SAR Analog-to-Digital Converter Claimed As Industry

Establishing a speed record for data converters at any resolution, the ADS7881 successive approximation register (SAR) a/d converter achieves 4 Msamples/s. The device is suited for advanced applications requiring high speed and low power, such as optical networking, portable medical systems, high-speed data acquisition, spectrum analyzers, imaging and telecommunications. The 12-bit device features 1 LSB linearity, 1.5 mV offset, -91 dB harmonic distortion, 71.5 dB signal-to-noise ratio and just 95 mW power dissipation. The chip integrates an internal reference and reference buffer and has a pseudo-differential, unipolar input range (0V to 2.5V). A nap mode reduces power dissipation to 10 mW and a power down mode consumes only 10 µW. The ADS7881 comes in a 48-lead TQFP package, and is priced at $7 each/1,000. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC., Dallas, TX. (800) 477-8924.