Mixed-Signal-Electronics

PD Dr.-Ing. Stephan Henzler

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 Chapter 4
Data Converter Fundamentals

"He who loves practice without theory is like the

sailor who boards ship without a rudder and
compass and never knows where he may cast“
Leonardo Davinci

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 Ideal Digital-to-Analog Conversion

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 DAC Offset Error

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 DAC Gain Error

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 Digital-to-Analog Converter Model

ideal model 1st order model

 Gain of ideal converter depends on interpretation of DAC

input bits. Here, a fractional interpretation is used.

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 Ideal Analog-to-Digital Conversion

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 Analog-to-Digital Converter Model I

 Depending on implementation quantization block can be

– round function
– floor function
– ceil function

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 Quantization in A/D-Converters

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 Quantization in A/D-Converters
 Consider one saw tooth, e.g.

 Mean quantization error:

 Power of quantization error:

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 Quantization in A/D-Converters
 Signal-to-(Quantization)-Noise Ratio S(Q)NR:

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 ADC Offset Error

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 ADC Gain Error

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 Analog-to-Digital Converter Model II

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 Non-Linearity in Data Converters

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 Example of Non-Linear Transfer Characteristic
x non-linear y
system

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 Nonlinearity in Data-Converters

Accuracy:

The absolute inaccuracy is

defined as the maximum
deviation of the actual analog
value from the ideal one. It
includes offset, gain and
linearity errors and may be
different for every individual
quantization value.

The relative inaccuracy is

defined as the deviation that
remains after offset and gain
error have been removed.

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 DAC Nonlinearity: Integral Nonlinearity

Integral Nonlinearity (INL) Error:

The INL error is defined as the deviation of each analog value from a straight
line. If the straight line through the endpoints of the converter’s transfer curve
is chosen (left) as reference, the INL equals the relative inaccuracy.
Alternatively a regression line can be used as reference (right). It depends on
the application which definition should be applied.
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 DAC Nonlinearity: Differential Nonlinearity
Differential Nonlinearity (DNL):
Deviation of the analog step size
from 1VLSB (after removal of gain
and offset error). Like the INL the
DNL value is defined individually
for each digital word

Monotonicity:
The output signal of a monotonic
D/A converter increases or
remains at least unchanged as
the input signal increases.

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 ADC Nonlinearity: Inaccuracy

Accuracy:

The absolute inaccuracy is

defined as the maximum
deviation of the actual analog
value from the ideal one. It
includes offset, gain and
linearity errors and may be
different for every individual
quantization value.

The relative inaccuracy is

defined as the deviation that
remains after offset and gain
error have been removed.

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 ADC Nonlinearity: Integral Nonlinearity

Integral Nonlinearity (INL):

The INL error is defined as the
deviation of each analog value
from a straight line (after
removal of gain and offset error).
If the straight line through the
endpoints of the converter’s
transfer curve is chosen as
reference, the INL equals the
relative inaccuracy. Alternatively
a regression line can be used as
reference. It depends on the
application which definition
should be applied.

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 ADC Nonlinearity: Differential Nonlinearity
Differential Nonlinearity (DNL):
Deviation of the analog step size
from 1VLSB (after removal of gain
and offset error). Like the INL the
DNL value is defined individually
for each digital word

Missing Codes:

If one step vanishes completely

the ADC is said to have a missing
code. In practice the criterion for a
missing code is a step width
smaller than 0.1 x VLSB

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 Dynamic ADC Measurement

 ADC converter characteristics

describe static measurements

 In dynamic measurements a input

voltage waveform (usually a sine signal)
is converted continuously and
analyzed in the frequency domain.
(much more realistic, noise, crosstalk, etc.)

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 Interpretation of the Output spectrum
test signal Robertson, ISSCC, 2002
A sin(wt)
[FS]

harmonics 0.5 x
sampling
frequency

noise floor
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 Harmonic Distortion Caused by Nonlinearity
 Nonlinearity causes harmonic distortion
 Spectrum allows computation of
– signal power
– power of harmonic components
– noise power

 Signal-to-Noise Ratio:
 Psignal 
SNR  10  log10  
 Pnoise 
 Signal-to-Noise-and-Distortion Ratio

 Psignal 
SNDR  10  log10  
 Pnoise  Pharmonics 
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 Harmonic Distortion Caused by Nonlinearity
 Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)

 V 2 V 2 V 2  
THD  20  log10  2 3 4 
 V1 
 
 Second Harmonic Distortion (SHD)

 V2 
SHD  20  log10  
 V1 

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 Effective Number of Bits
 An ideal ADC suffers only from quantization noise

SNR  SQNR  6.02dB  N  1.76dB

 Actual ADCs have lots of impairments (noise, nonlinearity)
that limit the effective resolution.

