Unit IV

Analog to Digital and Digital

to Analog Converters
Introduction
• Most of the analog systems nowadays are converted to digital system
because of its following advantages
• It provides more accuracy
• Storing digital information is easy
• Processing of digital data is simple
• Provides higher efficiency and reliability
• More economical
• Convenient for transmission
• Less affected by noise
• Short processing duration or time
Introduction
• The temperature, pressure, velocity, time, humidity, mass etc., are the
analog signal, it is often in practical to convert them into digital.

• The transducer convert the above physical parameters to either voltage or

current in analog form.

• This voltage or current is then convert to digital or binary form using

Analog to Digital Converter (ADC).

• In reverse process is called Digital to Analog Converter (DAC).

• For example a computer output is in a form binary, it’s not understandable form so it
is convert into analog
Block Diagram
DAC Specifications
• The various DAC Specifications are
1. Resolution

2. Linearity
3. Accuracy

4. Monotonicity

5. Settling time
6. Stability

7. Offset Voltage

8. Differential Non Linearity Error

9. Integral Non Linearity Error

10. Temperature Sensitivity
Resolution
• 
• The smallest change in the analog output voltage as
the result of change in the digital input.

• The resolution always equal to the weight of the

LSB and is also known as the step size.

For an n bit digital input the total number of steps is

Linearity
• Linearity tells about the linear characteristics of DAC. Equal
increment in input binary should produce equal increment in output
voltage to have a linear chrematistics.

• Ideal DAC has linearity characteristics represented by a straight

line.

• The deviation of the characteristics from this straight line is known

as linearity error.
• Offset Error

• Gain Error

• Linear Versus Non Linear

Offset Error Gain Error

Linear Versus Non Linear

Accuracy
• Accuracy tells about the ability of a DAC to produce accurate output
voltage for every binary input combination

• There are two types of accuracy

• Absolute Accuracy
• Relative Accuracy

• Absolute Accuracy
• It is the maximum deviation between Ideal and Practical DAC output.

• Relative Accuracy
• It is the maximum deviation between Ideal and Practical DAC output, after gain
and offset errors are removed from characteristics.
Monotonicity

• A DAC is said to be monotonic, if the

analog voltage output increases for an
increase in digital binary input. That is,
the output increases and not decreases
for a increment in binary input.
• Non monotonic characteristics may lead to oscillations in some applications
and missing codes in successive approximation DACs.

• For a monotonic DAC, the error must be less than ±1/2 LSB at each output
voltage level
Settling Time or Conversion Time

• It is defined as the time required for DAC output to settle

within ±1/2 LSB range of its final value for a given digital
binary input.

• It depends on switching time of logic circuits due to internal

parasitic capacitance and inductance.

• The settling time ranges from 100ns to 10µs depending upon

on word length and type of techniques used for conversion.
Stability

• Stability of DAC indicates the performance changes due

to temperature, ageing and power supply variations.

• DAC must produce stable output in all conditions based

on parameter such as offset, gain, linearity error,
monotonicity etc., specified over full temperature and
power supply ranges.
Offset Voltage
• When all the binary input bits are zeros, no output is
produced from a ideal DAC.

• However, practically a small output voltage exists at

output, called as offset voltage
Differential Non Linearity (DNL) Error

• When analog output voltage appears exactly at 1 LSB

or one binary code, then DNL error is zero.

• It’s difference between ideal and actual (practical)

output voltage for successive DAC input code.

• DNL ≥ 1 LSB assures Monotonocity

Integral Non Linearity (INL) Error

• It is the deviation of an actual transfer function from

straight line. After nullifying offset and gain errors,
the straight line is either a best fit straight line drawn
between the end points of the transfer function.

• The INL is often called relative accuracy.

Temperature Sensitivity

• For a fixed digital input, the analog output varies with

temperature, normally from ±50ppm/ºC to
±1.5ppm/ºC.

• This is introduced due to the temperature sensitivity

of the reference voltage, the resistors used in the
converters, the opamp and its offset voltage.
 Digital to Analog Converters (DAC)

•• The
  D/A Converts accepts ‘n’ binary inputs and produces an analog
output voltage or current, which is proportional to the binary inputs
using a reference voltage

Where k – Scaling Factor (Usually 1)

- Full Scale range of voltage

- MSB of weight /2

- LSB of weight /
Symbolic Representation
Types of DAC Techniques

• Binary weighted Resistor Type DAC (or) Binary

weighted DAC
• R/2R Ladder DAC

• Inverted R/2R Ladder DAC (or) Current Mode DAC

• Voltage Mode DAC

Binary Weighted DAC

𝑏  1
Binary Weighted DAC

• 
• In this type of DAC, opamp used to add or sum up the ‘n’
binary weighted currents derived from the reference Voltage

• The current passing through each resistor depends on the

resistor value .

