LTC1668
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APPLICATIO S I FOR ATIO
For fixed reference voltage applications, CCOMP1 should
be 0.1µF or more. The reference control loop small-signal
bandwidthisapproximately1/(2π)•CCOMP1 •80or20kHz
for CCOMP1 = 0.1µF.
Theory of Operation
The LTC1668 is a high speed current steering 16-Bit DAC
made on an advanced BiCMOS process. Precision thin
film resistors and well matched bipolar transistors result
in excellent DC linearity and stability. A low glitch current
switchingdesigngivesexcellentACperformanceatsample
rates up to 50Msps. The device is complete with a 2.5V
internal bandgap reference and edge triggered latches,
and sets a new standard for DAC applications requiring
very high dynamic range at output frequencies up to
several megahertz.
Internal Reference Output—REFOUT
The onboard 2.5V bandgap voltage reference drives the
REFOUT pin. It is trimmed and specified to drive a 2k
resistor tied from REFOUT to IREFIN, corresponding to a
1.25mA load (IOUTFS = 10mA). REFOUT has nominal
output impedance of 6Ω, or 0.24% per mA, so it must be
buffered to drive any additional external load. A 0.1µF
capacitor is required on the REFOUT pin for compensa-
tion. Note that this capacitor is required for stability, even
if the internal reference is not being used.
Referring to the Block Diagram, the DAC contains an array
of current sources that are steered to IOUTA or IOUTB with
NMOS differential current switches. The four most signifi-
cant bits, DB15 to DB12 are made up of 15 current
segmentsofequalweight. Thelowerbits, DB11toDB0are
binary weighted, using a combination of current scaling
and a differential resistive attenuator ladder. All bits and
segments are precisely matched, both in current weight
forDClinearity, andinswitchtimingforlowglitchimpulse
and low spurious tone AC performance.
DAC Transfer Function
The LTC1668 uses straight binary digital coding. The
complementary current outputs, IOUT A and IOUT B, sink
current from 0 to IOUTFS. For IOUTFS = 10mA (nominal),
IOUT A swings from 0mA when all bits are low (i.e., Code =
0) to 10mA when all bits are high (i.e., Code = 65535) (deci-
mal representation). IOUT B is complementary to IOUT A
IOUT A and IOUT B are given by the following formulas:
.
Setting the Full-Scale Current, IOUTFS
The full-scale DAC output current, IOUTFS, is nominally
10mA, and can be adjusted down to 1mA. Placing a
resistor, RSET, between the REFOUT pin, and the IREFIN pin
sets IOUTFS as follows.
IOUT A = IOUTFS • (DAC Code/65536)
(2)
(3)
IOUT B = IOUTFS • (65535-DAC Code)/65536
In typical applications, the LTC1668 differential output
currents either drive a resistive load directly or drive an
equivalent resistive load through a transformer, or as the
feedback resistor of an I-to-V converter. The voltage
outputs generated by the IOUT A and IOUT B output currents
are then:
The internal reference control loop amplifier maintains a
virtual ground at IREFIN by servoing the internal current
source, IINT, to sink the exact current flowing into IREFIN
IINT is a scaled replica of the DAC current sources and
IOUTFS = 8 • (IINT), therefore:
.
IOUTFS = 8 • (IREFIN) = 8 • (VREF/RSET
)
(1)
VOUT A = IOUT A • RLOAD
VOUT B = IOUT B • RLOAD
The differential voltage is:
VDIFF = VOUT A – VOUT B
(4)
(5)
For example, if RSET = 2k and is tied to VREF = REFOUT =
2.5V, IREFIN = 2.5/2k = 1.25mA and IOUTFS = 8 • (1.25mA)
= 10mA.
(6)
The reference control loop requires a capacitor on the
COMP1 pin for compensation. For optimal AC perfor-
mance, CCOMP1 should be connected to VSS and be placed
very close to the package (less than 0.1").
= (IOUT A – IOUT B) • (RLOAD
)
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