INEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

APTA
ER
nSTRUMENTATION,
D/A AND A/0 AMpLIPIERS
ChapterOutline
ne
COnveRTERS
5.0 Introduction

5.1 Instrumentation Amplifier

5.2 Advantages of Instrumentation Amplifier
5.3 Voltage to Current Converter

5.4 Current to Voltage Convertor

5.5 Need for A/D Converters

5.6 Need for D/A Converter

5.7 Nasic Principle of D/A Conversion

5.8 Specification of D/A Converters
5.9 DIA Converter Using Weighted Resistors
5.10 DIA Converter Using R-2R Ladder
Network
5.11 AD Conversion
5.12 AD Conversion Using Counter Method
5.13 Successive Approximation Method of AlD Conversion
5.14 IC AVD and DIA Converters
5.2 LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
5.0
INTRODUCTION
Most of the data used by us in the analog form, whereas the digital systems esno.
digita! computers, microprocessor work on the data in the digital form. If was f ally
that the efficiency of the digital system is far more found
compared to that of the ans
system. Moreover, the noise inherent in the analog system is very
large comnarod
the digital system. So now a days, we even see the to
analog sound being processed
the digital systems. Hence. there is a need to convert the analog data in to by
the diit
form and the data in the digital form back to analog. The A/D and the igital
D/A converto
are used respectively for
analog to digital and digital to analog conversion of the dats
In this chapter discuss about instrumentation
we
amplifier, A/D and D/A
converter
5.1 INSTRUMENTATION AMPLIFIER
In analog instrumentation, the transducers
frequently located some distance awau
are
ay
from the measurement system. The signal levels at the transducer side are
often low
and their source impedance are high. A general purpose amplifier for
processing such
signals should have following characteristics :

1. It should have differential inputs

2. It should have high input impedance and common-mode rejection ratio.

3. The amplifier should be provided with simple gain adjustment

Vi
R4
ww

V2
. wwwT
R
R

FIG 5.1: instrumentation Amplifier with Three Op-Amps.

is
A circuit containing three Op-Amp can meet all the above requirements. The circuit

shown in Fig. 5.1.

Op-Amps 1 and 2 are connected basically, amplifier configuration.

in non-inverting
they
The only change is that instead of grounding inverting terminals of both Op-Amps
2 is ted Dy
are connected to resistor R2. Effectively, the inverting terminals of Op-Amp
 5 ion Amplifiers A/D and D/A Converters
Instrumentation

cHaPTER-5/ 5.3
through
through and the
R2 and the inverting terminals of
Op-Amp
1 is fed bya voltage
voltage
v2 v
a This
This
is
is obvious
obviou by virtual ground concept. Therefore analysis of the circuit
R2
through
yieldst h e
followingequations

T differential gain of the stage containing op-amps 1 and 2 is therefore.

AVo 12R
AV
Where Av,
=

v-v, and

AV V2 -V1

Op-amp 3 is connected as a differential amplifter with a gain of R3 The overall gain of

the two-stage cascade is

V2-V1 R2 R3
The gain may be easily adjusted without disturbing circuit symmetry by varying the
resistance of R2.

5.2 ADVANTAGESOF INSTRUMENTATION AMPLIFIER

1. High input impedance
2. High common mode rejection ratio
3. Easily measure from distance transducers.
5.3
VOLTAGE TO CURRENT CONVERTER
rig. 5.2 (a) gives a circuit of voltage to current converter. For a input Vs. t

R
s Note that I is independent of RL, because of the virtual ground of the op-

c e the same current flows through R1 and R, it is important that the signal
be capable of
cnpedance providing this load curent. It should be kept in mind that the load
has neither side grounded i.e.. RL is tloaing
 UNEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
Fis 21 (b repres her confguration for the voltage to current
converter
cireit requires very ittie cuTent trom the sgnai source due to the verv larna
This
TESSANN s e n by the non-inverting terminal

www

a)Fcatng Load Votage t Cument Comvener b)Floating Load when a Little Curent is
Required from the Signal Source

FIG 5.2: Votage to Cument Converter

5.4 CURRENT TO VOLTAGE CONVERTOR
Fig. 5.3 gives a circuit used as a current

to voltage converter using op-amp.

