High-accuracy D/A converters

Abstract

High-resolution monolithic D/A converters are subject to growing interest due to the rapidly expanding market for digital signal processing systems. An example of such a market is digital audio. The large dynamic range of a digital audio system requires converters with resolutions of 16 to 20 bits. Monolithic converters with such a high linearity are difficult to design and require special circuit configurations. The most simple types of D/A converters are obtained with pulse-width modulation systems. These systems require fast logic circuits. In a pulse-width D/A converter structure an output low-pass filter reconstructs the analog signal and removes the modulation signal. Maximum speed of these types of converters is limited to the kHz range. The advantage of these systems is the small amount of accurate components that are needed in a practical implementation.