• Higher current passing through low value of resistor and

lower current passing through high value of resistor.
Weighted Resistor Type D/A Converter
 Each digital level is converted into an equivalent analog voltage or current.
 In a 4-bit DAC accepting data from 0000 to 1111, there are 15 discrete levels of input.
 The LSB causes a change equal to 1/15 th of the full-scale analog output voltage VR  .
 The sum of weights assigned to bit positions of a 4-bit DAC must equal 1;
 i.e., (1/15 + 2/15 + 4/15 + 8/15 = 15/15) VR = V FS .
n
 Weight assigned to LSB is 1/(2 – 1), where n=number of bits in digital input.

Equivalent circuit of a 4-bit weighted resistor D/A converter for input 0001
 Equivalent circuit of a 4-bit weighted resistor D/A converter for input 0001
 Ro , R1, R2 and R3 form voltage divider and RL is the load resistor.
1
 LSB connected with the highest input resistance Ro while the 2 bit is connected
with a resistance of half the value of LSB resistor, i.e. Ro / 2 .
 2 2 bit connected with 1 / 4th of LSB resistance Ro / 4 . Similarly, MSB connected
with 1 / 8th of LSB resistance Ro / 8 .
 The output = the sum of these four attenuated voltages using Millman’s theorem.
 The output voltage is expressed as
VR VR VR VR VR V V V
    R  R  R
R R2 R3 R4
Vo  1 or Vo  R R/ 2 R/ 4 R/8
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
     
R1 R2 R3 R4 R R/ 2 R/ 4 R/8
assuming R1  R, R2  R / 2, R3  R / 4 and R4  R / 8,
V V V V
I o  I1  I 2  ...  I n  1R b1  2R b2  .....  nR bn  R [b1 2 1  b2 2 2  .....  bn 2 n ]
2 R 2 R 2 R R
V
Then the output voltage Vo  I o R f  R [b1 2 1  b2 2 2  .....  bn 2 n ]
R
If R f  R , then K = 1 and V FS V R .
 Equivalent circuit of a 4-bit weighted resistor D/A converter for input 0001
 Ro , R1, R2 and R3 form voltage divider and R L is the load resistor.
1
 LSB connected with the highest input resistance Ro while the 2 bit is connected
with a resistance of half the value of LSB resistor, i.e. Ro / 2 .
2 th
 2 bit connected with 1 / 4 of LSB resistance Ro / 4 . Similarly, MSB connected
with 1 / 8th of LSB resistance Ro / 8 .
 The output = the sum of these four attenuated voltages using Millman’s theorem.
 The output voltage is expressed as
VR VR VR VR VR VR VR VR
     
R1 R2 R3 R4 R R / 2 R / 4 R / 8
Vo  or Vo 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
     
R1 R2 R3 R4 R R / 2 R / 4 R / 8
assuming R1  R , R2  R / 2, R3  R / 4 and R4  R / 8,
VR VR VR VR
I o  I 1  I 2  ...  I n  b1  b2  .....  bn  [ b1 2 1  b2 2  2  .....  bn 2  n ]
21 R 22 R 2n R R
VR 1 2
Then the output voltage Vo  I o R f  [ b1 2  b2 2  .....  bn 2  n ]
R
If R f  R , then K = 1 and V F S V R .

Eq uiv alen t circ uit of a 4 -b it weig ht ed res ist or D/A co nv ert er fo r in p ut 0 00 1

 Ro , R1, R2 a nd R3 fo rm v oltag e divid er an d RL is the loa d re sisto r .
1
 LS B co nn ected with the high est inp ut res ista nc e Ro while the 2 b it is c on nec te d
w ith a r esistan ce of h alf th e v alue of LSB re sistor, i.e. Ro / 2 .
2 2
 bit con ne cted w ith 1 / 4 th of LS B re sista nc e Ro / 4 . Si mila rly , MS B c on ne cted
w ith 1 / 8 th of LSB re sistanc e Ro / 8 .

Th e o utpu t = th e su m of th ese fo ur a tte nu ated vo lta ges us in g M illma n’s the orem.

Th e o utpu t v oltage is e xpressed as
VR VR VR VR VR VR VR VR
     
R 1 R2 R3 R4 R R / 2 R / 4 R / 8
Vo  or Vo 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
     
R 1 R2 R3 R4 R R / 2 R / 4 R / 8
as sum ing R1  R, R2  R / 2, R3  R / 4 and R4  R / 8,
VR VR VR VR 
I o  I1  I 2  .. .  I n  b 1  b2  .. .. .  bn  [b 1 2
1
 b2 2  2  . .. ..  bn 2 n ]
21 R 2 2 R 2 n R R
VR
Th en the ou tp ut vo ltag e Vo  I o R f  [b 1 2 1  b2 2  2  . .. ..  bn 2 n ]
R
If R f  R , the n K = 1 an d V FS V R .

