vref/2 < Vin

100

T2

6.5v

010

110

(1/2+1/4)Vref<Vin

110

T3

6.5v

001

111

(1/2+1/4+1/8)Vref>Vin 1

110

6.5V analog will translate to 110

16