Vaibhav Kumar
TI Precision Designs: TIPD115 Verified Design
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for
Lowest Distortion and Noise
TI Precision Designs
Circuit Description
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This design is for an 18-bit data acquisition block at
1MSPS throughput optimized for the lowest distortion
and noise performance. The circuit is realized with an
18-bit successive-approximation-resistor (SAR)
analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a fully differential
input driver and a high precision reference and
reference driver. The design details the process for
optimizing the precision front end drive circuit as well
as the reference circuit to achieve excellent dynamic
performance with the ADS8881 while consuming low
power.
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REFERENCE DRIVE CIRCUIT
20kΩ
1µF
THS4281
+
-
1kΩ
AVDD
+
0.2Ω
1µF
AVDD
+
OPA333
1kΩ
+
Vout
AVDD
10µF
REF5045
Vin
Temp
1µF
Trim Gnd
1µF
1KΩ
1KΩ
AVDD
AVDD
VIN+
THS4521
+ + -
VCM
-
+
10Ω
10nF
CONVST
ADS8881
AINM
10Ω
GND
CONVST
+
VIN-
REFP AVDD
AINP
V+
1KΩ
1KΩ
18-Bit 1MSPS
SAR ADC
INPUT DRIVER
An IMPORTANT NOTICE at the end of this TI reference design addresses authorized use, intellectual property matters and
other important disclaimers and information.
TINA-TI is a trademark of Texas Instruments
WEBENCH is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise 1
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
1
Design Summary
The primary objective is to design a lowest distortion and noise data acquisition block with low power
consumption using the 18-bit ADS8881 at a throughput of 1MSPS for a 10 kHz full-scale pure sine wave
input. The design requirements for this block design are:
•
System Supply Voltage: 5 V dc
•
ADC Supply Voltage: 3.3 V dc
•
ADC Sampling Rate: 1MSPS
•
ADC Reference Voltage (VREF): 4.5 V dc
•
ADC Input Signal: A differential input signal with amplitude of V pk = 4.315 V (-0.4 dBFS to avoid
clipping) and frequency, f IN = 10 kHz are applied to each differential input of the ADC
The design goals and performance are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Comparison of design goals, simulation and measured performance
Goal
Simulated
Total Power
Parameter
< 40 mW
NA
39.4 mW
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
> 98 dB
NA
98.74 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
< -110 dB
NA
-110.04 dB
Effective Number of Bits (ENOB)
16
NA
16.05
< ±1.5 LSB
NA
< ±1.5 LSB
Integral Non-Linearity (INL)
Measured
Data Acquisition Block: FFT Spectrum
0
-20
-40
dBc
-60
-80
HD2 HD3
-100
-115.0 -112.4
-120
-123.1
-140
-144.6
-125.1
-130.1
-129.6
-142.2
-137.2
-160
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Frequency (kHz)
Figure 1: Measurement Result for FFT of the Data Acquisition Block
2 18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
2
Theory of Operation
The two primary design considerations to maximize the performance of a high-resolution SAR ADC are the
input driver and the reference driver design. The overall system block diagram is shown in Figure 2. The
block-diagram comprises of the critical analog circuit blocks, the input driver, anti-aliasing filter and the
reference driver. Each analog circuit block should be carefully designed based on the ADC performance
specifications in order to maximize the distortion and noise performance of the data acquisition system
while consuming low power. The diagram includes the most important specifications for each individual
analog block.
This design systematically approaches the design of each analog circuit block to achieve a 16-bit low
noise and distortion data acquisition system for a 10 kHz sinusoidal input signal. The first step in the
design requires an understanding of the requirement of extremely low distortion input driver amplifier. This
will help in the decision of an appropriate input driver configuration and selection of an input amplifier to
meet the system requirements. The next important step is the design of the anti-aliasing RC-filer to
attenuate ADC kick-back noise while maintaining the amplifier stability. The final design challenge is to
design a high precision reference driver circuit, which would provide the required value V REF with low
offset, drift and noise contributions.
VREF Output: Value & Accuracy
Low Temp & Long-Term Drift
Low Noise
Band-limiting
Reference Noise
Low Output Impedance
Low Offset Error
Low Temp & Long-Term Drift
VREF Load
Regulation
Voltage
Reference
RC Filter
3
Buffer
RC Filter
Reference Driver
10kHz Sine
Wave
18-bit
1MSPS
Input Driver
Gain Network
REFP
Gain Network
Differential
Voltage
Source
Gain Network
+
VINP
Anti-Aliasing
Filter
+
VINM
SAR
ADC
Gain Network
2
1
Attenuate ADC kick-back noise
Stability of the input driver
Ultra Low THD
Low Output Imp
High BW and SR
Figure 2: Block Diagram Highlighting Primary Design Criteria for this DAQ Block
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise 3
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
2.1
Understanding ADC Dynamic Performance
The input driver circuit for an ADC consists of two parts: driving amplifier and a fly wheel RC filter. The
amplifier can be used for signal conditioning of the input voltage and its high input impedance and low
output impedance provides a buffer between the signal source and the ADC input. The RC filter helps to
attenuate the kick-back noise from the switched-capacitor input stage of the ADC as well as acts as an
anti-aliasing filter to band-limit the wideband noise contributed by the front-end circuit.
The main ac specifications under consideration for this design are SNR, THD, SINAD and ENOB.
Essentially, all these parameters are different ways of quantifying the noise and distortion performance of
an ADC based on a Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis. A typical FFT plot for an ADC is shown in
Figure 3.
Amplitude (dB)
Signal Being Digitized
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100
-110
-120
-130
SNR =
Signal Being Digitized
Noise
SINAD =
THD =
Signal Being Digitized
Noise + Harmonic Power
Signal Being Digitized
Harmonic Power
Harmonics
Noise
0
1k
2k
3k
4k
5k
6k
7k
8k
9k
10k
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 3: AC Specifications of an ADC
2.1.1
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
SNR provides insight into the total noise of the system. The total noise of the data acquisition system is the
root-sum-square (rss) of the front-end amplifier noise (V n_AMP_RMS ) and the ADC noise (V n_ADC_RMS ). The
ADC noise includes the quantization noise as well as the noise contributed by ADC internal circuitry. The
total noise contributions from all these sources, denoted as V n_TOT_RMS are referred to the input of the ADC
for calculating total SNR of the system (SNR SYS ).
Vn _ TOT _ RMS = Vn2_ AMP _ RMS + Vn2_ ADC _ RMS
SNR SYS =
(1)
VSIG _ RMS
Vn _ TOT _ RMS
4 18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
(2)
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
2.1.2
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)
THD is defined as the ratio of the rss of all harmonic components (generally 9 harmonics are used) to the
power of the fundamental signal frequency. It is generally specified with an input signal near full-scale
(FS), but in this design the input is kept 0.4dB below FS to prevent clipping. If the root-mean-square (rms)
th
value of input signal is denoted as V SIG_RMS and the power in n harmonic is denoted by V HAR_n_RMS , then
the total harmonic distortion (V HAR_TOT_RMS ) and THD can be calculated as:
2
2
2
VHAR _ TOT _ RMS = VHAR
_ 1 _ RMS + VHAR _ 2 _ RMS + 22 + VHAR _ 9 _ RMS
THD =
2.1.3
(3)
VSIG _ RMS
VHAR _ TOT _ RMS
(4)
Signal-to-Noise-and-Distortion Ratio (SINAD)
SINAD combines the effect of distortion and noise to provide a cumulative measure of the overall dynamic
performance of the system.
