LTC2207/LTC2206
24
22076fa
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
Digital Output Randomizer
Interference from the ADC digital outputs is sometimes
unavoidable. Interference from the digital outputs may be
from capacitive or inductive coupling or coupling through
the ground plane. Even a tiny coupling factor can result in
discernible unwanted tones in the ADC output spectrum.
By randomizing the digital output before it is transmitted
off chip, these unwanted tones can be randomized, trading
a slight increase in the noise floor for a large reduction in
unwanted tone amplitude.
The digital output is “Randomized” by applying an exclu-
sive-OR logic operation between the LSB and all other data
output bits. To decode, the reverse operation is applied;
that is, an exclusive-OR operation is applied between the
LSB and all other bits. The LSB, OF and CLKOUT outputs
are not affected. The output Randomizer function is active
when the RAND pin is high.
Output Driver Power
Separate output power and ground pins allow the output
drivers to be isolated from the analog circuitry. The power
supply for the digital output buffers, OV
DD
, should be tied
to the same power supply as for the logic being driven.
For example, if the converter is driving a DSP powered
by a 1.8V supply, then OV
DD
should be tied to that same
1.8V supply. In CMOS mode OV
DD
can be powered with
any logic voltage up to the V
DD
of the ADC. OGND can be
powered with any voltage from ground up to 1V and must
be less than OV
DD
. The logic outputs will swing between
OGND and OV
DD
.
Internal Dither
The LTC2207/LTC2206 are 16-bit ADCs with a very lin-
ear transfer function; however, at low input levels even
slight imperfections in the transfer function will result in
unwanted tones. Small errors in the transfer function are
usually a result of ADC element mismatches. An optional
internal dither mode can be enabled to randomize the input
location on the ADC transfer curve, resulting in improved
SFDR for low signal levels.
As shown in Figure 15, the output of the sample-and-hold
amplifier is summed with the output of a dither DAC. The
dither DAC is driven by a long sequence pseudo-random
number generator; the random number fed to the dither
DAC is also subtracted from the ADC result. If the dither
DAC is precisely calibrated to the ADC, very little of the
dither signal will be seen at the output. The dither signal
that does leak through will appear as white noise. The dither
DAC is calibrated to result in less than 0.5dB elevation in
the noise floor of the ADC, as compared to the noise floor
with dither off.
Figure 13. Functional Equivalent Block Diagram of Internal Dither Circuit
+
–
AIN
–
AIN
+
S/H
AMP
DIGITAL
SUMMATION
OUTPUT
DRIVERS
MULTIBIT DEEP
PSEUDO-RANDOM
NUMBER
GENERATOR
16-BIT
PIPELINED
ADC CORE
PRECISION
DAC
CLOCK/DUTY
CYCLE
CONTROL
CLKOUT
OF
D15
D0
ENC
DITHER ENABLE
HIGH = DITHER ON
LOW = DITHER OFF
DITH
ENC
ANALOG
INPUT
22076 F13
LTC2207/LTC2206