A gradient-error and edge-effect tolerant switching scheme for a high-accuracy DAC

This brief analyzes the systematic errors that limit the intrinsic accuracy of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). A new switching scheme is proposed that exhibits special properties: it cancels the linear and quadratic gradient errors at the MSB level. We explain why this scheme has those properties and how to construct it. This scheme excels at reducing edge-effects occurring at the side of the array. No extracted information from the error profile is required. This increases the robustness of the scheme and reduces the need for reprocessing. The effectiveness of this scheme is demonstrated by applying it to the measured error profile of a 14-b current-steering converter without dummies. This shows that 14-b current-steering converters can be constructed without any dummy rows or columns at all.