Experimental implementation of test method for dynamic characterization of DAC based on over sampling and low resolution ADC

The paper deals with the experimental implementation of a test method to perform the dynamic characterization of the Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). This test method is based on the experimental detection of the Zero Crossing Time Sequence (ZCTS) into the resulting signal difference between the DAC output and the auxiliary reference one. From the ZCTS the numerical procedure reconstructs in the time domain and analyzes in the frequency domain the non-uniformly sampled output signal of the DAC. Advantageous aspect for the experimental implementation is the fact that the ZCTS can be detected by high speed low resolution ADC. The paper is focused on the experimental set up of the measurement station, the solutions to obtain the reference signal and the requirements to acquire the resulting signal with the proper resolution in order to detect the ZCTS. The results of the experimental tests carried out on the output section of 12 bit waveform generator are presented.