12.2 Resolution

The resolution is the smallest possible change in output voltage. For a 16-bit DAC the resolution is 1/(2^16 ), or 1/65536, of the full-scale output range (or 1/(2^12 ), or 1/4096 of full-scale for optional 12-bit D/A) . This smallest change results from an increase or decrease of 1 in the D/A code, and so this change is referred to as 1 LSB, or 1 least significant bit. The value of this LSB is calculated as follows:

1 LSB = Maximum voltage swing / 65536 (16-Bit)

= Maximum voltage swing / 4096 (12-Bit)

The maximum voltage swing is defined as the difference between the highest nominal output voltage and the lowest output voltage. For an output range of 0-10V or +/-5V, the maximum voltage swing is 10V.

Example:

Output range = +/-5V

Maximum voltage swing = 10V

1 LSB = 10V / 65536 = 152.6uV (16-Bit)

= 10V / 4096 = 2.44mV (12-Bit)