Clara M. High-performance D/A-converters. Application to digital transceivers

296 p. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is designed to perform an accurate summation of a given number o f electrical unit quantities. This number is specified by the digital input code applied to the converter. The result of the summation appears as an analog electrical signal at the converter output. Thus, the output signal of the DAC represents, with more or less accuracy, the digital input code in the analog domain and can be further processed by subsequent analog circuitry, e.g., filters, amplifiers, mixers, or transducer interfaces. Fundamentally, it is the summing operation of appropriate electrical unit quantities that marks the actual transition from the digital into the analog domain. This data conversion process is also subject to a number of error sources that introduce distortion, as well as additional noise, into the analog output signal. Since these nonideal effects tend to limit the performance of practical converters, they should be adequately considered already during the design phase. The modeling of conversion inaccuracies is believed to be of central importance for close-to-optimum, system-specific DAC design. Indeed, a large part of this work is dedicated to providing theoretical insight into fundamental nonidealities of integrated D/A-converters with a focus on the current-steering architecture and, wherever appropriate, linking it to the system-level perspective.