Analog to Digital Converters
Davide Bucci · 2017
This chapter describes the challenges that exist in analog to digital converter (ADC) structures from the point of view of someone who has to choose the right integrated circuit for a particular application. Since ADCs are rather complicated structures, in the past high-performance solutions were expensive hybrid modules. The chapter also describes the conversion errors that exist and have to be taken into account during the choice of the right conversion strategy. Analog to digital conversion requires a certain amount of time during which the voltage to convert is kept as constant as possible. Therefore, a sampling operation is required to “freeze” the signal at a constant value for the appropriate time interval. This is the role of the “sample and hold” circuit, which ideally transforms a continuously varying signal Vin into a signal VS/H.