SINAD SYS =
2.1.4
VSIG _ RMS
2
n _ TOT _ RMS
V
2
+ VHAR
_ TOT _ RMS
(5)
Effective Number of Bits (ENOB)
ENOB is an effective measurement of the quality of a digitized signal from an ADC by specifying the
number of bits above the noise floor. For an ideal N-bit ADC with only quantization noise, the SNR (in dB)
can be calculated as:
SNR = 6.02 × N + 1.76
N=
SNR − 1.76
6.02
(6)
(7)
This definition for ENOB can be extrapolated to indicate the overall dynamic performance of a data
acquisition system by substituting SNR with SINAD SYS from equation
ENOB =
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
SINAD SYS − 1.76
6.02
(8)
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise 5
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
Therefore, in order to maximize the performance of a high precision ADC, it is important to keep both the
distortion and noise contribution from the front-end circuit at an extremely low-level. Based on equation 8,
the minimum THD and SNR requirements to achieve an ENOB 16-bit data acquisition system are
calculated in Figure 4.
16.5
ENOB (bits)
16
15.5
15
14.5
100dB SNR
14
95dB SNR
13.5
90dB SNR
13
80
85
90
95
|THD | (dB)
100
105
110
Figure 4: ENOB versus THD and SNR
2.2
Low Distortion Input Driver Design
In designing a very low distortion data acquisition block it is important to understand the sources of nonlinearity. Both the ADC and the input driver introduce non-linearity in a data acquisition block. To achieve
the lowest distortion, the input driver for a high performance SAR ADC needs to have a distortion that is
negligible against the ADC distortion. This requires the input driver distortion to be 10dB lower than the
ADC THD. This stringent requirement ensures that overall THD of the system is not degraded by more
than -0.5 dB.
THD AMP < THD ADC − 10 dB
(9)
It is therefore important to choose an amplifier that meets the above criteria to avoid the system THD from
being limited by the input driver. The amplifier non-linearity in a feedback system is dependent on the
available loop gain. The block diagram modeling the non-linearity is shown in Figure 5 below.
NL
VIN
+
+
A
∑
-
∑
VOUT
β
Figure 5: Non Linearity in a Feedback System
Vout =
Vin × A
NL
+
1 + Aβ 1 + Aβ
6 18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
(10)
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
The non-linearity (NL) in the above feedback system is divided by the loop gain (Aβ). The open loop gain
(A) of the amplifier is a function of frequency and typically degrades at -20dB/decade. This reduction of
open loop gain at higher frequencies causes the THD to degrade at high frequencies. To maintain a low
THD at higher frequencies it is therefore important to choose an amplifier with high gain bandwidth product
(GBW). This will ensure that there is sufficient loop gain available at higher input frequencies to maintain
the minimum required THD specification.
Most amplifier datasheet specify THD+N as a measured specification. It is important to understand that in
some amplifiers the noise dominates the THD+N specification. However, you can calculate just the THD
nd
rd
specification of the amplifier based on the 2 and 3 harmonic distortion (HD 2 and HD 3 respectively)
using Equation 11.
2
HD 3
HD
10
THD(dB) = 10 log10
+ 10 10
(11)
The distortion from the input driver however is not limited to the amplifier distortion specification but also
the amplifier configuration. The input driver can be configured either in an inverting or a non-inverting
configuration as shown in the Figure 6.
Gain Network
Gain Network
Vin
Vout
Vin
Gain Network
Vout
Vcm
+
Non Inverting Amplifier
+
Inverting Amplifier
Figure 6: Non-Inverting and Inverting Amplifier Configurations
The common mode of the input driver in a non-inverting configuration follows the input signal. This adds a
constraint on the input amplifier to have rail-to-rail inputs to allow full scale input signals. Furthermore, the
movement of the common mode of the input amplifier introduces additional common mode dependent
distortion at the output of the amplifier. In comparison, in the inverting configuration the common mode is
fixed and thus does not require rail-to-rail inputs and also does not introduce any additional common mode
dependent distortion. Therefore, in this design the input driver amplifier is configured in an inverting
amplifier configuration. This architectural choice helps improve the THD performance of the system
significantly. However, it does bring other trade-offs which will be explained later.
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise 7
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
2.3
Low Distortion Anti-Aliasing Filter Design
The conversion of analog to digital signals requires sampling an input at a constant rate. If the input
contains high frequency content higher than half the sampling rate, the high frequency content would be
folded back into the low frequency spectrum and digitized. This is called aliasing. Therefore an antialiasing filter is required to remove this harmonic content. An anti-alias filter is designed as a low pass filter
with its corner frequency being equal to the sampling rate. Designing the anti-aliasing filter corner
frequency at the sampling rate ensures that the input signal attenuation is kept to a maximum of 1dB while
filtering high frequency content from folding back. The anti-alias filter also helps limit the bandwidth and
noise at the output of the input driver amplifier.
The inputs of the SAR ADC are shown in Figure 7 introduce transient distortion during the acquisition
period. The input driver is not an ideal source with zero ohms of output impedance and infinite current
drive and thus the anti-alias filter helps with a few important design requirements. The capacitor C FLT helps
to reduce the kick-back noise at the ADC input and provides a charge bucket to quickly charge the input
capacitor C SH during the sampling process. The value of the capacitor C FLT should be chosen such that
when switch SW SAMP closes, the voltage droop (∆V FLT ) on C FLT is less than 5% of the input voltage.
R
R
Vin
Vout
Vcm
SWSAMP
RFLT
+
CFLT
CSH
Inverting Amplifier
Figure 7: Simplified Schematic of Single Ended Input Sampling Stage
Charge required for ADC sampling capacitor,
Charge supplied by filter cap,
Q IN = C SH × VREF
Q FLT = C FLT × ∆VFLT
≤
C FLT × (0.05 × VREF )
By the principle of charge conservation:
QIN = QFLT
CFLT × (0.05 × VREF ) ≥
C SH × VREF
CFLT ≥ 20 × C SH
8 18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
(12)
(13)
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
At this point, it is important to understand the trade-offs involved in selecting the values of C FLT and R FLT . If
the value of C FLT is high, it provides better attenuation against the kick-back noise when the sampling
switch closes. However, C FLT cannot be made arbitrarily high because it degrades the phase margin of the
driving amplifier, thus making it unstable. The series resistor R FLT acts as an isolation resistor, which helps
to stabilize the driving amplifier. A higher value of R FLT is helpful from the amplifier stability perspective, but
degrades ac performance and should be balanced with the amplifier stability to ensure that the distortion
does not exceed the required specifications. The distortion happens due to the non-linear input impedance
of the ADC and it increases with source impedance, input signal frequency and amplitude. It is important to
keep the anti-aliasing resistor (R FLT ) much lower than the switch resistance. A resistance of 20 times lower
than the switching resistor is preferred.
