Characteristic of Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) and Analog to Digital Converter (DAC)

Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) Characteristic: When we select a Digital to Analog Converter
(DAC) chip for an application, we must consider three characteristic associated with a DAC.
First, resolution or step size defines the smallest voltage or current change possible for the DAC output
signal. For example, an 8-bit DAC that generates a maximum output voltage of 5 volts has a step size or
resolution of (5V / 28 ) = 19.5 mV. Sometimes, the resolution is stated in the percentage value. For the 8-
bit DAC, the percent resolution is (1 / 28 ) x 100 = 0.39%.
Settling time is the time required for the DAC output to settle to 99.5% of its new value. Typical settling
time for a commercial DAC is 300 nanoseconds.
Accuracy is used to state the percentage of actual output of a DAC to expected output. Usually the
accuracy is 50% of the step size. For the 5 V, 8-bit DAC the accuracy is 0.975 mV. This implies that the
maximum output is guaranteed by the DAC manufacturer to be within 5.00975V and 4.99025V.
Analog to Digital Converter (DAC) Characteristic
Resolution:
The resolution of a converter represents the number of different values it can produce over the large
amount of analog inputs. The maximum ratio of analog to digital conversion without using oversampling
is determined by resolution. The input samples are stored in binary form inside the ADC. The resolution
of an ADC depends upon the step size. Step size is the smallest change that is done by an ADC. A high
resolution ADC has a smaller step size. An ADC has n-bits resolution. ‘n’ can be 8,10,12,16 or even 24-
bits. Some widely used resolutions for ADCs are shown in the table below.
Conversion time:
Conversion time is another major characteristic of ADC after resolution. It is defined as the time taken by
an ADC to convert an analog signal into a digital binary signal. It depends upon the technology used in
the ADC. Material of the chip of ADC also effects the conversion time. Method used in data conversion
also effects conversion time. Conversion time is measured by a clock attached with ADC. An ADC
device has a conversion time of 40μs.
Digital data output:
Output of an ADC depends on the bits. In 8-bit ADC, we get an output from D0 to D7. In 10-bits ADC,
we get an output from D0-D9. Output data depends on the ADC ship. It can come in one bit at a time
(serially) or in a chunk when using a parallel line of output. We can calculate data output voltage using
the formula given below.
Dout=Vin/step size