High-speed D/A converters

Abstract

High-speed digital-to-analog converters are used to reconstruct analog signals from digitally generated arbitrary wave form generators. Furthermore these converters are used in telecom applications to generate the modulation signals in mobile phones. Other applications are Ethernet communication sets. Numerous applications are in the area instrumentation systems needing an accurate reconstruction of analog signals from digitally generated signals. The purity of the reconstruction is a measure of the quality of the converter. Especially problems arise at the high frequency end of the output signal spectrum. The spurious free dynamic range is a very good measure for the linearity of the converter at high output signal frequencies. Therefore special designs are needed that perform this function. In many cases the resolution is limited to 10 to 12 bits, although extension into the 14 to 16 bit range will come up soon.