Lab

Advanced Electronis
02

Digital to Analogue
Converter Circuits

Lab Objectives

By the end of this lab, students should be able to:

1. To observe and measure the performance of a 4-bit binary-weighted

resistor and R-2R digital to analogue converter.

Student names Student ID Section

1.AHMAD SYAHIR BIN ABDUL TB16002

HAYU TB16081
2.ABDUL AZIZ BIN ZULKIFLI

20
Introduction
DAC (Digital To Analog Converter) is an electronic device that works to convert digital
signals (discrete) to analog signals (continuous). The DAC (Digital To Analog Converter)
application is an interface (interface) between devices that work with digital systems and analog
signal processing devices. The DAC (Digital To Analog Converter) tool can be an electronic
network and IC DAC chip. Basically a series of op-amp (summing amplifiers) can be used to
assemble a D / A (DAC "Digital To Analog Converter) converter using a number of input
barriers weighted in binary series. The network for inverting amplifiers is as shown in the
picture below. This amplifier has a special feature of which the output signal has a phase
difference of 180 °. Non-inverting amplifiers have a special feature that the output signal is a
phase with input signal. This network is shown by the following pictures. The amplifier has a
special feature that the output signal is the result of amplification of its input signal summation.
In this section are examples of amplifiers based on a series of inverting amplifiers. So the output
signal is a phase difference of 180o. Digital amplifier is a basic concept of the DAC (Digital To
Analog Converter) network.

Figure 1:Inverting Amplifier

Figure 2:Non-Inverting Amplifier

Figure 3:Amplifier
Methods and Components
Methods
1- Binary-Weighted Resistor DAC
Build the circuit shown in Fig. 1. Use ±10 V power supplies for the 741 OpAmp. Depending
on which discrete resistors are available, you may have to use multiple resistors in parallel or
series to obtain the required values (e.g., use two 2 kΩ resistors in series to obtain 4 kΩ, use
two 16 kΩ resistors in parallel to obtain 8 kΩ). You do not need to include physical switches
for each resistor, you can just switch them by manually connecting them to the correct nodes.
The position of each switch in Fig. 1 represents one bit of our 4-bit DAC. In the instructions
that follow, we will refer to the switch configurations as the 4-bit word that represents their
positions. For example, [D3D2D1D0] = 1010 represents switch D3 in the right position, D2 in
the left position (grounded), D1 in the right position, and Do in the left position.With all of
the switches in the left position (resistors grounded), measure and record the DC voltage at
vout using the multimeter. Instead of grounding the resistors you can also leave them open, this
will have the same effect and will be easier to breadboard.
1. Now move Do into the right position to represent the 4-bit word 0001, and measure and
record the output voltage.
2. Proceed through all of the remaining 4-bit words (there are 16 in total), and measure and
record the output voltage for each setting in table below.

2- R-2R Ladder DAC

Build the circuit shown in Fig. 2. Again use ±10 V power supplies for the 741 opamp. Pay
careful attention to which resistors are 1 kΩ and which are 2 kΩ, this is critical for proper
operation of the circuit. Now follow the same procedure as in Section 1, measuring and
recording the output voltage of the circuit for each of the 16 4-bit words.

Component:
1. Digital multimeter.
2. Triple output power supply.
3. Protoboard.
4. Cables and connectors.
5. Resistors: 1kOhm, 3kOhm
6. Potentiometer
7. OpAmp 741
 Results:
1-Binary-Weighted Resistor DAC
Theoretical calculations Practical results

2-R-2R Ladder DAC

Theoretical calculations Practical results

Answer the following questions in the analysis section of your lab report:
1. Draw the transfer characteristics for both DAC circuits (x-axis=Digital input and
yaxis=Analogue output).

Binary-weighted Resistor DAC

6

5
Analogue Output

3
Binary-weight resistor DAC
2 Column2
1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Digital Input

2. Calculate output voltage theoretically and compare it with practical results.

𝑉 𝑉 𝑉 𝑉
Vout = -Rf (𝑅 + + 4𝑅 + ) Practical value: 4.78V
2𝑅 8𝑅
−5 −5 −5 −5
= -(1kΩ) (2𝑘𝛺 + + 8𝑘𝛺 + )
4𝑘𝛺 16𝑘𝛺
= 4.69V

For R-2R Ladder DAC;

1 1 1 1
Vout = -Vref (2 (1) + (1) + (1) + (1)) Practical value: 4.82V
4 8 16
1 1 1 1
= -(-5V) (2 (1) + (1) + (1) + (1))
4 8 16
= 4.69V

3. Discuss which DAC topology had better linearity, and why you would (or would not) expect
this to be the case.
Binary weight resistor DAC graph is more linearity than R-2R DAC graph due to the
conversion rate in which Binary-weighted Resistor DAC is faster than R-2R DAC. Although
the need for high precision low resistance value, the faster the conversion rate gives a more
accurate reading, resulting in a straight line better.

4. How would you expect these DACs to perform for high frequency inputs? For better high
frequency components, would you want smaller or larger resistor values? Discuss the
relative merits of choosing large or small resistors for the DAC.
The resistor takes an important role in the DAC circuit. When there is the input frequency
higher resolution might be higher this makes us to require higher resistance to overcome it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the resistor DAC is gradually easier and faster but requires a lot of value
resistors with high accuracy in low-value resistor while the R-2R Ladder DAC uses only two
resistor values and with a faster response time even more confusing circuit analysis.Beside
that, we measure the performance of a 4-bit binary-weighted resistor and R-2R digital to
analogue convertor.