Low Glitch Current-Steering DAC with split input code.pdfVIP

Low Glitch Current-Steering DAC with Split Input Code MIRCEA TOMOROGA, LUCIAN JURCA, MIRCEA CIUGUDEAN, CORNELIU TOMA Department of Applied Electronics, “Politehnica” University of Timisoara B-dul Vasile Parvan nr.2, Timisoara ROMANIA Abstract: - In this paper we will offer a solution for a current-steering DAC in standard CMOS technology which presents an important innovation as the voltage reference does not represent a distinct block, but it overlaps the functional diagram of the converter. The splitting in two equal parts of the digital input code applied to the converter will drastically diminish the number of large dimension transistors used in the current sources of the converter. By forcing the same potential to the complementary output of the converter as to its main output, we efficiently reduce the glitches that appear during the switching. Keywords: current-steering DAC, sub-bandgap voltage reference, split input code, glitches. 1 Introduction The natural tendency in portable equipments manufacturing is that their supply voltages become lower and lower. Furthermore, in the field of analog and mixed integrated circuits one of the most accessible technological processes in terms of price is the standard CMOS process. Taking into consideration these two aspects, the majority of the works which deal with the subject of Nyquist frequency DAC-s design suggest the use of a reference voltage source which must be able to work at these low supply voltages. Thus, CMOS sub- bandgap reference voltage sources have been developed [8], [10], [11] and obviously they provide an output voltage lower than 1.2V. The most widespread types of Nyquist frequency DAC-s are current-steering DAC-s, a statement sustained by recent works, such as [1], [2], [4], [5]. For these types of converters, exact theoretical models have been elaborated and they allowed an easy evaluation of their static and dynamic performances [5], [6]. Here, the bandgap voltage source is attached