RFLT <
R SWITCH
20
(14)
The minimum value for R FLT is dependent on the output impedance of the amplifier based on stability
considerations. If the output impedance of the driving amplifier is equal to R O , its stability can be analyzed
by evaluating the effect of R FLT and C FLT on the amplifier’s open-loop response. The combination of R O ,
R FLT and C FLT introduces one pole, f P (equation 15) and one zero, f Z (equation 16) in the amplifier’s openloop response, for which the corner frequencies are given below:
fP =
1
2π(R O + R FLT )C FLT
fZ =
(15)
1
2πR FLT C FLT
(16)
In order to ensure that the phase change from the zero negates the phase change that the pole initiates, it
is important that the frequency distance between the pole and zero must be less than or equal to one
decade.
f
log Z
fP
≤ 1
(17)
Using equations (15) and (16), the minimum value for RFLT can be derived as:
R FLT ≥
R0
9
(18)
In the interest of stability, the effects of f Z must occur at a frequency lower than the closed-loop gain
bandwidth of the amplifier (f CL ). This is because for stability of the amplifier circuit, the closure rate
between the open and closed loop gain curves should not be greater than 20db/decade. In order to
account for the fabrication process variations associated with the amplifier’s performance, a good practice
is to choose f Z such that closed-loop gain bandwidth of the amplifier, f CL is at least twice the frequency of
the zero.
fCL
≥ 2
fZ
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
(19)
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise 9
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
For a fully differential amplifier combined with a fully differential SAR ADC the anti-aliasing filter is typically
designed as a differential filter as shown in Figure 8.
R
R
+
Vin
-
RFLT
+
R
+
REFP
VINP
+
Vout
-
CFLT
VINM
RFLT
SAR
ADF
R
Figure 8: Fully Differential Anti-Aliasing Filter
The anti-aliasing filter bandwidth for a fully differential system can then be calculated using equation 20. It
is important to note that for a fully differential filter the effective capacitance is twice for the RC Filter.
BWFLT =
2.4
1
2π × RFLT × (2 × CFLT )
(20)
System Noise Analysis
A high-performance 18-bit, 1MSPS SAR ADC has a typical SNR specification of 99dB for a 10 kHz input
signal and V REF = 5V. In order to maintain the superior dynamic performance of this ADC, the effect of
noise from the front-end circuit has been analyzed in this section. This analysis will provide a bound for the
maximum noise which the input driver circuit can have without degrading the system SNR. Based on the
maximum noise and appropriate input amplifier and feedback resistors can be chosen for the design.
The input driver in an inverting configuration requires input and feedback resistors compared to the noninverting configuration. This architectural choice has significant impact on the noise analysis. If we
consider the circuit in Figure 9, which is an amplifier in an inverting configuration with two resistors, we can
calculate the noise separately from each of the resistors and the op amp voltage noise. Each source has
its own contribution to the noise at the amplifier output. Noise referred to the input (RTI) is simply the noise
referred to the output (RTO) divided by the noise gain of the amplifier. Only considering the voltage noise
and not current noise the RTI Noise can be calculated as:
Vn_R2
*
Vn_R1
*
4kTR1
R1
R2
4kTR2
*
Vn_AMP
-
Vout
+
Figure 9: Noise Contribution in an Inverting Amplifier
1018-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
NG = 1 +
R2
R1
(21)
2
Vn_AMP_RTI_RMS = 1.57 × BWFLT × Vn _ AMP
2
R2
R1
+ 4kTR 1
+ 4kTR 2
R1 + R 2
R1 + R 2
2
(22)
Vn_AMP_RTO_RMS = NG × Vn_AMP_RTI_RMS
To calculate the RMS noise, the voltage noise density needs to be integrated over the anti-aliasing filter
𝜋
bandwidth. For an RC-filter, effective bandwidth is equal to (1.57) times the 3-dB cut-off frequency. It can
2
be observed that the thermal noise of the resistor contributes significantly to RTO noise. In an inverting
configuration the input amplifier is in a noise gain (NG) of 2. In this scenario the noise expressions in an
inverting gain of -1 can be simplified as:
Vn_AMP_RTI_RMS =
1.57 × BWFLT × Vn _ AMP + 4kT
2
Vn_AMP_RTO_RMS = 2 × 1.57 × BWFLT × Vn _ AMP
2
R
2
(23)
R
+ 4kT
2
In comparison to the single ended amplifier the fully differential amplifiers have feedback resistors on each
input as shown in Figure 10. The noise in a fully differential amplifier can be calculated as considering two
single ended amplifiers configured in an inverting configuration as shown in Figure 10. Both the single
ended amplifiers are identical and thus using law of superposition the noise of the fully differential amplifier
is calculated in expression 24.
R
R
R
R
+
Vin
-
+
R
+
+
Vout
-
Equivalent
+
Vin
-
Vcm
+
Vout
-
+
+
R
R
R
Figure 10: Fully Differential Amplifier Configuration
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise11
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
Vn_DIFF _ AMP_RTO _ RMS =
Vn_DIFF _ AMP_RTO_RMS =
(V
) + (V
)
2
n_AMP_RTO _ RMS
)
2
n_AMP_RTO_RMS
2 × (Vn_AMP_RTO_RMS
(24)
Vn_DIFF _ AMP_RTO_RMS = 2 × 1.57 × BWFLT × 2 * Vn _ AMP + 4kTR
2
According to the expression in equation 24 above, it is important to choose low resistor values for the
feedback of the amplifier for achieving low noise and high SNR from the amplifier. However, choosing a
low resistor values will increase the system power and also require amplifiers with high output current
drive. Thus it is important to make the appropriate choice to trade-off between system noise and power.
Now considering an ADC with an input dynamic range of V FSR , the input referred noise can be calculated
from the specified value of SNR in the datasheet by using equation below:
Vn _ ADC _ RMS =
VFSR
2 2
× 10
−
SNR (dB )
20
(25)
Hence, the total noise contribution from the total data acquisition system can be calculated as:
Vn _ TOT _ RMS = Vn2_ DIFF _ AMP _ RTO _ RMS + Vn2_ ADC _ RMS
(26)
To achieve a minimum SNR from the complete DAQ block (SNR SYS ), the maximum total rms noise from
the DAQ block needs to meet the requirement in equation 27 (combining equation 2 and 26).
VFSR
Vn2_ DIFF _ AMP _ RTO _ RMS + Vn2_ ADC _ RMS <
2 2 × 10
1218-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SNRSYS
20
(27)
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
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2.5
Reference Driver Design
External voltage reference circuits are used with ADCs without internal references. They provide low drift
and very accurate voltages for ADC reference input. However, the output broadband noise of the
references is of the order of few 100µVRMS, which degrades the noise and linearity performance of
precision ADCs for which the typical noise is of the order of tens of µVRMS. Hence, in order to optimize
the ADC performance, it is critical to appropriately filter and buffer the output of the voltage reference.
The basic circuit diagram for the reference driver circuit for precision ADCs is shown in Figure 11.
