Introduction

The sigma delta conversion technique has been in existence for many
years, but recent technological advances now make the devices practical and
their use is becoming widespread. The converters have found homes in such
applications as communications systems, consumer and professional audio,
industrial weight scales, and precision measurement devices. The key feature of
these converters is that they are the only low cost conversion method which
provides both high dynamic range and flexibility in converting low bandwidth
input signals. This application note is intended to give an engineer with little or
no sigma delta background an overview of how a sigma delta converter works.
Analog to Digital Converter is used to convert continuous signal / analog
signal (i.e. current, voltage, etc.) to digital number that represents the quantity's
amplitude. In reality, almost every signal that we can sense and process is
analog signal. The main use of the ADC is to make these analog signals able to
be processed by the computer. Computer will read the analog signal that has
been converted by the ADC into the binary or digital number.

Digital to analog converter is used to convert digital signal turned into

analog signals. A Digital to Analog Converter, or DAC, is an electronic device that
converts a digital code to an analog signal such as a voltage, current, or electric
charge. Signals can easily be stored and transmitted in digital form; a DAC is
used for the signal to be recognized by human senses or non-digital systems.
Converting a signal from digital to analog can degrade the signal. Therefore
details are chosen so that errors are negligible. Due to their cost, digital to
analog converters are mostly manufactured on an integrated circuit (IC). DAC
architectures may contain different advantages as well as disadvantages. The
suitability of a digital to analog converter for a particular application is
determined by several attributes such as speed and resolution.

Delta-sigma (; or sigma-delta, ) modulation is a digital signal

processing, or DSP method for encoding analog signals into digital signals as
found in an ADC. It is also used to transfer higher-resolution digital signals into
lower-resolution digital signals as part of the process to convert digital signals
into analog. Both analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog
converters (DACs) can employ delta-sigma modulation. A delta-sigma ADC first
encodes an analog signal using high-frequency delta-sigma modulation, and then
applies a digital filter to form a higher-resolution but lower sample-frequency
digital output. On the other hand, a delta-sigma DAC encodes a high-resolution
digital input signal into a lower-resolution but higher sample-frequency signal
that is mapped to voltages, and then smoothed with an analog filter. In both
cases, the temporary use of a lower-resolution signal simplifies circuit design and
improves efficiency.
Delta-sigma modulation on ADC
In a conventional ADC, an analog signal is integrated, or sampled, with a
sampling frequency and subsequently quantized in a multi-level quantizer into a
digital signal. This process introduces quantization error noise. The first step in a
delta-sigma modulation is delta modulation. In delta modulation the change in
the signal (its delta) is encoded, rather than the absolute value. The result is a
stream of pulses, as opposed to a stream of numbers as is the case with PCM. In
delta-sigma modulation, the accuracy of the modulation is improved by passing
the digital output through a 1-bit DAC and adding (sigma) the resulting analog
signal to the input signal, thereby reducing the error introduced by the deltamodulation.

This technique has found increasing use in modern electronic components

such

as converters, frequency

synthesizers, switched-mode

power

supplies and motor controllers, primarily because of its cost efficiency and
reduced circuit complexity.
First order sigma delta ADC

The block diagram shows a simple block diagram of a first order sigma delta
Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC). The input signal X comes into the modulator
via a summing junction. It then passes through the integrator which feeds a
comparator that acts as a one-bit quantizer. The comparator output is fed back
to the input summing junction via a one-bit digital-toanalog converter (DAC), and
it also passes through the digital filter and emerges at the output of the
converter. The feedback loop forces the average of the signal W to be equal to
the input signal X. A quick review of quantization noise theory and signal
sampling theory will be useful before diving deeper into the sigma delta
converter.
The input signal X comes into the modulator via a summing junction. It then
passes through the integrator which feeds a comparator that acts as a one-bit
quantizer. The comparator output is fed back to the input summing junction via a
one-bit digital-toanalog converter (DAC), and it also passes through the digital
filter and emerges at the output of the converter. The feedback loop forces the
average of the signal W to be equal to the input signal X. A quick review of
quantization noise theory and signal sampling theory will be useful before diving
deeper into the sigma delta converter.
Signal Sampling
The sampling theorem states that the sampling frequency of a signal must
be at least twice the signal frequency in order to recover the sampled signal
without distortion. When a signal is sampled its input spectrum is copied and

mirrored at multiples of the sampling frequency fS. Figure 2A shows the

spectrum of a sampled signal when the sampling frequency fS is less than twice
the input signal frequency 2f0. The shaded area on the plot shows what is
commonly referred to as aliasing which results when the sampling theorem is
violated. Recovering a signal contaminated with aliasing results in a distorted
output signal. Figure 2B shows the spectrum of an oversampled signal. The
oversampling process puts the entire input bandwidth at less than fS/2 and

avoids the aliasing trap.

