AD7538
Rev. B | Page 13 of 16
APPLICATION HINTS
OUTPUT OFFSET
CMOS DACs in circuits such as Figure 6 and Figure 8 exhibit
a code dependent output resistance, which in turn can cause a
code dependent error voltage at the output of the amplifier.
The maximum amplitude of this error, which adds to the DAC
nonlinearity, depends on V
OS
, where V
OS
is the amplifier input
offset voltage. To maintain specified accuracy with V
REF
at 10 V,
it is recommended that V
OS
be no greater than 0.25 mV, or (25 ×
10
−6
) (V
REF
), over the temperature range of operation. The AD711 is
a suitable op amp. The op amp has a wide bandwidth and high
slew rate and is recommended for ac and other applications
requiring fast settling.
GENERAL GROUND MANAGEMENT
Because the AD7538 is specified for high accuracy, it is impor-
tant to use a proper grounding technique. AC or transient
voltages between AGND and DGND can cause noise injection
into the analog output. The simplest method of ensuring that
voltages at AGND and DGND are equal is to tie AGND and
DGND together at the AD7538. In more complex systems
where the AGND and DGND intertie on the backplane, it is
recommended that two diodes be connected in inverse
parallel between the AD7538 AGND and DGND pins
(1N914 or equivalent).
MICROPROCESSOR INTERFACING
The AD7538 is designed for easy interfacing to 16-bit micro-
processors and can be treated as a memory mapped peripheral.
This reduces the amount of external logic needed for interfacing
to a minimal.
AD7538-TO-8086 INTERFACE
Figure 10 shows the 8086 processor interface to a single device.
In this setup, the double buffering feature (using
LDAC
) of the
DAC is not used. The 14-bit word is written to the DAC in one
MOVE instruction and the analog output responds
immediately.
ADDRESS BUS
DATA BUSAD0 TO AD15
WR
ALE
AD13
AD0
CS
LDAC
WR
DB0 TO DB13
8096
AD7538
1
1
LINEAR CIRCUITRY OMITTED FOR CLARITY.
01139-010
16-BIT
LATCH
ADDRESS
DECODE
Figure 10. AD7538-to-8086 Interface Circuit
In a multiple DAC system, the double buffering of the AD7538
allows the user to simultaneously update all DACs. In Figure 11,
a 14-bit word is loaded to the input registers of each of the DACs
in sequence. Then, with one instruction to the appropriate
address, CS4 (that is,
LDAC
) is brought low, updating all the
DACs simultaneously.
ADDRESS BUS
DATA BUSAD0 TO AD15
WR
ALE CS
LDAC
WR
DB0 TO DB13
8096
AD7538
1
1
LINEAR CIRCUITRY OMITTED FOR CLARITY.
01139-011
16-BIT
LATCH
ADDRESS
DECODE
CS4
CS3 CS2
CS1
CS
LDAC
WR
DB0 TO DB13
AD7538
1
CS
LDAC
WR
DB0 TO DB13
AD7538
1
Figure 11. AD7538-to-8086 Interface: Multiple DAC System
AD7538-TO-MC68000 INTERFACE
Figure 12 shows the MC68000 processor interface to a single
device. In this setup, the double buffering feature of the DAC
is not used and the appropriate data is written into the DAC in
one MOVE instruction.
ADDRESS BUS
DATA BUS
ADDRESS
DECODE
D0 TO D15
A1 TO A23
R/W
DTACK
AS
CS
LDAC
WR
DB0 TO DB13
MC68000
AD7538
1
1
LINEAR CIRCUITRY OMITTED FOR CLARITY.
01139-012
Figure 12. AD7538-to-MC68000 Interface