An Analog to Digital Converter
(ADC) converts an analog signal into a digital signal.
The digital signal is represented with a binary code, which is a combination of bits 0
and 1.
The block diagram of an ADC is shown in the following figure −
Observe that in the figure shown above, an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) consists
of a single analog input and many binary outputs. In general, the number of binary
outputs of ADC will be a power of two.
There are two types of ADCs: Direct type ADCs and Indirect type ADC. This chapter
discusses about the Direct type ADCs in detail.
If the ADC performs the analog to digital conversion directly by utilizing the internally
generated equivalent digital (binary) code for comparing with the analog input, then it is
called as Direct type ADC.
The following are the examples of Direct type ADCs −
Counter type ADC
Successive Approximation ADC
Flash type ADC
Counter type ADC
A counter type ADC produces a digital output, which is approximately equal to
the analog input by using counter operation internally.
The block diagram of a counter type ADC is shown in the following figure
The counter type ADC mainly consists of 5 blocks: Clock signal generator, Counter,
DAC, Comparator and Control logic.
The working of a counter type ADC is as follows −
The control logic resets the counter and enables the clock signal generator in
order to send the clock pulses to the counter, when it received the start
commanding signal.
The counter gets incremented by one for every clock pulse and its value will be
in binary (digital) format. This output of the counter is applied as an input of
DAC.
DAC converts the received binary (digital) input, which is the output of counter,
into an analog output. Comparator compares this analog value Va with the
external analog input value Vi.
The output of comparator will be ‘1’ as long as 𝑉𝑖 is greater than. The
operations mentioned in above two steps will be continued as long as the
control logic receives ‘1’ from the output of comparator.
The output of comparator will be ‘0’ when Vi is less than or equal to Va. So,
the control logic receives ‘0’ from the output of comparator. Then, the control
logic disables the clock signal generator so that it doesn’t send any clock pulse
to the counter.
At this instant, the output of the counter will be displayed as the digital output. It
is almost equivalent to the corresponding external analog input value Vi .
Successive Approximation ADC
A successive approximation type ADC produces a digital output, which is
approximately equal to the analog input by using successive approximation technique
internally.
The successive approximation ADC mainly consists of 5 blocks− Clock signal
generator, Successive Approximation Register (SAR), DAC, comparator and Control
logic.
The working of a successive approximation ADC is as follows −
The control logic resets all the bits of SAR and enables the clock signal
generator in order to send the clock pulses to SAR, when it received the start
commanding signal.
The binary (digital) data present in SAR will be updated for every clock pulse
based on the output of comparator. The output of SAR is applied as an input of
DAC.
DAC converts the received digital input, which is the output of SAR, into an
analog output. The comparator compares this analog value Va with the external
analog input value Vi.
The output of a comparator will be ‘1’ as long as Vi is greater than Va.
Similarly, the output of comparator will be ‘0’, when Vi is less than or equal
to Va.
The operations mentioned in above steps will be continued until the digital output
is a valid one.
The digital output will be a valid one, when it is almost equivalent to the corresponding
external analog input value Vi.
Flash type ADC
Flash Type ADC is based on the principle of comparing analog input voltage with set
of reference voltages.
To convert the analog input voltage into a digital signal of n-bit output, (2 n – 1)
comparators are required.
The following figure shows 2- bit flash type ADC
The three op-amps are used as comparators. The non-inverting inputs of all the
three comparators are connected to the analog input voltage. The inverting
terminals are connected to a set of reference voltages (V/4), (2V/4) and (3V/4)
respectively which are obtained using a resistive divider network and power supply
+V.
The output of the comparator is in positive saturation(i.e. logic 1), when voltage at
non-inverting terminal is greater than voltage at inverting terminal and is in
negative saturation otherwise.
The following table shows the comparator outputs for different ranges of analog
input voltages and their corresponding digital outputs.
Consider first condition, where analog input voltage VA is less than (V/4). In
this case, the voltage at the non-inverting terminals of all the three
comparators is less than the respective voltages at inverting terminals and
hence the comparator outputs are C1C2C3 = 000.
This comparator outputs are applied to the further coding circuit to get the
digital outputs as B1B0 = 00
Similarly the digital outputs are calculated for other three conditions also.
Advantages:
1)It is the fastest type of ADC because the conversion is performed
simultaneously through a set of comparators, hence referred as flash type
ADC. Typical conversion time is 100ns or less.
2)The construction is simple and easier to design.
Disadvantages:
1)It is not suitable for higher number of bits.
2)To convert the analog input voltage into a digital signal of n-bit
output, (2n – 1) comparators are required. The number of
comparators required doubles for each added bit.