Photo cells and photo-multiplier tubes

give an output current which is

independent of the load. Due to the

virtual ground at the amplifier input. the
current in Rs = 0 and Is flows through

the feedback Resistor R2. The output

voltage is given by V, = -l2 R2. The lower
limit on current measurement with this FIG 5.3:Curentto Voltage Converter
circuit is set by the bias curent of the inverting input. It is common to have a parallel
combination of R2 and C2 to reduce high frequency noise. Thus in this circuit the
output voltage is proportional to the input current ls.

5.5 NEED FOR AJD CONVERTERS

The data for digital systems
microprocessors is in digital form. This Analog AD Digital
differs from the outside world data which Input Converter System

is anaiog form. To get the digital data.

need to use an
Anaiog-to-digital FIG 5.4: Digital System with A/D Converter
 snstramentatiom 4mplifiers 4 D and D Converter
5. 5
ni Converter. It will convert analog value or current voltage in to an equivalent
Hi.ital word. Fig 52 shows a digital system with A D converter
digita
DJA CONVERTER
NEED FOR
5.6
In digital
systems. after a
CPU has
processed data. it is often necessary to
Digital DA Analog
in to System Converter Output
convert digital
answer an analoq
or current to communicate with
voltage
FIG 5.5 Digital System with D/A
outside world. This conversion requires Converter
a digital to analog (D A) converter. Fig 55 shows a digital system with DA converter.

5.7 BASIC PRINCIPLE OF DIA

CONVERSION
In order to understand the requirement for a D A converter. let us assume that the data
is present in a 4 bit binary form. The basic principle of operation of D A conversion is
shown in Fig. 5.6.

Binary Inputs
Re
Do s

D s
Resistive
D Network Amplifier nalog Output

D8s

FIG 5.6: Block Diagram of D/A Converter

In the Fig. 5.6. The input digital data is applied to the switches. These switches are
connected with reference voltage source. (VRet). The corresponding switches closes
for binary 1 input and opens for binary 0 input. When the switch closes. the reference
voltage applied to resistive network. Therefore the switches feed a resistive network
which converts each bit in to its weighted current value and sums them for a total
Current. This total value is then fed to the amplifier and gives the proper analog
voltage value for the equivalent digital data.
5.8
SPECIFICATION OF DIA CONVERTERS
5efore discussing the different types of D/A converters. let us have a look at the

aous speciftications. These specifications are important since they give the measure
of the
quality of the converters.
 5.6 LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
1. Resolution The resolutionof a D.A converter is defined as the reciprocal o
number of discrete steps in the D/A output. One way to measure
the quality of the
A converter is its resolution. the ratio uality of -

D
of the LSB increment to the maximum . a
The percentage of resolution is put.
given by
1
percent of resolution =n
2n
where n is the number of bits used to represent digital input.
For example for 4 bit D/A converter the percent of resolution

is given by 100 100

15
6679
For example let one LSB increment is 0.5V and then maximum
output is 7.5V tor d
bit D/A converter. Hence the percentage of resolution.

0.5
is given by = x100 x100 6.67%
7.5 15

Fig. 5.7 (i) is a stair case output.

TLSBIncrement

Error = 0.5 LSB

Error1LsE5
Error = + 1 LSB Error= - 1 LSB

FIG 5.7: Staircase Output

2. Accuracy Accuracy is a comparison of the actual output of DA converter witn

expected output. There are two measures of accuracy These are the Absolute accure
and the Relative accuracy.
 ,entation AmplifiCrs AD t d D/A( omerter
C H A P T E R . 5 |I n s t r u m

:7
T h e a b s o l u t e
aCCuracy reters to how close ench
output level is to its ideal level let
digital data
of 010 and whose ideal
Considera
us conside.
value of analog output is 1.0 V
s
of 1.25 V fori
for first and 1.3 V for second. The first
an
output converter is considered
Let
accurate.
more

to
be

The
accuracy refers to how close each output level is to its ideal fraction of
relative

In the example onsidered, when the output

full
scale output. voltage was 1 25 V
oad of the actual value of 1.0 V. We say that there is an error of 0.5 LSB
instead

increnn t I n this case one is not considering the actual voltage but the value interms

increment. Ihis is shown in Fig. 5.7 (il

of the LSB
Manotonicity : A device is said to be monotonic, whenever the inputincreased,

the output increases or remains constant. The wave forms shown in Fig. 5.7 (i) and

il correspond to monotonic DiA converter, where as that in Fig. 5.7(ii) and (iv) do

not correspond to a monotonic D/A converter. The DA converter can be considered

astmonotonic if the maximum error is less than LSB at each out level.
2

4. Settling Time: t is defined as the time which takes a DA converter to settle within

LSB of its final value when a change occurs in the input code. The setting time

determines the speed at which the input digital data can be changed.