RREF_FLT
Buffer
RBUF_FLT
Voltage
Reference
CREF_FLT
REFP
CBUF_FLT
ADC
Figure 11: Simplified Schematic of Reference Driver Circuit
The reference noise can be categorized into peak-to-peak low frequency flicker or 1/f noise (V 1/f_REF_pp )
from 0.1Hz to 10Hz and higher frequency broadband noise, generally specified as a noise spectral density
(e n_REF_RMS ) over a wide frequency range. The broadband output noise from the reference circuit can be
band-limited by the 3-dB cut-off frequency (f REF_3dB ) of an RC-filter at its output. So, the primary objective
for the filter design is to keep the bandwidth low enough such that the integrated noise from the reference
does not degrade the performance of the ADC. Hence, the total integrated noise from the reference
(V n_REF_RMS ) should be kept at least 3 times less than the ADC noise to prevent any noise degradation in
the system performance:
Vn _ ADC _ RMS
Vn _ REF _ RMS ≤
3
(28)
The value of V n_REF_RMS can be calculated by the root sum square (rss) of the flicker noise and broadband
noise density as shown below:
Vn _ REF _ RMS
V 1 _ REF _ pp
= f
6.6
2
p
+ e2
× fREF _ 3 dB
n _ REF _ RMS ×
2
(29)
Combining 28 and 29, we get:
V 1 _ REF _ pp
f
6.6
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
2
SNR (dB )
−
1 VFSR
p
+ e2
× fREF _ 3 dB ≤ ×
× 10 20
n _ REF _ RMS ×
2
3 2 2
(30)
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise13
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
The variation in the broadband noise density of the voltage reference ranges from 100 nV/√Hz to
1000 nV/√Hz depending on the reference type and power consumption. In general, the reference noise is
inversely proportional to its quiescent current (I Q_REF ). Since broadband noise density is not always
included in voltage reference datasheets, an approximation of the noise density for band-gap reference
circuits is provided in equation 31:
10000nV
e n _ REF _ RMS ≈
Hz
×
1
2 × IQ _ REF (in µA )
(31)
The above formula has been derived on the basis of the measured characteristic between the output noise
density and quiescent current of several TI reference circuits, as shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12: Characteristic Curve of Reference Noise vs. Current
On combining equations 29, 30, 31, the value of f REF_3dB can be derived as:
fREF _ 3 dB ≤
2 × IQ _ REF (µA )
(10000 nV /
Hz
)
2
SNR (dB )
2
V 1 _ REF _ ππ
−
2 1 VFSR
× × ×
× 10 10 − f
π 9
8
6 .6
2
(32)
The value of the capacitor for the RC-filter should be kept higher than 100nF to keep its thermal noise
lower than 0.2 µV RMS . Using the selected value for C REF_FLT and f REF_3dB , the value of R REF_FLT can be
calculated using equation
R REF _ FLT =
1
2πfREF _ 3 dB × C REF _ FLT
(33)
Once the noise of the reference block has been band-limited, the next important step is to ensure the
reference can drive the dynamic load posed by the ADC reference input. The reference buffer must
regulate the voltage such that ∆VREF stays within 1LSB error at the start of each conversion. This
necessitates the use of a capacitor (C BUF_FLT ) along with a buffer to drive the ADC reference pin. The
calculations to determine the size of C BUF_FLT are given below
1418-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
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Difference in V REF between conversions:
∆VREF ≤
VREF
2N
If charge consumed during each conversion is QREF, then:
C BUF _ FLT =
Q REF
Q
× 2N
≥ REF
∆VREF
VREF
(34)
The average value of Q REF can be calculated from the maximum ADC conversion time (T CONV_MAX ) and the
average value of reference input current (I REF ) specified in ADC datasheets as below:
QREF = IREF × TCONV _ MAX
(35)
On combining equations 34 and 35, the minimum value of C BUF_FLT can be obtained:
C BUF _ FLT ≥
IREF × TCONV _ MAX × 2 N
VREF
(36)
The capacitor values derived from this equation are high enough to make the driving amplifier unstable, so
it is recommended to use a series resistor, R BUF_FLT to isolate the amplifier output and make it stable. The
value of R BUF_FLT is dependent on the output impedance of the driving amplifier as well as on the signal
frequency. Typical values of R BUF_FLT range between 0.1Ω to 2Ω and the exact value can be found by
using SPICE simulations. It should be noted that higher values of R BUF_FLT cause high voltage spikes at the
reference pin which affects the conversion accuracy.
After designing the appropriate passive filter for band-limiting the noise of the reference circuit, it is
important to select an appropriate amplifier for using as a reference buffer. The key specifications to be
considered when selecting an appropriate amplifier for reference buffer are:
Output Impedance: The output impedance for a reference buffer should be kept as low as possible. This
is because the ADC draws current from the reference pin during conversion and the resultant drop in
reference voltage is directly proportional to the output impedance of the driving buffer. It also helps to keep
the amplifier stable while driving a large capacitive load (C BUF_FLT ).
Input Offset: The input offset error of the buffer amplifier should be as low as possible to ensure that the
reference voltage driving the ADC is very accurate.
Offset Drift: The offset temperature drift of the reference buffer should be extremely low to make sure that
the reference voltage for the ADC does not change significantly over the operating temperature range. For
similar reasons, it is also important to keep a low long-term time drift for the buffer amplifier.
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise15
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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3
Component Selection
3.1
ADC Selection
This TI design has been optimized for low distortion and noise using TI’s high resolution, 18-bit 1MSPS
SAR ADC, ADS8881 at its maximum sampling rate for a full-scale differential sine wave input at 10 kHz.
The ADS8881 is a true differential SAR ADC designed for low voltage operation from 2.7 V–3.6 V AVDD
and 1.65 V–3.6 V DVDD. The ADS8881 has excellent dynamic performance while consuming very low
power. The power dissipation is 5.5mW (typical) at 1MSPS and can be further scaled down linearly for
applications requiring low throughput.
3.2
Input Driver: Amplifier Selection
The primary goal for this design is to achieve a DAQ block with the lowest distortion and noise. The most
important consideration for achieving this system specification is to select a full differential amplifier with
low distortion (THD) for driving the inputs of the SAR ADC. This design is specified for a full scale
sinusoidal signal, the op amp should support rail-to-rail output (RRO) swing. The other key specifications
in order to meet the performance goals for this application are slew rate, output current drive, and low
power.
The THS4521 is a very low power, fully differential op amp with rail-to-rail output and an input common
mode range that includes the negative rail. The amplifier is designed for low-power data acquisition
systems where power dissipation is a critical parameter. The amplifier provides exceptional ac
performance that meets the very low distortion and high slew rate required from the input driver.
3.3
Input Driver: RC Filter Passive Component Selection
The critical passive components for this design are the resistors (R FLT ) and capacitor (C FLT ) for the RCfilter at the input of the ADC. The tolerance of the resistor was chosen to be 0.1%, but when this was not
possible due to reasonable cost or availability, the tolerance was chosen to be 1%.
The design of the low distortion anti-aliasing filter is important to maintain the very low THD and noise
requirement from the analog front end. The distortion due to the non-linear input impedance of the ADC
increases with source impedance. It is therefore important to keep the anti-aliasing resistor (R FL T ) much
lower than the switch resistance as explained in section 2.3. The switch resistance of the ADS8881 is
220Ω therefore the maximum R FL T can be calculated below as
R SΩITCH
20
< 11Ω
RFLT <
RFLT
(37)
The value for the resistor RFLT needs also to maintain the stability of the driving amplifier and is
dependent on the output impedance of the driving amplifier, as explained in equation. The output
impedance of THS4521 is dependent on the frequency of operation.
Using equation, the minimum value for resistance R FLT can be calculated as:
R FLT ≥
80
≈ 9Ω
9
(38)
Therefore in this design the R FLT is chosen to be 10Ω to meet both the minimum and maximum
requirements described above. Higher anti-aliasing resistor value can be chosen however this will results
in additional distortion.
1618-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
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The input capacitance of ADS8881 is 59pF, therefore according to equation:
CFLT ≥ 20 × C SH
(39)
CFLT ≥ 1.18nF
In general it is beneficial to design a RC filter with bandwidth as low as possible to filter out amplifier noise.
