AD9740W
Rev. 0 | Page 13 of 20
REFERENCE CONTROL AMPLIFIER
The AD9740W contains a control amplifier that is used to regu-
late the full-scale output current, IOUTFS. The control amplifier is
configured as a V-I converter, as shown in Figure 24, so that its
current output, IREF, is determined by the ratio of the VREFIO and
an external resistor, RSET, as stated in Equation 4. IREF is copied
to the segmented current sources with the proper scale factor to
set IOUTFS, as stated in Equation 3.
The control amplifier allows a wide (10:1) adjustment span of IOUTFS
over a 2 mA to 20 mA range by setting IREF between 62.5 μA and
625 μA. The wide adjustment span of IOUTFS provides several
benefits. The first relates directly to the power dissipation of
the AD9740W, which is proportional to IOUTFS (see the Power
Dissipation section). The second relates to a 20 dB adjustment,
which is useful for system gain control purposes.
The small signal bandwidth of the reference control amplifier is
approximately 500 kHz and can be used for low frequency small
signal multiplying applications.
DAC TRANSFER FUNCTION
The AD9740W provides complementary current outputs,
IOUTA and IOUTB. IOUTA provides a near full-scale current
output, IOUTFS, when all bits are high (that is, DAC CODE =
1023), while IOUTB, the complementary output, provides no
current. The current output appearing at IOUTA and IOUTB is
a function of both the input code and IOUTFS and can be
expressed as:
IOUTA = (DAC CODE/1023) × IOUTFS (1)
IOUTB = (1023 − DAC CODE)/1024 × IOUTFS (2)
where DAC CODE = 0 to 1023 (that is, decimal representation).
As mentioned previously, IOUTFS is a function of the reference
current IREF, which is nominally set by a reference voltage,
VREFIO, and external resistor, RSET. It can be expressed as:
IOUTFS = 32 × IREF (3)
where
IREF = VREFIO/RSET (4)
The two current outputs typically drive a resistive load directly
or via a transformer. If dc coupling is required, then IOUTA
and IOUTB should be directly connected to matching resistive
loads, RLOAD, that are tied to analog common, ACOM. Note that
RLOAD can represent the equivalent load resistance seen by
IOUTA or IOUTB, as would be the case in a doubly terminated
50 Ω or 75 Ω cable. The single-ended voltage output appearing
at the IOUTA and IOUTB nodes is simply
VOUTA = IOUTA × RLOAD (5)
VOUTB = IOUTB × RLOAD (6)
Note that the full-scale value of VOUTA and VOUTB should not
exceed the specified output compliance range to maintain
specified distortion and linearity performance.
VDIFF = (IOUTA − IOUTB) × RLOAD (7)
Substituting the values of IOUTA, IOUTB, IREF, and VDIFF can be
expressed as:
VDIFF = {(2 × DAC CODE − 1023)/1024}
(32 × RLOAD/RSET) × VREFIO (8)
Equation 7 and Equation 8 highlight some of the advantages of
operating the AD9740W differentially. First, the differential
operation helps cancel common-mode error sources associated
with IOUTA and IOUTB, such as noise, distortion, and dc
offsets. Second, the differential code-dependent current and
subsequent voltage, VDIFF, is twice the value of the single-ended
voltage output (that is, VOUTA or VOUTB), thus providing twice the
signal power to the load.
Note that the gain drift temperature performance for a single-
ended (VOUTA and VOUTB) or differential output (VDIFF) of the
AD9740W can be enhanced by selecting temperature tracking
resistors for RLOAD and RSET due to their ratiometric relationship,
as shown in Equation 8.
ANALOG OUTPUTS
The complementary current outputs in each DAC, IOUTA,
and IOUTB can be configured for single-ended or differential
operation. IOUTA and IOUTB can be converted into complemen-
tary single-ended voltage outputs, VOUTA and VOUTB, via a load
resistor, RLOAD, as described in the DAC Transfer Function
section by Equation 5 through Equation 8. The differential
voltage, VDIFF, existing between VOUTA and VOUTB, can also be
converted to a single-ended voltage via a transformer or
differential amplifier configuration. The ac performance of
the AD9740W is optimum and specified using a differential
transformer-coupled output in which the voltage swing at
IOUTA and IOUTB is limited to ±0.5 V.
The distortion and noise performance of the AD9740W can be
enhanced when it is configured for differential operation. The
common-mode error sources of both IOUTA and IOUTB can
be significantly reduced by the common-mode rejection of a
transformer or differential amplifier. These common-mode
error sources include even-order distortion products and noise.
The enhancement in distortion performance becomes more
significant as the frequency content of the reconstructed
waveform increases and/or its amplitude decreases. This is due
to the first-order cancellation of various dynamic common-
mode distortion mechanisms, digital feedthrough, and noise.
Performing a differential-to-single-ended conversion via a
transformer also provides the ability to deliver twice the
reconstructed signal power to the load (assuming no source
termination). Because the output currents of IOUTA and
IOUTB are complementary, they become additive when pro-
cessed differentially. A properly selected transformer allows
the AD9740W to provide the required power and voltage levels
to different loads.
The output impedance of IOUTA and IOUTB is determined by
the equivalent parallel combination of the PMOS switches
associated with the current sources and is typically 100 kΩ in