5.9 DIA CONVERTER USING WEIGHTED RESISTORS

The circuit of the basic DA converter using weighted resistors is shown in Fig. 5.8. In
this the value of the resistors depends upon the weightage of the data bit. As we move
from the L.SB of the data to the MSB, it be that the resistor values
can seen are
halved.
The switches can be open or closed. When all switches are open.al input curents are
zero and the output current is zero.

When ail switches are closed, the input currents are:

T
Output current with all switches closed is the sum of all input currents and equals

(1 0.5 0.25 0.125) 51

5.8 LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
I =1.875
R

By opening and closing switches we can produce 16 different output currents from 0.
to
1.875 e
R

re

D3 D2 D Do

lo
8R
2
4R
ww
Ro

OVo

FIG 5.8 DIA Conversion with Weighted Resistors

If O stands for an open switch and 1 for a closed switch we can rewrite Equ. 5.1 as

I = (D3 +0.5 D2 + 0,25 D1 +0.125 Do) . . 5.2

R

or in powers of 2

Vef
I=
R (D3 +2-1 D2 + 2-2 Di +2- Do) .. 5.3

This says that the output current is the sum of binary weighted input currents. For
instance, suppose V,ef = 5V and R = 5 KN then the total output current varies from
to 1.875 mA as shown in Table 5.1. In place of switches we can use transistor switches
as shown in Fig. 5.9.
ww

ww

w O
O

w-

ww
-
ww
 5.10 LINEAR INIEGRATED CIRCUITS
S.9.1 DISADIANTAGES OF WEIGHTED RESISTORS METIHOD
1 For a weighted resistor circuit to be monotonic the tolerance of the resistors .
be
less than the percent resolution. For instance, it the resolution is
(6.67% t

with tolerance of less than +6.67% will stors

a
produce a monotonic staircase. If the
rocel .
255 (about 0.4%) the resistors need a tolerance of better than t 0.4% lor a mo slution
output.
2. Another disadvantage is that, it is impractical of the mass
production of weighted rosict.
for the converters of higher no.of bits, because of the ors
tolerance and
range probleme
5.10 DIA cONVERTER USING R-2R LADDER NETWORK

Fig. 5.10 shows a typical ladder network using R and 2R

D.
resistors.(In
circuit at nc the
two resistors of equal value
connected in
are point
This resistor is in series with the resistor R parallelyHence, total resistance is R
connected to point
C, we have the resistor connected in CJHence from the point
series with another resistor R
resistors of 2R.XThis
process can be continued till we reach the
making a total
such a circuit, if a voltage input point 1/0.)For
'V is applied at the terminal I/0, then the
that at Bwill be V/2, that at C will
be V/4 and that at D will be
voltage at A isV.
resistors are connected in the ladder V/8( Thus as more
network. we can see that the
on
decreasing by halfJ{This property of the ladder network is voltage applied goes
used in the D/A
R
conversion,)
R

1/00 R R
www - D
w

2R 2 2R 2R 2R

2R 2R 2R
2R

FIG 5.10: R 2R
Fig. 5.10 shows R-2R ladder Ladder Network -

network D/A
the switches
indicate whether the data converter( In the circuit, the position of
bit corresponds to
connected to ground, then the Oor 1lf it is directiy
data bit is 0 and if it is
op-amp then the data bit is connected to the input of tne
amp depends upon the data
1. Hence the voltage
applied to the input of the op-
the output voltage got. bitsThese voltages are summed by the summer
an
 strumentation Amplif1ers A/D and D/A
CHAPTER-5| nstrue Cmyertes
5. 11
R

V
w wwww

2R 2R 2R
Dy

FIG 5.11 DIA Converter using R -2R ladder network

The output voltage V, is given by

3(0.5
R D3 +0.25 D2 +0.125 D 0.0625 Do.
Vo 5.4
3R

The minus sign indicates phase revarsal

5.10.1 ADVANTAGES OF R-2R LADDER NETWORK METHOD

Only two values of resistors R and 2R are required. Hence it is possible to get the
resistors on a single chip with very good tolerance, thereby reducing the errors

moreover, the values of the resistors are not going to depend upon the number of

bits of the digital data.

