2-74
ICL7136, ICL7137
Differential Reference
The reference voltage can be generated anywhere within the
power supply voltage of the converter. The main source of
common mode error is a roll-over voltage caused by the
reference capacitor losing or gaining charge to stray capacity
on its nodes. If there is a large common mode voltage, the
reference capacitor can gain charge (increase voltage) when
called up to de-integrate a positive signal but lose charge
(decrease voltage) when called up to de-integrate a negative
input signal. This difference in reference for positive or
negative input voltage will give a roll-over error. However, by
selecting the reference capacitor such that it is large enough
in comparison to the stray capacitance, this error can be
held to less than 0.5 count worst case. (See Component
Value Selection.)
Analog COMMON
This pin is included primarily to set the common mode
voltage for battery operation (ICL7136) or for any system
where the input signals are floating with respect to the power
supply. The COMMON pin sets a voltage that is approxi-
mately 2.8V more negative than the positive supply. This is
selected to give a minimum end-of-life battery voltage of
about 6.8V. However, analog COMMON has some of the
attributes of a reference voltage. When the total supply
voltage is large enough to cause the zener to regulate (>7V),
the COMMON voltage will have a low voltage coefficient
(0.001%/V), low output impedance (≅15Ω), and a
temperature coefficient typically less than 150ppm/oC.
The limitations of the on chip reference should also be
recognized, however. With the ICL7137, the internal heating
which results from the LED drivers can cause some
degradation in performance. Due to their higher thermal
resistance, plastic parts are poorer in this respect than
ceramic. The combination of reference Temperature
Coefficient (TC), internal chip dissipation, and package ther-
mal resistance can increase noise near full-scale from 25µV
to 80µVp-p. Also the linearity in going from a high dissipation
count such as 1000 (20 segments on) to a low dissipation
count such as 1111(8 segments on) can suffer by a count or
more. Devices with a positive TC reference may require
several counts to pull out of an over range condition. This is
because over-range is a low dissipation mode, with the three
least significant digits blanked. Similarly, units with a
negative TC may cycle between over range and a non-over
range count as the die alternately heats and cools. All these
problems are of course eliminated if an external reference is
used.
The ICL7136, with its negligible dissipation, suffers from
none of these problems. In either case, an external
reference can easily be added, as shown in Figure 4.
Analog COMMON is also used as the input low return during
auto-zero and de-integrate. If IN LO is different from analog
COMMON, a common mode voltage exists in the system
and is taken care of by the excellent CMRR of the converter.
However, in some applications IN LO will be set at a fixed
known voltage (power supply common for instance). In this
application, analog COMMON should be tied to the same
point, thus removing the common mode voltage from the
converter. The same holds true for the reference voltage. If
reference can be conveniently tied to analog COMMON, it
should be since this removes the common mode voltage
from the reference system.
Within the lC, analog COMMON is tied to an N channel FET
that can sink approximately 3mA of current to hold the
voltage 2.8V below the positive supply (when a load is trying
to pull the common line positive). However, there is only
10µA of source current, so COMMON may easily be tied to a
more negative voltage thus overriding the internal reference.
FIGURE 4. USING AN EXTERNAL REFERENCE
TEST
The TEST pin serves two functions. On the ICL7136 it is
coupled to the internally generated digital supply through a
500Ω resistor. Thus it can be used as the negative supply for
externally generated segment drivers such as decimal points
or any other presentation the user may want to include on
the LCD display. Figures 5 and 6 show such an application.
No more than a 1mA load should be applied.
FIGURE 5. SIMPLE INVERTER FOR FIXED DECIMAL POINT
ICL7136
V
REF LO
ICL7137
REF HI
V+
V-
6.8V
ZENER
IZ
ICL7136
V
REF HI
REF LO
COMMON
V+
ICL8069
1.2V
REFERENCE
6.8kΩ
20kΩ
ICL7137
FIGURE 4A.
FIGURE 4B.
ICL7136
V+
BP
TEST
21
37 TO LCD
BACKPLANE
TO LCD
DECIMAL
POINT
1MΩ