REFERENCE INPUT
LAYOUT
The external reference sets the analog input range. The
ADS7842 will operate with a reference in the range of 100mV
For optimum performance, care should be taken with the
physical layout of the ADS7842 circuitry. This is particu-
larly true if the reference voltage is low and/or the conver-
sion rate is high.
to +VCC
.
There are several critical items concerning the reference input
and its wide voltage range. As the reference voltage is re-
duced, the analog voltage weight of each digital output code
is also reduced. This is often referred to as the LSB (least
significant bit) size and is equal to the reference voltage
divided by 4096. Any offset or gain error inherent in the A/D
converter will appear to increase, in terms of LSB size, as the
reference voltage is reduced. For example, if the offset of a
given converter is 2 LSBs with a 2.5V reference, then it will
typically be 10 LSBs with a 0.5V reference. In each case, the
actual offset of the device is the same, 1.22mV.
The basic SAR architecture is sensitive to glitches or sudden
changes on the power supply, reference, ground connec-
tions, and digital inputs that occur just prior to latching the
output of the analog comparator. Thus, during any single
conversion for an n-bit SAR converter, there are n “win-
dows” in which large external transient voltages can easily
affect the conversion result. Such glitches might originate
from switching power supplies, nearby digital logic, and
high power devices. The degree of error in the digital output
depends on the reference voltage, layout, and the exact
timing of the external event. The error can change if the
external event changes in time with respect to the DCLK
input.
Likewise, the noise or uncertainty of the digitized output will
increase with lower LSB size. With a reference voltage of
100mV, the LSB size is 24µV. This level is below the
internal noise of the device. As a result, the digital output
code will not be stable and vary around a mean value by a
number of LSBs. The distribution of output codes will be
gaussian and the noise can be reduced by simply averaging
consecutive conversion results or applying a digital filter.
With this in mind, power to the ADS7842 should be clean
and well bypassed. A 0.1µF ceramic bypass capacitor should
be placed as close to the device as possible. In addition, a
1µF to 10µF capacitor and a 5Ω or 10Ω series resistor may
be used to lowpass filter a noisy supply.
With a lower reference voltage, care should be taken to
provide a clean layout including adequate bypassing, a clean
(low noise, low ripple) power supply, a low-noise reference,
and a low-noise input signal. Because the LSB size is lower,
the converter will also be more sensitive to nearby digital
signals and electromagnetic interference.
The reference should be similarly bypassed with a 0.1µF
capacitor. Again, a series resistor and large capacitor can be
used to lowpass filter the reference voltage. If the reference
voltage originates from an op amp, make sure that it can
drive the bypass capacitor without oscillation (the series
resistor can help in this case). The ADS7842 draws very
little current from the reference on average, but it does place
larger demands on the reference circuitry over short periods
of time (on each rising edge of CLK during a conversion).
The voltage into the VREF input is not buffered and directly
drives the capacitor digital-to-analog converter (CDAC)
portion of the ADS7842. Typically, the input current is
13µA with a 2.5V reference. This value will vary by
microamps depending on the result of the conversion. The
reference current diminishes directly with both conversion
rate and reference voltage. As the current from the reference
is drawn on each bit decision, clocking the converter more
quickly during a given conversion period will not reduce
overall current drain from the reference.
The ADS7842 architecture offers no inherent rejection of
noise or voltage variation in regards to the reference input.
This is of particular concern when the reference input is tied
to the power supply. Any noise and ripple from the supply
will appear directly in the digital results. While high fre-
quency noise can be filtered out as discussed in the previous
paragraph, voltage variation due to line frequency (50Hz or
60Hz) can be difficult to remove.
Data Format
The ADS7842 output data is in Straight Offset Binary
format as shown in Table IV. This figure shows the ideal
output code for the given input voltage and does not include
the effects of offset, gain, or noise.
The GND pin should be connected to a clean ground point.
In many cases, this will be the “analog” ground. Avoid
connections which are too near the grounding point of a
microcontroller or digital signal processor. If needed, run a
ground trace directly from the converter to the power supply
entry point. The ideal layout will include an analog ground
plane dedicated to the converter and associated analog
circuitry.
®
ADS7842
13
BB [ BURR-BROWN CORPORATION ]