5.11 AJD CONVERSION

In order to understand the requirement of A/D conversion, let us consider that the

analog signal havea minimum voltage of 0V and a maximum of 7.5 V and that this
can
has to be converted in to a digital signal consisting of, say 4 bits. Since the number of
DitS are 4, we can divide the analog signal in to sixteen equal levels starting from O to
the maximum value and specify each level as a state. When the analog voltage is at 0 V,
then the digital output should be 0000. If the analog voltage is more than 0 V and less
than 0.5 V, then the digital output should be 0001 and so on. This is represented in
Table 5.2 this process of converting the signal in analog form in to digital form is known
as Quantization'. If the number of levels considered is greater, then the step voltage
would be lesser and therefore, the digital value would be closer to the octual analog
voltage. This would reduce the quantization error.
 5. 12 LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
TABLE 5.2: TRUTH TABLE FOR A/D CONVERTER

Analog Voltage
From To
D, D D,
D
0.0 0
0
0.0 0.5

0.5 1.0 0

1.0 1.5 0

1.5 2.0 0 1 0 0
20 2.5 0 1
2.5 3.0 0 0
3.0 3.5 0 1

3.5 4.0 0

4.0 4.5 0 0
4.5 5.0 0
5.0 5.5
5.5 6.0 1 0
6.0 6.5 1 0 1
6.5 7.0 1

7.0 7.5 1

5.12 AID CONVERSION USING COUNTER METHOD

The circuit of A/D converter using the counter is shown in
Fig. 5.12. It is assumed that
the digital output should consists of 4 bits. Vin is the
analog input voltage. D3 to Do are
digital output. The digital
output drives a D A converter. which
produces an analog
output Vout. When COUNT is high, the counter counts upward. When COUNT is low.
the counter stops.

Comparator

Count
Vou 4 bit D A bi
converter counter

D3 D D Do
Start Start of conversion

End of conversion

FIG 5.12: A/D Conversion with Counter

LCHAPTER-5 Instrumentation
Amplifiers 4D and DA erters 5. 13
The A D conversion
takes place as pulse goes low. clearing the
follows. First. the START
the SIARI pulse returns high. the counter is ready to go. Initially. Vour
is
counter. When
the op-amp has a high output and COUNT is high. The counter starts
7er0, therefore.
DA converter the counter
counting upward from zero. Since the output of counter drives a
the op-amp has
output is positive voltage staircase. As long as V, is greater than Vout.
a

a DOsitive output. COUNT remains high. and the staircase voltage keeps rising
forces
At some point along step makes Vout greater than Vn. This
the staircase. the next

is the digital
COUNT to go low, and the counter stops. Now the digital output D3 Do
to

count signa! is used as an

equivalent of the analog input, the negative going edge of
conversion is finished
end of conversion signal. This tells other circuits that the AD
circuits must send another START puise to
If the analog input Vin is changed. external
new cycle begins. When the digital
Start the conversion. This clears the count and a
data is ready. the end of conversion signal has a falling edge.
5.12.1 DISADVANTAGES OF COUNTER METHOD OF A/D CONVERSION
the worst case the
The main disadvantage of the counter method is its slow speed. in
counter has to reach the maximum count before the staircase voltage is greater than
the analog input. For 4-bit converter conversion time is 15 clock pulse. But for 8 bit-
255 clock pulses. for 12 bit- 4095 clock periods.

5.13 sucCESSIVE APPROXIMATION METHOD OF AID CONVERSION

The most widely used method of AD conversion is successive approximation method
shown in Fig. 5.13. The analog voltage Vin to be converted is given to the input
of the comparator. The SAR register corresponds to the successive approximation
register. When the conversion is initiated by the START pulse., the MSB in the SAR
register is set making the output of this register equal to 1000. This is carried out by
the control circuit. This data is now converted in to analog voltage by the D A
converter. The analog voltage will be equal to 8/15th of the maximum voltage. If
this analog voltage is less than the Vin. then the output of the comparator would still
be high and the next lower significant bit of the SAR register is set making the
output of the register as 1100. In case, the output of the DA converter is less than
Vin. then the comparator output would be negative and the control circuit would
reset the newly set bit ie., the MSB. Thus each bit is set. tested and ií need be reset.
Once all the bits are thus checked, the control circuit sends an end of conversion
pulse loading the digital data in to the buffer register. The data present in the buifer
register corresponds to the digital equivalent of the analog voltage Vn
 5. 14 LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITs
Comparator Start of conversion
Control- CLK
End of conversi0n

Vout
4 bit DAA
SAR
converter

Buffer register

D3 D2 Di Do

FIG 5.13:Successive Approximation Method

5.13.1 ADVANTAGES OF SAR METHOD OF A/D CONVER.SION
The main advantage of SAR method is speed. At best, it takes only n clock pulses to
produce n-bit resolution of the analog signal. This is a big improvement over the
counter method. Even with slower designs, the successive approximation method
is
still considerably better than the counter method.

