LTC2368-24
12
236824f
For more information www.linear.com/LTC2368-24
INPUT DRIVE CIRCUITS
A low impedance source can directly drive the high imped-
ance inputs of the LTC2368-24 without gain error. A high
impedance source should be buffered to minimize settling
time during acquisition and to optimize ADC linearity. For
best performance, a buffer amplifier should be used to
drive the analog inputs of the LTC2368-24. The amplifier
provides low output impedance, which produces fast set-
tling of the analog signal during the acquisition phase. It
also provides isolation between the signal source and the
ADC input currents.
Noise and Distortion
The noise and distortion of the buffer amplifier and signal
source must be considered since they add to the ADC noise
and distortion. Noisy input signals should be filtered prior
to the buffer amplifier input with an appropriate filter to
minimize noise. The simple 1-pole RC lowpass filter (LPF1)
shown in Figure 4 is sufficient for many applications.
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
Figure 4. Input Signal Chain
A coupling filter network (LPF2) should be used between
the buffer and ADC input to minimize disturbances reflected
into the buffer from sampling transients. Long RC time
constants at the analog inputs will slow down the settling
of the analog inputs. Therefore, LPF2 typically requires a
wider bandwidth than LPF1. This filter also helps minimize
the noise contribution from the buffer. A buffer amplifier
with a low noise density must be selected to minimize
degradation of the SNR.
High quality capacitors and resistors should be used in the
RC filters since these components can add distortion. NP0
and silver mica type dielectric capacitors have excellent
linearity. Carbon surface mount resistors can generate
distortion from self heating and from damage that may
occur during soldering. Metal film surface mount resistors
are much less susceptible to both problems.
Input Currents
One of the biggest challenges in coupling an amplifier to
the LTC2368-24 is in dealing with current spikes drawn
by the ADC inputs at the start of each acquisition phase.
The ADC inputs may be modeled as a switched capacitor
load of the drive circuit. A drive circuit may rely partially
on attenuating switched-capacitor current spikes with
small filter capacitors CFILT placed directly at the ADC
inputs, and partially on the driver amplifier having suffi-
cient bandwidth to recover from the residual disturbance.
Amplifiers optimized for DC performance may not have
sufficient bandwidth to fully recover at the ADC’s maximum
conversion rate, which can produce nonlinearity and other
errors. Coupling filter circuits may be classified in three
broad categories:
Fully Settled – This case is characterized by filter time
constants and an overall settling time that is consider-
ably shorter than the sample period. When acquisition
begins, the coupling filter is disturbed. For a typical first
order RC filter, the disturbance will look like an initial step
with an exponential decay. The amplifier will have its own
response to the disturbance, which may include ringing. If
the input settles completely (to within the accuracy of the
LTC2368-24), the disturbance will not contribute any error.
Partially Settled – In this case, the beginning of acquisition
causes a disturbance of the coupling filter, which then
begins to settle out towards the nominal input voltage.
However, acquisition ends (and the conversion begins)
before the input settles to its final value. This generally
produces a gain error, but as long as the settling is linear,
no distortion is produced. The coupling filter’s response
is affected by the amplifier’s output impedance and other
parameters. A linear settling response to fast switched-
capacitor current spikes can NOT always be assumed for
precision, low bandwidth amplifiers. The coupling filter
serves to attenuate the current spikes’ high-frequency
energy before it reaches the amplifier.
Fully Averaged – If the coupling filter capacitors (CFILT) at
the ADC inputs are much larger than the ADC’s sample
capacitors (45pF), then the sampling glitch is greatly at-
tenuated. The driving amplifier effectively only sees the
average sampling current, which is quite small. At 1Msps,
the equivalent input resistance is approximately 22k (as
LPF2
10Ω
REF
0V
3.3nF
–
+
66nF
50Ω
BW = 48kHz
LTC2368-24
LT6202 IN+
IN–
236824