DAC8420

REV. 0

–11–

VREFHI Input Requirements

The DAC8420 utilizes a unique, patented DAC switch driver

circuit which compensates for different supply, reference volt-

age, and digital code inputs. This ensures that all DAC ladder

switches are always biased equally, ensuring excellent linearity

under all conditions. Thus, as indicated in the specifications,

the VREFHI input of the DAC8420 will require both sourcing

and sinking current capability from the reference voltage source.

Many positive voltage references are intended as current sources

only, and offer little sinking capability. The user should consider

references such as the AD584, AD586, AD587, AD588, AD780,

and REF43 in this application.

APPLICATIONS

Power Supply Bypassing and Grounding

In any circuit where accuracy is important, careful consideration

of the power supply and ground return layout helps to ensure

the rated performance. The DAC8420 has a single ground pin

that is internally connected to the digital section as the logic

reference level. The first thought may be to connect this pin to

the digital ground; however, in large systems the digital ground

is often noisy because of the switching currents of other digital

circuitry. Any noise that is introduced at the ground pin could

couple into the analog output. Thus, to avoid error causing

digital noise in the sensitive analog circuitry, the ground pin

should be connected to the system analog ground. The ground

path (circuit board trace) should be as wide as possible to re-

duce any effects of parasitic inductance and ohmic drops. A

ground plane is recommended if possible. The noise immunity

of the onboard digital circuitry, typically in the hundreds of mil-

livolts, is well able to reject the common-mode noise typically

seen between system analog and digital grounds. Finally, the

analog and digital ground should be connected together at a

single point in the system to provide a common reference.

This is preferably done at the power supply.

Good grounding practice is essential to maintaining analog

performance in the surrounding analog support circuitry as well.

With two reference inputs, and four analog outputs capable of

moderate bandwidth and output current, there is a significant

potential for ground loops. Again, a ground plane is recom-

mended as the most effective solution to minimizing errors due

to noise and ground offsets.

1

89

VDD

VSS

GND

0.1µF

10µF

0.1µF

10µF

10µF = TANTALUM

0.1µF = CERAMIC

Figure 26. Recommended Supply Bypassing Scheme

The DAC8420 should have ample supply bypassing, located as

close to the package as possible. Figure 26 shows the recom-

mended capacitor values of 10

µF in parallel with 0.1 µF. The

0.1

µF cap should have low “Effective Series Resistance” (ESR)

and “Effective Series Inductance” (ESI), such as the common

ceramic types, which provide a low impedance path to ground

at high frequencies to handle transient currents due to internal

logic switching. In order to preserve the specified analog perfor-

mance of the device, the supply should be as noise free as pos-

sible. In the case of 5 V only systems it is desirable to use the

same 5 V supply for both the analog circuitry and the digital

portion of the circuit. Unfortunately, the typical 5 V supply is

extremely noisy due to the fast edge rates of the popular CMOS

logic families which induce large inductive voltage spikes, and

busy microcontroller or microprocessor busses which commonly

have large current spikes during bus activity. However, by prop-

erly filtering the supply as shown in Figure 27, the digital 5 V

supply can be used. The inductors and capacitors generate a fil-

ter that not only rejects noise due to the digital circuitry, but

also filters out the lower frequency noise of switch mode power

supplies. The analog supply should be connected as close as

possible to the origin of the digital supply to minimize noise

pickup from the digital section.

100µF

ELECT.

10–22µF

TANT.

0.1µF

CER.

TTL/CMOS

LOGIC

CIRCUITS

+5V

POWER SUPPLY

+5V

+5V

RETURN

FERRITE BEADS:

2 TURNS, FAIR-RITE

#2677006301

Figure 27. Single-Supply Analog Supply Filter

Analog Outputs

The DAC8420 features buffered analog voltage outputs capable

of sourcing and sinking up to 5 mA when operating from

±15 V

supplies, eliminating the need for external buffer amplifiers in

most applications while maintaining specified accuracy over the

rated operating conditions. The buffered outputs are simply an

op amp connected as a voltage follower, and thus have output

characteristics very similar to the typical operational amplifier.

These amplifiers are short-circuit protected. The designer

should verify that the output load meets the capabilities of the

device, in terms of both output current and load capacitance.

The DAC8420 is stable with capacitive loads up to 2 nF typical.

However, any capacitive load will increase the settling time, and

should be minimized if speed is a concern.

The output stage includes a p-channel MOSFET to pull the

output voltage down to the negative supply. This is very impor-

tant in single supply systems, where VREFLO usually has the

same potential as the negative supply. With no load, the

zero-scale output voltage in these applications will be less than

500

µV typically, or less than 1 LSB when V

However, when sinking current this voltage does increase

because of the finite impedance of the output stage. The effec-

tive value of the pull-down resistor in the output stage is

typically 320

Ω. With a 100 kΩ resistor connected to +5 V, the

resulting zero-scale output voltage is 16 mV. Thus, the best