Undersampled signal spectrum

Oversampled signal spectrum

Quantization Noise
Quantization noise (or quantization error) is one limiting factor for the dynamic
range of an ADC. This error is actually the round-off error that occurs when an
analog signal is quantized. For example, Figure below shows the output codes
and corresponding input voltages for a 2-bit A/D converter with a 3V full scale
value. The figure shows that input values of 0V, 1V, 2V, and 3V correspond to
digital output codes of 00, 01, 10, and 11 respectively. If an input of 1.75V is
applied to this converter, the resulting output code would be 10 which
corresponds to a 2V input. The 0.25V error (2V - 1.75V) that occurs during the
quantization process is called the quantization error. Assuming the quantization
error is random, which is normally true, the quantization error can be treated as
random or white noise. Therefore, the quantization noise power and RMS
quantization voltage for an A/D converter are given by the following equations:

As an example, the RMS quantization noise for a 12-bit ADC with a 2.5V full scale
value is 176V. A quantized signal sampled at frequency fS has all of its noise
power folded into the frequency band of 0 f fS/2. Assuming once again that
this noise is random, the spectral density of the noise is given by:

Converting this to noise power by squaring it and integrating over the bandwidth
of interest (f0), we get the following result:

where n0 is the in-band quantization noise, f0 is the

input signal bandwidth, and fS is the sampling
frequency. The quantity fS/2f0 is generally referred to as the Oversampling Ratio
or OSR. It is important to note that Equation 5 above shows that oversampling
reduces the in band quantization noise by the square root of the OSR.
Sigma Delta Modulator Quantization Noise
The results of the above sampling and noise theory can now be used to show
how a sigma delta modulator shapes quantization noise. Figure 4 shows the
sampled data equivalent block diagram of a first order sigma delta modulator.
The difference equation for the output of the modulator is given by:
yi = xi-1+(ei-ei-1)
where e is the quantization noise

First order sigma delta modulator sampled data equivalent block diagram
Assuming the input signal is active enough to treat the error as white noise, the
spectral density of the noise (ni = ei - ei-1) can be expressed as

The noise power in the bandwidth of interest is

Or

This means that increasing fS (which by default increases the OSR) by a factor of
2 will decrease the in band noise by 9dB. Taking this one step further shows that
for the second order modulator shown in Figure 5 the noise is

and that increasing fs by a factor of 2 decreases the in band noise by 15dB. In

fact, the generalized formula for the noise of an Mth order modulator is

and doubling the sampling frequency will decrease the inband quantization noise
by 3(2M+1)dB.

SECOND ORDER SIGMA DELTA MODULATOR

SNR vs OVERSAMPLING RATIO FOR SIGMA DELTA MODULATORS

Graph above depicts the relationship between quantization noise, OSR, and
modulator order by showing the signal to noise ratio (SNR) vs the OSR for a first,
second, and third order modulator. The graph illustrates that as the OSR
increases, the noise decreases (SNR increases) and that as the order of the
modulator increases, the noise decreases.
The noise shaping attributes of the sigma delta modulator can be shown
graphically as in Figure 7. Figure 7A shows the quantization noise spectrum of a
typical Nyquist type converter and the theoretical SNR of such a converter. Figure
7B shows the effects of oversampling. fS/2 is much greater than 2f0 and the
quantization noise is spread over a wider spectrum. The total quantization noise
is still the same but the quantization noise in the bandwidth of interest is greatly
reduced. Figure 7C illustrates the noise shaping of the oversampled sigma delta
modulator. Again the total quantization noise of the converter is the same as in
Figure 7A, but the in-band quantization noise is greatly reduced.

NYQUIST CONVERTER QUANTIZATION NOISE SPECTRUM

OVERSAMPLED CONVERTER QUANTIZATION NOISE SPECTRUM

OVERSAMPLED 1ST ORDER SIGMA DELTA QUANTIZATION NOISE SPECTRUM

Another way to examine the characteristics of the sigma delta modulator is to
model it in the frequency domain. Figure 8 shows a linearized model of a sigma
delta modulator. The integrator has been replaced with a filter whose transfer
function is H(s) = 1/s and the quantizer is modelled as a noise source whose
noise contribution is N(s). Letting N(s) = 0 for the moment, and solving for
Y(s)/X(s) results in the following:

By letting the signal X(s) = 0 and solving for Y(s)/N(s) the following results are
obtained:

Examining Equations 13 and 15 above shows that indeed the modulator acts as
a low pass filter for the input signal and a high pass filter for noise.

LINEARIZED MODEL OF 1ST ORDER SIGMA DELTA MODULATOR

Perhaps the best way to see the noise shaping characteristics of a sigma delta
modulator is to look at the output spectrum of an actual modulator. Figure 9
shows the block diagram for the modulator portion of the Intersil HI7190 sigma
delta ADC. This modulator is a fully differential sampled data (switched
capacitor) second order modulator where only one DAC is used to feed back the
modulator output signal to the two summing junctions. A spectral plot of the
HI7190 output is shown in Figure 10. The figure shows the classic noise shaping
characteristics of a sigma delta modulator that have been discussed thus far.

2nd order sigma delta modulator

HI7190 SPECTRAL PLOT

Referring back to the block diagram of Figure 1, it is seen that after the input
signal passes through the modulator it is fed into the digital filter. The function of
the digital filter is to provide a sharp cutoff at the bandwidth of interest which
essentially removes out of band quantization noise3w and signals. Figure 11
shows that the digital filter eliminates the quantization noise that the modulator
pushed out to the higher frequencies.
IN-BAND QUANTIZATION NOISE BEFORE AND AFTER DIGITAL FILTERING

BEFORE FILTERING

AFTER FILTERING
Before leaving the discussion of sigma delta modulators it would be useful to
show a quick conversion example. Referring to Table 1 the table headings X, B,
C, D, and W correspond to points in the signal path of the block diagram of
Figure 1. For this example the input X is a DC input of 3/8. The resultant signal
at each point in the signal path for each signal sample is shown in Table 1. Note
that a repetitive pattern develops every sixteen samples and that the average
of the signal W over samples 1 to 16 is 3/8 thus showing that the feedback loop
forces the average of the feedback signal W to be equal to the input X.

CONVERSION EXAMPLE