A 500 °C 8-b Digital-to-Analog Converter in Silicon Carbide Bipolar Technology

High-temperature integrated circuits provide important sensing and controlling functionality in extreme environments. Silicon carbide bipolar technology can operate beyond 500 °C and has shown stable operation in both digital and analog circuit applications. This paper demonstrates an 8-b digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The DAC is realized in a current steering R-2R configuration. High-gain Darlington current switches are used to ensure ideal switching at 500 °C. The measured differential nonlinearity (DNL) and integral nonlinearity (INL) at 25 °C are 0.79 and 1.01 LSB, respectively, while at 500 °C, the DNL and INL are 4.7 and 2.5 LSB, respectively. In addition, the DAC achieves 53.6 and 40.6 dBc of spurious free dynamic range at 25 °C and 500 °C, respectively.