Analogue to Digital and Digital to Analogue Converters (ADCs and DACs): A Review Update

TL;DR

This review updates the state of ADCs and DACs, emphasizing that despite performance improvements, fundamental techniques and components remain consistent, with a focus on measurement, control applications, and system integration in accelerators.

Contribution

It provides an updated overview of ADC and DAC technologies, analyzing their performance, terminology, and application-specific considerations for accelerators.

Findings

Performance boundaries have extended without fundamental changes.

The paper offers application-oriented analysis of various converter types.

It highlights system integration challenges and considerations.

Abstract

This is a review paper updated from that presented for CAS 2004. Essentially, since then, commercial components have continued to extend their performance boundaries but the basic building blocks and the techniques for choosing the best device and implementing it in a design have not changed. Analogue to digital and digital to analogue converters are crucial components in the continued drive to replace analogue circuitry with more controllable and less costly digital processing. This paper discusses the technologies available to perform in the likely measurement and control applications that arise within accelerators. It covers much of the terminology and 'specmanship' together with an application-oriented analysis of the realisable performance of the various types. Finally, some hints and warnings on system integration problems are given.