However, the practical limitation on the choosing large ceramic C0G capacitor due to cost imposes a
maximum value on the capacitor value selection. In this design the selected value of capacitance for the
differential input of the ADC is 10nF. Based on the RC values, the bandwidth of the anti-aliasing filter can
be calculated using equation 20 as:
Table 2: Bandwidth Calculation of the Anti-Aliasing Filter
10 Ω
R FLT
10 nF
C FLT
800 kHz
BW FLT
This solution is designed to achieve the lowest distortion and noise while conserving power. Therefore the
feedback resistors in the inverting gain of -1 configuration are chosen to be 1 kΩ. The choice of 1 kΩ
resistor and the anti-alias filter bandwidth imposes a maximum amplifier noise requirement to meet the
minimum system SNR (SNR SYS ) specification. The calculations on maximum amplifier noise based on
theory described in Section 2.4 are highlighted using parameters defined in Table 3.
Table 3: Parameter for Amplifier Noise Calculation
Required SNR SYSTEM
98 dB
V FSR
4.315 V
ADC SNR
99 dB
BW FLT
800 kHz
R
1000 Ω
Vn _ TOT _ RMS =
VFSR
2 2 × 10
Vn _ ADC _ RMS =
SNRSYSTEM
20
VFSR
2 2
× 10
=
4.315
2 2 × 10
−
SNR (dB )
20
98
20
= 38µV
= 34µV
(40)
(41)
Therefore to meet the required SNR for the system the maximum rms noise from the amplifier can be
calculated using equation 26. The maximum voltage noise density of the amplifier can be calculated using
equation 27.
Vn _ DIFF _ AMP _ RTO _ RMS < V 2 n _ TOT _ RMS − Vn2_ ADC _ RMS < 17µV
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
(42)
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise17
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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Vn_DIFF _ AMP_RTO_RMS = 2 × 1.57 × BWFLT × 2 * Vn _ AMP + 4kTR < 17µV
2
Vn_DIFF _ AMP_RTO_RMS < 4.52
(43)
nV
Hz
Based on the above calculation the amplifier voltage noise needs to have less than the 4.52 nV/√Hz. For a
fully differential amplifier this requirement translates to a maximum voltage noise density of 6.4 nV/√Hz.
This is because fully differential amplifier datasheets specify noise for a fully differential signal path. It is
important to understand that to achieve ENOB of 16-bit the input driver needs to meet the minimum THD
and noise specification. Thus the selected amplifier, THS4521 meets these minimum requirements based
on the calculation above. Summary of key specification of the THS4521 are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Key Parameters for the THS4521
Parameter
THD @ 10kHz
Fully Differential
Voltage Noise Density
Iout
Bandwidth
Iq
3.4
Datasheet Specification
-132 dBc
4.6 nV/√Hz
55 mA
145 MHz
1.14 mA/ch
Reference Driver: Passive Components Selection
The external reference used to drive the ADS8881 in this design is the REF5045 from TI. This reference
has been selected because it provides the highest possible reference voltage of 4.5V in a system with only
a 5V supply. As mentioned in the datasheet of REF5045, it requires a capacitance of 10µF at the V OUT pin
for stability purposes. A series resistor of 0.2Ω is used with the 10µF capacitor for proper power-up of the
reference.
As explained in Sec. 2.5, the noise from the reference should be bandwidth limited by designing a lowpass RC filter at the reference output. According to equation 31, the 3-dB bandwidth of this filter should be
such that:
(V )2 IQ _ REF (in µA ) (4.5 )2
1000
fREF _ 3 dB ≤ REF2N+2 ×
× −10
=
2
2×18 + 2
−10
10 V
10
π × 2
π × 2
fREF _ 3 dB ≤ 234.5 KHz
(44)
The value of capacitor C REF_FLT has been selected as 1 µF to keep the thermal noise of the capacitor at a
low value. Hence, the value of R REF_FLT can be calculated using equation 15 as:
R REF _ FLT ≥
1
= 678.7Ω
2π × 234.5 × 10 3 × 10 −9
(45)
The value of R REF_FLT has been selected as 1 kΩ for this design.
1818-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
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The next important passive element in reference design is the capacitor C BUF_FLT , which helps to regulate
the voltage at the ADC reference pin under load conditions. According to ADS8881 datasheet, the average
current drawn into the reference pin (I REF ) is equal to 200 µA and for a maximum throughput of 1MSPS,
T CONV_MAX is equal to 710ns. Hence, according to equation 35, the value of C BUF_FLT can be calculated as:
C BUF _ FLT
200 × 10 −6 × 710 × 10 −9 × 218
≥
= 8.27µF
4 .5
(46)
The value of C BUF_FLT has been selected as 10 µF for this design.
3.5
Reference Driver: Amplifier Selection
As explained in Sec. 2.3, the key amplifier specifications to be considered to design a reference buffer for
a high-precision ADC are low offset, low drift, wide bandwidth and low output impedance. While it is
possible to pick an amplifier, which sufficiently meets all these requirements, it comes at a cost of
excessive power consumption. For example, the OPA350 is a 38MHz bandwidth amplifier with a maximum
offset of 0.5mV and low offset drift of 4µV/ºC, but it consumes a quiescent current of 5.2mA, which is
extremely high for this design. This is due to the fact that from an amplifier design perspective, offset and
drift are dc specifications while bandwidth, low output impedance and high capacitive drive capability are
high frequency specifications. Thus, achieving all the performance in one amplifier requires power.
However, a more efficient design to meet the low power budget is to use a composite reference buffer,
which utilizes an amplifier with superior high frequency specifications in the feedback loop of a dc precision
amplifier to get the overall performance at much lower power consumption.
In this design, the reference buffer is designed using two amplifiers – THS4281 and OPA333 in composite
double feedback architecture as shown in Figure 13.
RF ≥ 20*R
CF ≥ C
-
R ≥ 1KΩ
-
RREF_FLT
OPA333
+
CREF_FLT
THS4281
+
+
RBUF_FLT
+
C≥100nF
AVDD
AVDD
CBUF_FLT
Figure 13: Schematic of Reference Buffer Circuit
The THS4281 has a wide 3-dB bandwidth of 90MHz at a gain of 1 and output impedance of 1Ω for 1MHz
operation, with a maximum quiescent current of only 1mA. This makes it ideal for driving the high capacitor
C BUF_FLT and regulating the voltage at the ADC reference input. However, the THS4281 suffers from poor
offset (2.5mV max.) and drift (7µV/ºC max.) specifications. In order to improve the DC specifications of the
reference buffer, the OPA333 is used as a dc correcting amplifier. The OPA333 is a zero-drift (0.05µV/ºC
max.) and low offset (10µV max.) amplifier with a maximum quiescent current of only 25µA. Thus, for
similar performance related to reference accuracy and load-regulation, this two amplifier approach
provides almost 5X power savings compared to a single amplifier buffer.
In this reference buffer design, the noise specifications of the dc amplifier (OPA333) are not very important
because it gets heavily filtered by the low frequency RC-filter at its output. The value of C is chosen to be
greater than 100nF to keep the capacitor thermal noise to be less than 0.2µV RMS and the value of R is
selected greater than 1 kΩ to avoid any stability issues due to high capacitive loading.
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise19
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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This amplifier uses a dual feedback in this design, out of which one feedback is active during dc operation
and the other feedback is active during higher frequency ac operations. Figure 14 displays the dc model of
the circuit where RF appears as a short and CF appears as an open. This feedback connects the output of
THS4281 directly to the inputs of OPA333, which then corrects for its offset and drift. The value of RF
should be at least 20 times greater than R to avoid any stability issues.
-
R ≥ 1KΩ
-
RREF_FLT
OPA333
THS4281
+
+
RBUF_FLT
+
+
C≥100nF
AVDD
AVDD
CREF_FLT
CBUF_FLT
Figure 14: DC Equivalent Schematic of Reference Buffer
The active feedback connection during higher frequency operation is shown in Figure 15. At such
frequencies of operation, RF acts as open connection; CF acts as a short and the two amplifiers are
connected as isolated unity-gain buffers. The value of CF should be equal to or greater than C to avoid
any stability issues.
-
R ≥ 1KΩ
-
RREF_FLT
OPA333
+
CREF_FLT
THS4281
+
+
RBUF_FLT
+
C≥100nF
AVDD
AVDD
CBUF_FLT
Figure 15: High Frequency Equivalent Schematic of Reference Buffer
2018-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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4
Simulation
The TINA-TI™ schematic shown in Figure 16 shows the final design and selected components as
explained in the previous sections.
AVDD
3
7
R14 1k
+
+
-
C7 1u
2
U6 THS4281
6
-
AVDD
C3 1u
Vcm
VREF
R10 200m
C11 10u
C5 1u
1
C8 1u
GND Trim
4
U5 OPA333
+
2
Tem p
tower Supplies
AVDD
+
4
Vout
3
R11 200m
Vin
Temp
R12 1k
5
AVDD U1 REF5045
V3 2.35
V2 5
C4 10u
R13 20k
V1 3.3
Reference 5river /ircuit
R5 1k
Vadc+
R16 1k
R9 10
1
-
-
Vref/2
2
-
+
R17 1k
+ +
+5V
-
5
U4 THS4521
C2 10n
ACQ
R8 10
ADS8881
AINM
AINPsmpl
AINMsmpl
+
CNV
ACQ
4
R15 10
1MSPS
CONV
+
V
Vin_sh
GND
R6 1k
VG1
-
AVDD
AINP
PD
FDA+
3
8
VCVS4 500m
+
+
REFP
U7 ads8881
R7 10
6
7
VCVS3 -500m
+
+
Vadc-
-
Input 5river /ircuit
Figure 16: TINA-TI
TM
– Schematic Showing Complete Data Acquisition Block
The circuit in Figure 16 was simulated to perform a transient simulation using a 10 kHz sine wave signal to
check that the ADC inputs are settling to sufficient accuracy before the start of every conversion. The
same circuit is also used to simulate accurate settling of reference input voltage at the beginning of each
conversion. The simulation details and results are provided in the subsequent sections.
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise21
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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4.1
Stability of Input Driver Amplifier
The TINA-TI™ schematic used to check the stability of the input drivers is shown in Figure 17.
+5V
Vo+
Vref/2
Vref
+3.3V
+
V
V1 5
Vout
V2 4.5
V3 2.25
V4 3.3
Vo-
Vref
+3.3V
REFP
AVDD
R1 1k
C2 1T
Vin+
-
1
+
Vfb
Vin
V
Vref/2
2
-
+
VCVS2 -500m
+
+
C3 1T
Vin-
R8 1k
CNV
AINP
ACQ
ACQ
4
FDA+
-
8
+ +
Vin- +5V
5
U1 THS4521
C1 10n
R4 10
Vo-
ADS8881
AINM
R6 10
AINPsmpl
INP
AINMsmpl
INN
GND
R2 1k
VG1
-
L2 1T
U3 ads8881
PD
3
V
R5 10
Vo+ R3 10
L1 1T
+
-
Vin+
R7 1k
6
7
VCVS1 500m
+
+
-
Figure 17: TINA-TI
TM
– Schematic for Checking Input Driver Stability
A large inductor of value 1 TH is connected in the feedback loop of the amplifier, so it behaves like an
open-loop configuration at frequencies higher than dc. The circuit has been simplified by considering only
(2)
half-circuit of the differential input structure . In order to load the amplifier output appropriately, the ADC
is connected with “CNV” pin tie to GND so that it is always sampling the input signal. The ac magnitude &
phase response for this circuit is shown in Figure 18.
T
140.00
Gain (dB)
AOL=Beta_inv @ 39.6MHz
Gain :
aol
betainv
70.00
Phase :
aolbeta
Phase (Deg)
0.00
180.00
Phase Margin: 69.4Deg
90.00
0.00
10.00
100.00k
1.00G
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 18: TINA-TI
TM
Schematic Result - AC Magnitude & Phase Plot for Input Drivers
The resulting phase margin of 69.4º at the 0-dB cross-over frequency of 39.6MHz validates the stability of
the input drivers for this design.
2218-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
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4.2
Noise of Input Driver Amplifier
The TINA-TI™ schematic used to simulate the integrated rms noise of the input driver is shown in Figure
19. Ideally to calculate the RTO noise from the input driver, the voltage noise density curve needs to be
integrated to infinity. For a realistic approximation of the referred to the output rms noise; integration to a
decade beyond the bandwidth of the system is sufficient. Figure 20 shows the simulated integrated noise
from the fully differential amplifier input driver referred to output is 13.45 µVRMS which meets the design
requirements.
+5V
Vadc+
Vref
Vref/2
+3.3V
+
V
Vout
V1 5
V2 4.5
V3 2.25
V4 3.3
VadcVref
+3.3V
REFP
AVDD
R1 1k
Vadc+
R7 1k
-
Vref/2
2
+ +
+5V
R8 1k
+
-
5
U1 THS4521
ACQ
ADS8881
AINM
R6 10
AINPsmpl
INP
AINMsmpl
INN
GND
Vadc-
TM
TM
C1 10n
R4 10
-
Figure 19: TINA-TI
Figure 20: TINA-TI
ACQ
4
R2 1k
VG1
-
AINP
PD
FDA+
3
8
VCVS2 500m
+
+
CNV
R3 10
1
-
U3 ads8881
R5 10
6
7
VCVS1 -500m
+
+
– Schematic for Checking Input Driver Noise
Schematic Result – Integrated Fully Differential Amplifier RMS Noise
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise23
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
4.3
Transient Simulation of ADC Input Circuit
The TINA-TI™ schematic shown in Figure 16 is used to check the accurate settling of the sine-wave signal
at the inputs of the ADC during sampling phase. The simulated time-domain response for the circuit is
shown in Figure 21. The transient plot on the top shows one cycle of a 10 kHz sine-wave with an
amplitude of ±4.63V applied at the differential inputs of the ADS8881. The signal "Vin" represents the
actual input signal at the differential inputs of the ADC and the signal "Vin_sh" shows the output of the
ADC's input sample-and-hold circuit, as explained in Section 4. The lower plot shows the same waveform
zoomed in on time scale for more details. The curves are collated together to show that the sampled signal
accurately tracks the input signals during sampling and stays on hold when the ADC is converting.
Figure 21: TINA-TI
TM
Schematic Result – Digitization of Input Sine-Wave Showing ADC Sample & Hold
2418-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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4.4
Settling Response of ADC Reference Input
The TINA-TI™ schematic shown in Figure 16 is used to check the settling of the reference buffer output,
driving the REFP pin of the ADS8881. As explained in Section 2.3, the voltage at the reference pin should
settle to less than the LSB of the ADC for maintaining the overall system performance. The size of the LSB
for the ADS8881 using VREF = 4.5V is equal to 34.3µV. According to the transient simulation plot shown
in Figure 22, the error in the voltage at the REFP pin between two successive conversions is
∆VREF = 0.3µV, which is significantly less than the size of LSB. This validates that the reference voltage
has settled to sufficient accuracy to maintain the performance of this design.
a
4.00
a
bb
CONV
0.00
4.50231125
VREF
∆ Vref
0.3uV
∆Vref
==
0.3µV
4.50230915
36.00u
35.00u
Figure 22: TINA-TI
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
TM
37.00u
Time (s)
38.00u
39.00u
Schematic Result – ADC Reference Settling
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise25
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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5
PCB Design
The PCB schematic and bill of materials can be found in Appendix A.
5.1
PCB Layout
The most important considerations in designing the PCB layout for this DAQ block are discussed below:
•
The length of traces from the reference buffer circuit (REF5045, THS4281 and OPA333) to the
REFP input pin of the ADC should be kept as small as possible to minimize the trace inductance
that can lead to instability and potential issues with the accurate settling of the reference voltage
•
The input driver circuit, comprised of THS4521 should be located as close as possible to the
inputs of the ADC to minimize loop area, thus making the layout more robust against EMI/RFI
rejection. Similarly, the resistors and capacitor of the anti-aliasing filter at the inputs of the ADC
should be kept close together and close to the inputs of the ADC to minimize the loop area.
•
The traces feeding the differential input voltage from the source up to the differential inputs of the
ADC should be kept symmetrical without any sharp turns.
The complete PCB layout for this design is shown in Figure 23.
Figure 23: TI Design – 16-bit 50mW DAQ Block PCB Layout
2618-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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6
Verification & Measured Performance
The measurement results for the verification of this design are listed in this section.
6.1
DC Noise Measurement
All ADC circuits suffer from some amount of inherent broadband noise contributed by the internal resistors,
capacitors and other circuitry, which is referred to the inputs of the ADC. The front end driver circuit also
contributes some noise to the system, which can also be referred to the ADC inputs. The cumulative noise,
often called as the input-referred noise of the ADC has significant impact on the overall system
performance. The most common way to characterize this noise is by using a constant dc voltage as the
input signal and collecting a large number of ADC output codes. A histogram can then be plotted to show
the distribution of output codes, which can be used to illustrate the impact of noise on the overall system
performance. In this design, the dc noise for the system is measured by shorting the inputs of both input
driving amplifiers to a common mode voltage, V cm = ½ x V REF = 2.25V, such that the differential voltage at
the inputs of the ADC is equal to V DIFF = 0V. The resulting histogram of output codes is shown in Figure
24.
Figure 24: Measurement Data – Histogram Showing DC Noise (Mid-Scale)
The distribution of output codes looks like a Gaussian distribution which indicates a properly designed
system. However, if the output code distribution has large peaks and valleys which make it distinctly nonGaussian, then it indicates significant DNL errors in the ADC or issues with the system design like
insufficient power supply decoupling, improper ground connections and/or other poor PCB layout effects.
For a theoretically perfect ADC system, the histogram of output codes will be a single vertical bar since the
ADC output will always be the same for a dc input voltage. However, the noise contributions from the ADC
and the front-end circuit lead to a distribution of output codes, which provides a measure of the overall
system's dc noise. The measured values of peak-to-peak difference between the codes (N PP ) and the
standard deviation of codes (N σ ) are listed in Table 5.
The Noise-Free Resolution of an ADC is defined as the number of steady output bits from the converter
beyond which the system performance is dominated by noise and it is not possible to differentiate between
individual code transitions. This is an extremely conservative measurement of the ADC's performance
because the formula for noise-free resolution is derived from the peak-to-peak code noise, which is
extremely dependent on the total number of samples.
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise27
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
A more reliable approach is to use the standard deviation of output codes (N σ ) in calculating the Effective
Resolution of the ADC. Please note that the results shown in Table 5 do not assume a Gaussian based
formula in calculating the standard deviation from the peak-to-peak value because the overall dc noise is
comparable to the size of the LSB. For an 18-bit ADC used in this design, the measured value of Effective
Resolution is also equal to 18 bits which indicates that there is no degradation in the converter's
performance due to the effects of dc noise.
Please note that the Effective Resolution and Effective Number of Bits (ENOB) shown in Section 6.2
should not be confused with each other as they are two completely different entities. The ENOB for an
ADC is measured with an ac sinusoidal input signal and includes the effects due to quantization noise and
distortion terms, which have no impact on a dc measurement.
Table 5: Measurement Results for DC Noise
Parameter
Formula
Measured Value
Mean Output Code
NA
9.17
NA
7
Peak-to-Peak Code
Noise (N PP )
Standard Deviation (N σ )
NA
0.752
2
log 2
N
PP
2 18
log 2
Nσ
18
Noise-Free Resolution
Effective Resolution
15.19
18
2818-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
6.2
ADC Dynamic Performance Measurement
The design explained in this document has been optimized to achieve maximum performance out of
ADS8881 at 1MSPS throughput for a full-scale transient input signal. Table 6 displays the ac performance
of the data acquisition block. The measurements have been performed using a 10 kHz sinusoidal input
signal. Figure 25 shows the FFT of the data acquisition block. The datasheet specifications are done for
V REF = 5V, but these measurements results indicate the ADC performance for V REF = 4.5V, which implies
that the measured values are approximately 0.9dB less than the actual ADC performance for SNR, THD
and SINAD. Despite this adjustment, the measured THD of -110.04 from the system is at par with the
specified THD of ADS8881. The data acquisition system is therefore able to achieve an ENOB of 16-bit
as calculated in Table 6.
Data Acquisition Block: FFT Spectrum
0
-20
-40
dBc
-60
-80
HD2
-100
HD3
-115.0 -112.4
-120
-123.1
-140
-125.1
-130.1
-129.6
-144.6
-142.2
-137.2
-160
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Frequency (kHz)
Figure 25: Measurement Result for FFT of the Data Acquisition Block
Table 6: Measurement Results for ADC AC Performance
Parameter
Signal-to-Noise Ratio - SNR (dB)
Total Harmonic Distortion – THD (dB)
Signal-to-Noise & Distortion – SINAD (dB)
Effective Number of Bits – ENOB
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
Specification
(V REF = 5V)
Measurement
(V REF = 4.5V)
99 dB
98.73 dB
-110 dB
-110.04 dB
98 dB
98.4 dB
16
16.05
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise29
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
6.3
ADC Linearity Measurement
The linearity of the system was measured by sweeping the differential input voltage from -4.45V to 4.45V
in 26 voltage steps and the integral non-linearity (INL) error is plotted after cancelling the offset and gain
errors from the response. The 26-point INL plot is shown in Figure 26 . The DAQ block provides the best
linearity performance of ±1.5 LSB as seen in the figure below. The amplifier used in the front end driver
(THS4521) has low output impedance which results in extremely low distortion.
ADC 18-bit Linearity Error
Integral Non-Linearity Error (LSB)
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
-4.5
-3.5
-2.5
-1.5
-0.5
0.5
1.5
2.5
3.5
4.5
ADC Differential Input
Figure 26: Measurement Data – ADC INL Plot (26 Points)
3018-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
7
Modifications
The comparison in Table 7 shows some other low distortion and low noise RRO fully differential amplifiers
from TI’s portfolio which were considered for this design.
Table 7: Several alternative amplifiers compared with the THS4521
Op Amp
Quiescent
Current (mA)
Noise Density
@ 10kHz
(nV/√Hz)
Total Harmonic
Distortion (dB)
Bandwidth
(MHz)
THS4521
1.14
4.6
-132
145
THS4531
0.25
10
-121
36
THS4031
7.9
1.6
100
The design principles described in this TI Precision Design can also be applied for applications that require
higher throughput than 1 MSPS. An example application circuit using the ADS9110 is shown in Figure 27.