5.14 IC A/D AND DIA cONVERTERS

IC No. Description
ADC 0800 8 Bit A/D Converter

ADC 0808 8 Bit A/D Converter

ADC 1210 12 Bit A/D Converter

AD 674 12 Bit A/D Converter

AD 1376 16 Bit A/D Converter

AD 9048 8 Bit Video A/D Converter

DAC 0800 8 Bit D/A Converter

DAC 0808 8 Bit D/A Converter

DAC 1210 12 Bit double buffer DIA Converter

AD 568 12 Bit ultra high speed DIA converter

AD 664 12 Bit Quad D/A Converter

CHAPTER-5|
Istrumentatton Amplifers A/D and DA Coverters 5.15
SUMMARY
Amplifier using three Op-Amps used to measure from
o Instrumentation Amplifier :

distance transducers

o A/D Converter:Converter, converts the analog signal in to an equivalent digital form.

o D/A Converter : Converter, converts the digital signal in to an equivaient analog form.

o Resolution : The resolution is defined as the ratio of LSB increment to the maximurnm

output. It is given by the expression where n is the number of bits used to represent

the digital data.

o Accuracy: Comparison of the actual output of D'A converter with expected output.

O Absolute Accuracy: It refers to how close each output level is to its ideal value.

O Relative Accuracy: It refers to how close each output level is to its ideal fraction of full
scale output.

Monotonicity: A device is said to be monotonic, whenever the input increased. the

output increases or remains constant.

o Settling Time The time which takes a D/A converter to settle within LSB of its
final value when a change occurs in the input code.

REVEW QUESTIONS
Short Answer Questions

1. List the advantages of instrumentation amplifier. (Merch April. 2016)

2. List the applications of voltage to current converter.
(March April. 2016)
3. Explain the need of A/D and DA
converters (March April. 2016
April May. 2010 2011 Oct/Nov. 2007)
4. Explain the basic principle of D/A converters
(Oct/Nov. 2008)
5. State the need for D/A converters.
(Oct/Nou. 2008)
6. Explain the working of weighted resistor D.A converter. (Oct/Nou. 2008)
With the neat circuit
explain the working of D/A converter using R-2R ladder network.
(Oct/Nov. 2007, 2008)
 LINEAR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
5.16 counter (Oct/Nou. 2014)
8. Draw the circuit of A/D converter using
converter.
network D/A
9 List the advantages of R-2R ladder
and explain the operation
method of A/D converter
10. Draw the block diagram of counter

method of A/D conversion cover

successive approximation
11 Mention the advantages of
counter method.
(Oct/Nov. 2007)

to curent converter.
(March/April. 2016)
12. Explain the working of voltage

voltage converter.
current to
13. Explain the working of

Essay Type Questions

three OP-AMPS.
. Explain the instrumentation amplifier using

2. Define terms
2012 Oct/Nov. 2011)
(a) Resolution. (MarchApril. 2016:April/May.
April/May. 2012, Oct/Nou 2009)
(b) Settling time (MarchApri. 2016 ;

(March/April. 2016;
Oct/Nou 2011 ; March/April. 2008)
(c) Accuracy
(Oct/Nov. 2011, 2006)
(d) Monotonicity
and how they over-
the disadvantages of weighted resistor D/A converter
hat are

SN ome in R-2R ladder network

D/A converter.

LBRARY resistors with a circuit diagram.

D/A conversion using binary weighted
plain
4 Oct/Nov. 2012, April/May. 2010) 2009;
(March/Apr. 2013, 2007
resistors and explain its working.
Draw the circuit of D/A
conversion using weighted
5 (March/April. 2016)

network
conversion, ion using R-2R ladder
6 Explain D/A
(MarchiApril. 2016;Oct/Nou. 2014, 2011, 2010,
2008 ; Apr/May. 2011)
convertion.
of A/D
7. Explain the principle
of counter method of A/D converter and how they over

the disadvantages
8 What are
converter
come in SAR A/D

m e t h o d of A/D converter with a block diagram.

approximation
99. Describe the succesive April/May. 2012, 2010;
2013, 2010, 2008, 2007;
IMarch/April. 2016;
Oct/Nou. 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006)