Chapter 20

DAC, DAC AND ANALOGDIGITAL MIX INTERFACES

Lesson 2

DIGITAL TO ANALOG
CONVERTER (DAC or D/A)

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

Outline

DAC
DAC Circuit
DAC Characteristics

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

n-bit DAC
b0
b1

Actuator
Physical
Output
to motor,
loudspeaker,
furnace

Signal
Filter
and
Amplifier

DAC
Analog
current
output

bn2
bn1

Digital bits
as output
for logic
circuits

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

DAC as current controller

Case A
Analog output to DAC = 94 mA for
94d DAC input and = 108 mA for 108d
DAC input
94 mA 94d 0101 1110b
110 mA 110d 0110 1110b
Resolution of DAC = 1 mA/bit
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

DAC Output
Vref = Analog
output when
input = 0000
V+ref = Analog
output when
input = 1111

Analog Output
V+ref
i+maz
Vref
i min

0000

1110 1111

Digital Input

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

Outline

DAC
DAC Circuit
DAC Characteristics

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

R-2R DAC circuit

nR

2R R

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

Principle of working R-2R DAC

Operation amplifier as a summing
amplifier
Lower bit of DAC faces higher
resistance at the input. Therefore, its
contribution is one half of the next
stage bit.
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

Principle of working R-2R DAC

Using summing amplifier formula, the
DAC
Vout = {(Rp)/R}. [ d0. {1/(2n-1)}Rdac +
d1. {1/(2n-2)}(Rdac)2 + dn-1. {1/(2n
1)}(Rdac )n-1 ]. Rdac is DAC resolution,
voltage output per bit increment at the
DAC input.
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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Principle of working R-2R DAC

The successive sum terms is double
that of the preceding term. This is
because, the resistance in the path of
(n-1) bit input = R, for (n -2)th bit, it is
2R, and so on. It is 2n-2 time R in the
path of lowest bit input. .
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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Outline

DAC
DAC Circuit
DAC Characteristics

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
The DAC analog output resolution R
= (V+ref Vref)/ (2n 1). depends
on amplifier and filter circuit
Range of output signal = V+ref or
i+maxand V ref. or i min
A suitable amplifier at the output
interface circuit and has a suitable filter
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
Analog output of an n bit DAC is when
input = decimal m, the input is m times
the DAC resolution, when lowest
output is Vref.

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
Input bits bn 1, bn 2, . , b1 and b0
are given by the equation:
bn 1 w0n 1 + bn 2 w0 n 2 + bn 3
w0 n 3 +. + b2 w02 + b1
w01 + b0 w00 = m = Vout/ integer
part, where w0 =2 and bn 1, bn 2, . ,
b1 and b0 are the input bits from the
DAC when the output = Vout
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
DAC conversion time a time in
which the expected analog output
change results from the digital input
change .
DAC drift due to circuit temperature
defined in ppm/C

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
Relationship between the DAC
input in decimal vs. the output voltage
in Volt or current in mA
Linearity of DAC defined as the
maximum deviation from a straightline relationship.

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
Accuracy of DAC output is defined by
the DAC quantization error.
Quantized level means a discrete level.
10-bit DAC, peak output Voltage =
2.0V.
Resolution is then equal to division of
2.0 V by 210 = 1.95 mV/bit.
210 = 1024 quantized levels
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
A digital multiplexer can receive the
digital inputs from the various
channels and can give the one output
at a time from the DAC

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
DAC glitch example.
Input to a DAC suddenly falls from
127D to 63 D. Let resolution is 10
mV/bit. If DAC is of high speed and is
of resolution 10 mV, then the output
may first drop from 1.27 V to 0 V and
then eventually settle at 630 mV.
Appearance of transient in output
signal is called glitch
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC Characteristics
DAC settling time is the time in which the
expected output voltage is within 0.5 times
of resolution, i.e., within 1/2 lsb.
Consider that the input to a DAC suddenly
falls from 1023d to 511 d. Let DAC is of
high speed and is of resolution 5 mV/bit.
Let in 8s, the expected output drop of 512
mV and the output settles between the (511
+ 2.5) and (511 2.5) mV. The settling
time = 8 s.
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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Summary

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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DAC converts n-bit digital signal

into analog output and input is
between 0000... to 1111...
Analog output signal between V+ref
and Vref or i+max and imi

Number of bits, Resolution, drift,

settling time glitch and
quantization error characteristics
R-RR ladder network
Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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End of Lesson 2 on

DIGITAL TO ANALOG
CONVERTER (DAC or D/A)

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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THANK YOU

Ch20L2-"Digital Principles and Design", Raj Kamal, Pearson Education, 2006

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