ZADCS146/147

12-Bit, 200ksps, ADC Family

Data Sheet

October 12, 2011

© 2011 Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG — Rev. 2.0

All rights reserved. The material contained herein may not be reproduced, adapted, merged, translated, stored, or used without

the prior written consent of the copyright owner. The information furnished in this publication is PRELIMINARY and subject to

changes without notice.

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The small-signal bandwidth of the input tracking circuitry is 3.8MHz. Hence it is possible to digitize high-speed

transient events and periodic signals with frequencies exceeding the ADC’s sampling rate. This allows the

application of certain under-sampling techniques like down conversion of modulated high frequency signals.

Be aware that under-sampling techniques still require a bandwidth limitation of the input signal to less than the

Nyquist frequency of the converter to avoid aliasing effects. Also, the output impedance of the input source

must be very low to achieve the mentioned small signal bandwidth in the overall system.

2.3.

Internal & External Reference

ZADCS146 is equipped with a highly accurate internal 2.5V reference voltage source. The voltage is

generated from a trimmed 1.25V bandgap with an internal buffer that is set to a gain of 2.00. The bandgap

voltage is supplied at VREFADJ with an output impedance of 20kΩ. An external capacitor of 47nF at

VREFADJ is useful to further decrease noise on the internal reference.

The VREFADJ pin also provides an opportunity to externally adjust the bandgap voltage in a limited range

(see Figure 8) as well as the possibility to overdrive the internal bandgap with an external 1.25V reference.

The internal bandgap reference and the VREF buffer can be shut down completely by setting VREFADJ to

VDD. This reduces power consumption of the ZADCS146 device and allows the supply of an external

reference at VREF.

ZADCS147 does not contain the internal bandgap or the VREF

buffer. An external reference must be supplied all the time at

VREF.

The value of the reference voltage at VREF sets the input range

of the converter and the analog voltage weight of each digital

code. The size of the LSB (least significant bit) is equal to the

value of VREF (reference to AGND) divided by 4096. For

example at a reference voltage of 2.500V, the voltage level of a

LSB is equal to 0.610mV.

The average current consumption at VREF depends on the value

of VREF and the sampling frequency. Two effects contribute to

the current at VREF, a resistive connection from VREF to AGND

and charge currents that result from the switching and recharging of the capacitor array (CDAC) during

sampling and conversion. For an external reference of 2.5V the input current at VREF is approximately

100µA.

2.4.

Digital Interface

ZADCS146 and ZADCS147 are controlled by a 4-wire serial interface that is compatible to SPI™, QSPI™ and

MICROWIRE™ devices without external logic. Any conversion is started by sending a control byte into DIN

while nCS is low. A typical sequence is shown in Figure 9.

The control byte defines the input channel(s), unipolar or bipolar operation and output coding, single-ended or

differential input configuration, external or internal conversion clock and the kind of power down that is

activated after the completion of a conversion. A detailed description of the control bits can be obtained from

Figure 9. As it can also be seen in Figure 9 the acquisition of the input signal occurs at the end of the control

byte for 2.5 clock cycles. Outside this range, the Track & Hold is in hold mode.

The conversion process is started, with the falling clock edge (SCLK) of the eighth bit in the control byte. It

takes twelve clock cycles to complete the conversion and one additional cycle to shift out the last bit of the

conversion result. During the remaining seven clock cycles the output is filled with zeros in 24-Clock

Conversion Mode. Depending on what clock mode was selected, either the external SPI clock or an internal

clock is used to drive the successive approximation. Figure 10 shows the Timing for Internal Clock Mode.

Figure 8: Reference Adjust Circuit

VDD = +2.7V … +5.25V

ZADCS146

510kΩ

VREFADJ

47nF