16-Bit DAC Buzzes Along At 2.5 Gsamples/s

The DAC38J84  four-channel, 16-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) runs 66% faster than the competition—at 2.5 Gsamples/s—according to developer Texas Instruments. It supports JEDEC’s JESD204B serial interface standard for data converters up to 12.5 Gbits/s. The company also says its pin-compatible, two-channel, 16-bit DAC38J82 also is 25% than existing 15-bit dual DACs. Both DACs support up to 2 GHz of information bandwidth for power-amplifier digital pre-distortion, millimeter-wave backhaul infrastructure, signal jamming, radar, and test equipment. They offer an input rate up to 1.23 Gsamples/s per DAC. The DAC38J84 provides two independent transmit paths with up to 1 GHz of complex information bandwidth each. A multi-band summation block allows two complex carrier blocks to be independently mixed to the desired frequency before summing them together for a single-path complex transmit. The block supports up to 2 GHz information bandwidth from one pair of 2.5-Gsample/s output DACs. The DAC38J84 consumes 1100 mW at the common wireless basestation of 1.474 Gsamples/s. At 2.458 Gsamples/s, it uses 1612 mW. Packaging is a 10- by 10-mm BGA.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC.