Philips Semiconductors Linear Products Product specification
ADC0803/4-1CMOS 8-bit A/D converters
August 31, 1994 559
Large values of source resistance where an input bypass capacitor
is not used will not cause errors as the input currents settle out prior
to the comparison time. If a low pass filter is required in the system,
use a low valued series resistor (< 1kΩ) for a passive RC section or
add an op amp active filter (low pass). For applications with source
resistances at or below 1kΩ, a 0.1µF bypass capacitor at the inputs
will prevent pickup due to series lead inductance or a long wire. A
100Ω series resistor can be used to isolate this capacitor (both the
resistor and capacitor should be placed out of the feedback loop)
from the output of the op amp, if used.
Analog Differential Voltage Inputs and Common-
Mode Rejection
These A/D converters have additional flexibility due to the analog
differential voltage input. The VIN(-) input (Pin 7) can be used to
subtract a fixed voltage from the input reading (tare correction). This
is also useful in a 4/20mA current loop conversion. Common-mode
noise can also be reduced by the use of the differential input.
The time interval between sampling VIN(+) and VIN(-) is 4.5 clock
periods. The maximum error due to this time difference is given by:
V(max)=(VP) (2fCM) (4.5/fCLK),
where:
V=error voltage due to sampling delay
VP=peak value of common-mode voltage
fCM=common mode frequency
For example, with a 60Hz common-mode frequency, fcm, and a
1MHz A/D clock, FCLK, keeping this error to 1/4 LSB (about 5mV)
would allow a common-mode voltage, VP, which is given by:
VP
[V(max) (fCLK)
(2fCM)(4.5)
or
VP(5 x 103) (104)
(6.28) (60) (4.5) 2.95V
The allowed range of analog input voltages usually places more
severe restrictions on input common-mode voltage levels than this,
however.
An analog input span less than the full 5V capability of the device,
together with a relatively large zero offset, can be easily handled by
use of the differential input. (See Reference Voltage Span Adjust).
Noise and Stray Pickup
The leads of the analog inputs (Pins 6 and 7) should be kept as
short as possible to minimize input noise coupling and stray signal
pick-up. Both EMI and undesired digital signal coupling to these
inputs can cause system errors. The source resistance for these
inputs should generally be below 5kΩ to help avoid undesired noise
pickup. Input bypass capacitors at the analog inputs can create
errors as described previously. Full scale adjustment with any input
bypass capacitors in place will eliminate these errors.
Reference Voltage
For application flexibility, these A/D converters have been designed
to accommodate fixed reference voltages of 5V to Pin 20 or 2.5V to
Pin 9, or an adjusted reference voltage at Pin 9. The reference can
be set by forcing it at VREF/2 input, or can be determined by the
supply voltage (Pin 20). Figure 1 indicates how this is accomplished.
Reference Voltage Span Adjust
Note that the Pin 9 (VREF/2) voltage is either 1/2 the voltage applied
to the VCC supply pin, or is equal to the voltage which is externally
forced at the VREF/2 pin. In addition to allowing for flexible
references and full span voltages, this also allows for a ratiometric
voltage reference. The internal gain of the VREF/2 input is 2, making
the full-scale differential input voltage twice the voltage at Pin 9.
For example, a dynamic voltage range of the analog input voltage
that extends from 0 to 4V gives a span of 4V (4-0), so the VREF/2
voltage can be made equal to 2V (half of the 4V span) and full scale
output would correspond to 4V at the input.
On the other hand, if the dynamic input voltage had a range of 0.5 to
3.5V, the span or dynamic input range is 3V (3.5-0.5). To encode
this 3V span with 0.5V yielding a code of zero, the minimum
expected input (0.5V, in this case) is applied to the VIN(-) pin to
account for the offset, and the VREF/2 pin is set to 1/2 the 3V span,
or 1.5V. The A/D converter will now encode the VIN(+) signal
between 0.5 and 3.5V with 0.5V at the input corresponding to a code
of zero and 3.5V at the input producing a full scale output code. The
full 8 bits of resolution are thus applied over this reduced input
voltage range. The required connections are shown in Figure 2.
Operating Mode
These converters can be operated in two modes:
1) absolute mode
2) ratiometric mode
In absolute mode applications, both the initial accuracy and the
temperature stability of the reference voltage are important factors in
the accuracy of the conversion. For VREF/2 voltages of 2.5V, initial
errors of ±10mV will cause conversion errors of ±1 LSB due to the
gain of 2 at the VREF/2 input. In reduced span applications, the initial
value and stability of the VREF/2 input voltage become even more
important as the same error is a larger percentage of the VREF/2
nominal value. See Figure 3.
In ratiometric converter applications, the magnitude of the reference
voltage is a factor in both the output of the source transducer and
the output of the A/D converter, and, therefore, cancels out in the
final digital code. See Figure 4.
Generally, the reference voltage will require an initial adjustment.
Errors due to an improper reference voltage value appear as
full-scale errors in the A/D transfer function.
ERRORS AND INPUT SPAN ADJUSTMENTS
There are many sources of error in any data converter, some of
which can be adjusted out. Inherent errors, such as relative
accuracy, cannot be eliminated, but such errors as full-scale and
zero scale offset errors can be eliminated quite easily. See Figure 2.
Zero Scale Error
Zero scale error of an A/D is the difference of potential between the
ideal 1/2 LSB value (9.8mV for VREF/2=2.500V) and that input
voltage which just causes an output transition from code 0000 0000
to a code of 0000 0001.
If the minimum input value is not ground potential, a zero offset can
be made. The converter can be made to output a digital code of
0000 0000 for the minimum expected input voltage by biasing the
VIN(-) input to that minimum value expected at the VIN(-) input to
that minimum value expected at the VIN(+) input. This uses the