Quantization effects when testing differential gain

The quantization effects introduced by analog-to-digital converters into differential gain measurement has been shown to be a possible cause of nonrepeatable measurements. This nonrepeatability has potentially negative effects in a production environment. The dependence of measurement error on converter resolution and DC input level is analyzed. An algorithm using Fourier analysis to compensate for this error is discussed and applied to a model of a convertor with significant amount of differential gain error. This algorithm is shown to be able to measure the inherent device error in the presence of the quantization uncertainty. The ability to separate the errors produced by the quantization of the device under test (DUT) and the errors produced by the device's transfer curve is vital to the characterization of the device. The algorithm is used to characterize the performance of a 6-b flash converter.<
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