𝑏 1
• Merits:
• Simplest type and accuracy is possible by using metal
film resistor. Suitable for upto 4 bit binary inputs.

• Demerits:
• High range of resistors are required and difficult to
fabricate inside a IC, if the resolution increase more than
8 bits.
• The accuracy declines (reduces) due to finite switch
resistance and voltage drop across large value of resistor.
R/2R Ladder DAC
R-2R Ladder D/A Converter
 
Example 1000

R-2R Ladder D/A Converter

R-2R Ladder D/A Converter

 R-2R Ladder D/A converter uses only two values i.e., R and 2R.
 Hence, it is suited well for IC fabrication. Typical R values - 2.5k to 10k .
The output voltage is a weighted sum of digital inputs.
 Eg. for 4-bit b1 b2 b3 b4 =1000, the circuit can be modified as shown.
V  2R V
 The analog output voltage Vo  R  R
R  R  2R 2
V V V V
Vo  R1  R2  R3  ...  Rn where n is the total number of bits at the input.
2 2 2 2
Vo  V R
R f  b1 b2 b3 b4 
 1  2  3  4  = VR
Rf
 b1 2 3
 b 2 2 2
 b3 21
 b42 0
R 2 2 2 2  R  24
V
 
Or, assuming R f  R1 , Vo  Rn b1 2 n 1  b2 2 n  2  ...  bn 2 0
2
 The resolution of the R / 2 R ladder type DAC with current output is
1 V
Resolution I  n  R
2 R
 The resolution of the R / 2 R ladder type D/A converter with voltage output is
1 V
Resolution V  n  R  R f
2 R
• Merits:
• The problem of high range of resistor value requirement in
binary weighted DAC is overcome by R/2R Ladder DAC since
only two resistor values of R and 2R irrespective of number of
binary inputs applied.
• Suitable for IC fabrication

• Demerits:
• In binary weighted type and R/2R ladder type current flowing
through resistor changes as the input changes. Power
dissipation causes heating leading to non-linearity.
Voltage Mode DAC
•• When
  2R resistor is switched between two finite voltage levels in a
R/2R ladder circuits, then it is called as Voltage mode DAC.

• The Voltage source and are connected to switch based on the binary
values.

• The minimum voltage that is produced as output is and not 0 volts.

• The output from the ladder is obtained at node S.

• The voltage at node S (varies in steps of The minimum output and

maximum output voltage from the opamp is

• and can be any two voltage levels. We can also vary the and in the
opamp to obtain a desired gain.
• Merits:
• It is the only DAC which has the capacity of using two
different finite voltage levels for bit switching, neither of
which need to be zero.

• Demerits:
• Current analysis is must be used, even through it is a
voltage mode DAC.
Inverted R/2R Ladder DAC (or)
Current Mode DAC
Inverted or Current-Mode R  2 R Ladder D/A Converter

 In weighted R and R  2 R ladder types of DACs current flowing through resistors

changes as the input changes causing power dissipation causes heating and non-
linearity
 The bit position of each of the subsequent MSBs and LSBs are interchanged.
 Each binary input is connected through the switch to either ground or to the
inverting input terminal of op-amp, which is at virtual ground. Since both the
positions of switch bi are at ground potential, the current flow through any
resistor is constant and it is independent of the input binary bit value.
 These currents can be represented as
V
I1  R
2R
V / 2 VR I1
I2  R  
2R 4R 2
V / 4 VR I1
I3  R  
2R 8R 4
and In 
 
V R / 2 n 1 I1
 n 1
2R 2

The output voltage V is given by

o

Vo   I o  R f
  R f ( I1  I 2  I 3  ...  I n )
VR R f
 (b1 2 1  b2 2 2  ...  bn 2 n )
R
When R f  R, Vo  V R (b1 2 1  b2 2 2  ...  bn 2 n )
The circuit operates on the principle of summation of the currents. Hence it is called
R  2 R current mode type of D/A converter.
• 
• Merits:
• The disadvantage of power dissipation and heating can be eliminated
in inverted R/2R ladder DAC as the switch is always at ground
potential.
• Stary capacitance do not affect the speed of operation as the ladder
node voltages are always constant.

• Demerits:
• Rationed emitter current , ,…….and this is the drawbacks of this
type. This can be overcome by using current driven DAC.