ADC and DAC

The Impact of Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog Conversion

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this chance for thanking my research facilitator, friends & family for support they provided and their belief in me as well as guidance they provided without which, I would have never been able to do this research.

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DECLARATION

I, (author's name), declare that all the work presented in this dissertation is my personal research work, and that the research is solely completed by me. I further declare that I have tried to maintain originality of the work and that this research work has not been submitted for any other professional or academic work in the past. This study is also expressing my personal views and not essentially which are associated with university.

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ABSTRACT

Digitally calibrated ADCs and digitally calibrated DACs are a hot topic at multiple institutions both in the UK and globally. Much has been developed in terms of algorithms and circuits. Integrated circuits make this technology possible; device scaling and synthesis that makes each generation of technology better and cheaper. There is a demand that all digital circuits must eventually interface to the analog world by the use of Analog-to-Digital Conversion (ADC) and Digital-to-Analog Conversion (DAC) circuits. To get the most out of higher performing digital circuits, there is a need for ADCs and DACs that can be easily integrated on scaled technology. Although scaling inherently improves digital circuits, scaling analog circuits tends to gives increased speed yet decreased gain and not necessarily lowers power or area. Keeping the extreme importance of ADC and DAC in mind, this research mainly aims to study the impact of Analog to Digital Conversion (ADC) and Digital to Analog Conversion (DAC). The research also looks into the functions and applications of ADC and DAC. To conduct this research, the principal investigator focuses upon the accumulation of secondary type of data. The study utilizes pertinent journals, scholarly writings and related content that is available online. The findings and conclusions are based on the secondary data.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Aims and Objectives3

Research Questions3

Research Method3

Key Definitions4

Analog Signal4

Digital Signal4

Outline of the Study5

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION6

Analog to Digital Conversion6

Function of ADC6

Applications of ADC8

Digital to Analog Conversion9

Function of DAC10

Applications of DAC12

Important characteristics in ADC and DAC13

Comparison of Analog and Digital Signals14

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RESULTS16

REFERENCES17

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background

The demand for faster, cheaper and lower power digital circuits has driven the size of transistors to roughly one-thousandth the width of a human hair. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge in the field of mixed-signal circuit design. Smaller transistors require less area, consume less power and switch at a higher speed (Li et al. 2005). The drawback of the smaller transistor is that it operates with a low supply voltage. This low supply voltage creates a challenge for analog circuit designers because it limits the maximum swing of analog circuits. This shift in device capability has spurred the development of new circuits, new algorithms and in some cases, new applications (Jeon et ...