The ADS9110 is an 18-bit, 2 MSPS SAR ADC with best-in-class ±0.5 LSB INL and 100dB SNR
specifications under typical operating conditions. The input signal is processed through the OPA2625, a
high-bandwidth, low-distortion, high-precision dual amplifier in an inverting gain configuration, and a lowpass RC filter before being fed into the ADC. Generally, the distortion from the input driver must be at least
10 dB less than the ADC distortion. The distortion resulting from variation in the common-mode signal is
eliminated by using the OPA2625 in an inverting gain configuration. The low-power OPA625 as an input
driver provides exceptional ac performance because of its extremely low-distortion and high bandwidth
specifications. In addition, the components of the antialiasing filter are such that the noise from the frontend circuit is kept low without adding distortion to the input signal. The reference buffer is designed with
the OPA625 and OPA378 in a composite architecture to achieve superior dc and ac performance at
reduced power consumption, compared to using a single high-performance amplifier.
30 kΩ
Reference Drive Circuit
10 pF
499 Ω
-
4.7 Ω
OPA625
+
+
220 nF
0.1 µF
1 kΩ
OPA+
-
2.49 kΩ
OPA378
+
+
1 kΩ
REF5045
(See Reference Datasheet
for Detailed Pin Configuration)
OPA+
0.1 µF
4.99 kΩ
OPA+
1 µF
1 nF
10 µF
1 kΩ
10 µF
1 kΩ
-
-VDIFF/2
OPA625
1.18 VDC
10 µF
10 nF
REFM REFP REFP REFM
2.2 Ω
+
AINP
V+
VINCM = 0 V
CONVST
ADS9110
1 µF
+
AINM
OPA625
+VDIFF/2
CONVST
2.2 Ω
GND
AVDD
DVDD
10 nF
1 kΩ
GND
AVDD DVDD
1 kΩ
Input Driver
SAR ADC
1 nF
Figure 27: Differential Input DAQ Circuit for Lowest Distortion and Noise at 2 MSPS
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise31
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
The performance of this circuit is measured using a 2 kHz sinusoidal input signal. Figure 28 shows the
FFT plot of the data acquisition block and the various performance specifications are mentioned in Table
8. The datasheet specifications are done for VREF = 5V, but these measurements results indicate the
ADC performance for VREF = 4.5V, which implies that the measured values are approximately 0.9dB less
than the actual ADC performance for SNR, THD and SINAD. Despite this adjustment, the measured THD
of -120.2 from the system is better than the specified THD of ADS9110.
Figure 28: Measurement Result for FFT of the Data Acquisition Block
Table 8: Measurement Results for ADS9110 at 2 MSPS
Specification
(V REF = 5V)
Measurement
(V REF = 4.5V)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio - SNR (dB)
100 dB
99.3 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion – THD (dB)
-118 dB
-120.2 dB
Signal-to-Noise & Distortion – SINAD (dB)
99.9 dB
99.3 dB
Parameter
3218-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
Appendix A. Appendix
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise33
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
A.1 Electrical Schematic
Figure A-1: Electrical Schematic
3418-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
www.ti.com
A.2 Bill of Materials
Item
QTY
1
1
2
5
0.1u
3
1
10000p
C3
4
9
1u
C4, C5, C7, C8, C9,
C12, C13, C21, C24
5
3
10u
C6, C15, C22
6
3
1000p
C16, C18, C20
7
2
10u
C17, C19
8
2
J1, J2 (Top)
9
2
J1, J2 (Bottom)
10
1
J3 (Top)
11
1
J3 (Bottom)
12
2
J4, J5
CONN SMA JACK STRAIGHT PCB
13
2
JP1, JP2
Header Strip, 3 pin .100" Gold (1x3)
14
1
JP3
Header Strip, 2 pin .100" Gold (1x2)
7
R1, R2, R20, R24,
R26, R34, R36
Not Installed
15
16
Value
Ref Des
Description
C1
C2, C10, C11, C14,
C23
Not Installed
Capacitor, X7R Ceramic +/-10%, 25WV,
0603
Capacitor, NP0 Ceramic +/-5%, 50WV,
0603
Capacitor, X7R Ceramic +/-10%, 25WV,
0603
Capacitor, X7R Ceramic +/-10%, 10WV,
0805
Capacitor, C0G Ceramic +/-5%, 50WV,
0603
Capacitor, X7R Ceramic +/-10%, 16WV,
1206
Header 20 Pin SMT Plug, .100" Gold
(2x10)
Header 20 Pin SMT Socket, .100" Gold
(2x10)
Header 10 Pin SMT Plug, .100" Gold
(2x5)
Header 10 Pin SMT Socket, .100" Gold
(2x5)
Resistor, Thin Film Chip, 0.1%, 1/10W,
0603
Resistor, Thick Film Chip, 1%, 1/10W,
0603
Manufacturer
Part Number
Murata
GRM188R71E104KA01D
TDK
C1608C0G1H103J
Murata
GRM188R71E105KA12D
Murata
GRM21BR71A106KE51L
Murata
GRM1885C1H102JA01D
TDK
C3216X7R1C106K
Samtec
TSM-110-01-L-DV-P
Samtec
SSW-110-22-F-D-VS-K
Samtec
TSM-105-01-L-DV-P
Samtec
SSW-105-22-F-D-VS-K
Amphenol
132134
Emerson
Samtec
142-0701-201
TSW-103-07-L-S
Samtec
TSW-102-07-L-S
Panasonic
ERA-3AEB102V
Vishay/Dale
CRCW060310R0FKEA
Susumu
RL0816S-R22-F
Panasonic
ERJ-3EKF1001V
Panasonic
ERJ-3GEY0R00V
Panasonic
ERJ-3EKF2002V
Panasonic
TI
ERJ-3EKF47R0V
ADS8881IDGS
4
1k
5
10
R3, R4, R5, R6
R7, R8, R9, R10,
R22
3
0.22
R11, R16, R21
3
1k
5
0
5
20k
5
1
47
23
R12, R13, R37
R14, R19, R23, R25,
R30
R15, R17, R18, R27,
R31
R28, R29, R32, R33,
R35
U1
24
1
U2
IC VREF SERIES PREC 4.5V 8-MSOP
TI
REF5045IDGK
25
1
U3
IC OPAMP CHOP R-R 350KHZ SOT23-5
TI
OPA333AIDBV
26
1
U4
IC OPAMP VFB R-R 95MHZ SOT23-5
TI
THS4281DBV
27
1
U5
IC OPAMP GP R-R CMOS SOT23-5
TI
OPA330AIDBV
28
1
U6
IC REG LDO 3.3V .15A SOT-23-5
TI
TPS78833DBV
29
1
U7
IC OPAMP DIFF R-R 145MHZ 8MSOP
TI
THS4521IDGK
30
1
U8
IC EEPROM 256KBIT 400KHZ 8TSSOP
Microchip
24LC256-I/ST
17
18
19
20
21
22
Resistor, Thin Film Chip, 1%, 1/5W, 0603
Resistor, Thick Film Chip, 1%, 1/10W,
0603
Resistor, Thick Film Chip, 1/10W, 0603
Resistor, Thick Film Chip, 1%, 1/10W,
0603
Resistor, Thick Film Chip, 1%, 1/10W,
0603
IC ADC 16-bit 1MSPS Fully Diff 10-MSOP
Figure A-2: Bill of Materials
SLAU515A-June 2013-Revised October 2015
18-Bit, 1MSPS Data Acquisition Block (DAQ) Optimized for Lowest Distortion and Noise35
Copyright © 2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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