Effective number of Bits:

SNDR  1.76dB
ENOB 
6.02dB
 Note: The number of bits coming out of an ADC doesn‘t say
anything about the actual resolution

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 Signal-to-Noise Ratio over Input Signal

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 Other Useful Figures in Mixed-Signal
 Crest Factor = Peak-to-Average Ratio
Measure for dynamics of a signal defined by the quotient of
the peak amplitude and the RMS value
max  x(t ) 
C
2
x (t )
 ADC Figure-of-Merit:
Measure for the efficiency of an ADC

power
FOM 
frequency  2 ENOB

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 Why is Linearity so Important?
 Let‘s consider a basic example of third order non-linearity

x non-linear y
system
 The following equalities are useful

 Harmonic Distortion:
A single tone transforms into a dc offset and multiple tones at
multiples of the original input frequency

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 Non-Linearity  Gain Compression
 Consider only the fundamental (i.e. for low amplitude)

 For small amplitude A the gain of the system is a1

 With increasing amplitude A, the high order term becomes
noticeable, i.e. the gain becomes

 For a compressive system

(a3<0) the gain for the
fundamental decreases with
increasing amplitude and
may even vanish completely
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 Superposition of two Frequencies

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 Superposition of Two Frequencies

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 Non-Linearity  Desensitization
 Consider superposition of weak signal and a strong interferer

 Strong signal causes large excitation around operating point

 effective gain reduction

 Small signal gain may become even zero

 blocking

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 Non-Linearity  Cross Modulation
 Consider again superposition of weak signal and a strong
interferer, but now with modulation of interferer

 Amplitude variation m2 may be either noise or modulation

 Signal in band around 1

 Modulation/noise of the carrier 2 is transferred 1

 Effect occurs if multiple channels are processed by same
non-linear system, e.g. non-linear amplifier in wireless base
station
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 Non-Linearity  Intermodulation
 Harmonics can be used to quantify the non-linearity of mixed-
signal system.
 If the system is frequency selective, e.g. a low-pass filter
some or even all harmonics are damped
 system seems to be less non-linear than it actually is.
 Measure non-linearity in band of interest, i.e. without
damping effects  Intermodulation Experiment
 Two-Tone Test:

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 Non-Linearity  Intermodulation
 Two tones passing a non-linear system result in
– Harmonics of first frequency
– Harmonics of second frequency
– Intermodulation products (caused by mixing signals)
 If the frequency difference is small, i.e. 2 - 1 << 1
the third order intermodulation frequencies lie nearby
– lower 3rd order IM product: 21 – 2 = 1 – (2 - 1)
– upper 3rd order IM product: 22 - 1 = 2 + (2 - 1)
– negligible impact of frequency dependent transfer function

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 Non-Linearity  Intermodulation
 Intermodulation distortion = 3rd IM product / fundamental
(Amplitude must be known for interpretation)
 Assume small amplitudes, i.e. the amplitude of the
fundamental can be expressed by a1A and the IM3 is 3/4a3A3
 Third order intercept point describes the amplitude where the
IM3 equals the fundamental
(Hypothetical as for high amplitudes higher order non-linearity becomes noticeable, i.e. meas. is done for small amplitudes followed by extrapolation)

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 Non-Linearity: Further Reading
 Recommended Literature:
– Razavi. RF Microelectronics. Prentice Hall.
– Robertson. Specification and Figures of Merit for
Mixed-Signal Circuits. ISSCC Tutorial 2002.
– Razavi. Principles of Data Conversion System Design.
Wiley, 1994.

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 Binary Number Representation
# # Sign 1‘s 2‘s Offset
normalized magnitude complement complement binary
+7 +7/8 0111 0111 0111 1111
+6 +6/8 0110 0110 0110 1110
+5 +5/8 0101 0101 0101 1101
+4 +4/8 0100 0100 0100 1100
+3 +3/8 0011 0011 0011 1011
+2 +2/8 0010 0010 0010 1010
+1 +1/8 0001 0001 0001 1001
+0 0 0000 0000 0000 1000
-0 0 1000 1111
-1 -1/8 1001 1110 1111 0111
-2 -2/8 1010 1101 1110 0110
-3 -3/8 1011 1100 1101 0101
-4 -4/8 1100 1011 1100 0100
-5 -5/8 1101 1010 1011 0011
-6 -6/8 1110 1001 1010 0010
-7 -7/8 1111 1000 1001 0001
-8 -8/8 1000 0000
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