Building a Stable DAC External Reference Circuit

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ApplicationReportSLAA172–March2003

1BuildingaStableDACExternalReferenceCircuitJoselitoParguianDataAcquisitionProductsABSTRACTThisapplicationreportiswrittentohelpdesignengineersimplementastableDACexternalreferencecircuitforTI’sdigital-to-analogconverters(DACs)thatdonothaveaninternalreference.Thisreportpointsoutthecriticalaspectsandtheimportanceofareferencebufferdriver.

IntroductionTheperformanceofadigital-to-analogconverterdependsonvariousdesignpractices,mostofwhichareconstruedtobesecondnaturetoelectronicdesigners.But,inreality,therearemoresubtleareasinDACdesigntobeconsideredtogetgoodperformancefromaDAC,dependingontheapplicationrequirement.Thisreportfocusesononekeyspecificarea,whichistheexternalreferencecircuitdesign.ProvidingastablereferencesourceisoneofthebiggestcontributingfactorsinthesuccessfulperformanceofaDAC.Becauseofitssimpleconcept,theDACreferencecircuitcanbemisunderstood,overlooked,orassumedtoworkjustfine.NormallythisisnotabigproblemforTIDACswithabuilt-inreferencesource,becauseitscomplexitiesarealreadytakenintoconsiderationandthesolutionsarealreadyimplementedinternaltotheDAC.Thisisassumingthattheinternalreferencefitstherequirementofthesystemapplication.Unfortunately,notalldigital-to-analogconvertersincludeabuilt-inreferencecircuit,mainlyduetorestrictionsinlayoutdesignand,insomecases,becausetheinternalreferenceisjustnotpracticalfortheintendedDACapplication,whereanexternalsourceofreferenceisbettersuitedfortheapplication.

ForDACsthatrequireanexternalsourceofvoltagereference,carefulconsiderationsshouldbetakeninselectingtheexternalsourceofvoltage.ThesourceshouldatleastbecleanandstablebecauseitservesastheDAC’sreferencepoint.TI’sgeneralpurposeDACsaremeticulouslyplannedandanyimpendingproblemsattributablebyinternalfactorsarecarefullytakenintodesignconsideration.TheforceandsenseconceptisimplementedtotakecareoftheseforeseeableerrorspertainingtothereferencecircuitoftheDAC.

TheForceandSenseCircuitThebasicconceptoftheforceandsensecircuitistoprovideareferencedriverthatassurestheDACastablevoltagebysensingtheIRdropcausedbythefixedinternalresistance(dueprimarilytocopper,metalandpin)andthecodedependentcurrent.Sincethereferencecurrentiscodedependent,itvariesthroughthespanofthecode,therefore,theIRdropbecomeshardtotracksincethevoltageisnowvaryingconstantlyasthecodeischanged.

Simplysaid,thedigitalinputcodeoftheDACdictatestheamountofcurrentthathastobesuppliedintotheVREFHinputpinandoutofVREFLpin.Thiscanvaryfromafewmicroampstoapproximately2mA,whichmakesthereferenceinputappearasavaryingloadtothereference.SLAA1722BuildingaStableDACExternalReferenceCircuitTheSolutionBecausetheIRdropisnotafixedvoltage,itcannotbeeasilycompensatedbybuildingasimplepassivecircuit.Asasolution,thereferencesensepinisusedtoprovideafeedbackpathtotheoutsidesuchthattheIRdropcanbetrackedandcompensatedaccuratelybyusingabuffer.Theop-ampisprovidedprimarilytomaintainastablevoltageforthereferenceandminimizeerrorscausedbythevaryingcurrents.Theop-ampbasicallydetectsthevoltagedropacrosstheinternalwiringresistanceoftheDACreferenceinputthroughthefeedbacksensepin.Inessence,theop-ampadjustsfortheIRdropinVREFforceinputlineoftheDAC.Thisprocess

maintainsafirmlyestablishedvoltageseenbytheDACsreferencecircuitatalltimes.ThisconfigurationnowyieldsthebestlinearityperformanceoftheDAC.

AnexamplereferencedrivingcircuitisshowninFigure1belowforadual±10-VreferencecircuitusedwiththeTIDAC7744.TheDAC7744pinoutprovidesreferenceforceandsensepinssothattheexternallyappliedreferencevoltageisappliedcorrectlyinternaltotheDAC7744.Tobetterunderstand,considertheinternalwiringmetalresistanceoftheDACreferenceinputsasshownbyRW1,RW2,RW3,andRW4.SincetheDACreferenceinputcurrentscanvaryfromafew

microampstoapproximately2mAdependingontheDACcode(seeFig.7and8),internalIRdropsaregeneratedacrossRW2andRW3.TheseinternalDACIRdrops,ifleftuncompensated,

cancauseundesirablelinearityerrors(seeFig.3and4).Byusingthereferencebufferconfigurationshown,theoutputvoltageofeachop-ampbufferisself-adjustedforeachDACcodetoensurethattheinternalDACreferencesensepointmaintainstheexternalbufferedreferencevoltage.

Theadditionofthe100-Ωresistorand1000-pFcapacitortoeachop-ampbufferconfigurationactsasbothadecouplingcircuitandalsoprovidesnoisereductionfortheexternalreference.The2200-pFcapacitorprovidesalowimpedancepathathighfrequenciestoclosetheop-amploopprovidingstablecompensation.

Thisconfigurationcanalsobeappliedfor±5-Vreferenceapplication.

VREFLSense

VREFL