
ADC1173
SNAS025F –FEBRUARY 1999–REVISED APRIL 2013
www.ti.com
As is the case with all high speed converters, the ADC1173 should be assumed to have little a.c. power supply
rejection, especially when self-biasing is used by connecting VRT and VRTS together.
No pin should ever have a voltage on it that is in excess of the supply voltages or below ground, not even on a
transient basis. This can be a problem upon application of power to a circuit. Be sure that the supplies to circuits
driving the CLK, OE, analog input and reference pins do not come up any faster than does the voltage at the
ADC1173 power pins.
Pins 11 and 13 are both labeled DVDD. Pin 11 is the supply point for the digital core of the ADC, where pin 13 is
used only to provide power to the ADC output drivers. As such, pin 11 may be connected to a voltage source
that is less than the +5V used for AVDD and DVDD to ease interfacing to low voltage devices. Pin 11 should never
exceed the pin 13 potential by more than 0.5V. Note that tOD will increase for lower pin 11 voltages.
THE ADC1173 CLOCK
Although the ADC1173 is tested and its performance is ensured with a 15MHz clock, it typically will function with
clock frequencies from 1MHz to 20MHz.
If continuous conversions are not required, power consumption can be reduced somewhat by stopping the clock
at a logic low when the ADC1173 is not being used. This reduces the current drain in the ADC1173's digital
circuitry from a typical value of 2.3mA to about 100µA.
Note that powering up the ADC1173 without the clock running may not save power, as it will result in an
increased current flow (by as much as 170%) in the reference ladder. In some cases, this may increase the
ladder current above the specified limit. Toggling the clock twice at 1MHz or higher and returning it to the low
state will eliminate the excess ladder current.
An alternative power-saving technique is to power up the ADC1173 with the clock active, then halt the clock in
the low state after two or more clock cycles. Stopping the clock in the high state is not recommended as a
power-saving technique.
LAYOUT AND GROUNDING
Proper grounding and proper routing of all signals is essential to ensure accurate conversion. Separate analog
and digital ground planes that are connected beneath the ADC1173 may be used, but best EMI practices require
a single ground plane. However, it is important to keep analog signal lines away from digital signal lines and
away from power supply currents. This latter requirement requires the careful separation and placement of power
planes. The use of power traces rather than one or more power planes is not recommended as higher
frequencies are not well filtered with lumped capacitances. To filter higher frequency noise, it is necessary to
have sufficient capacitance between the power and ground planes.
If separate analog and digital ground planes are used, the analog and digital grounds should be in the same
layer, but should be separated from each other. If separate analog and digital ground layers are used, they
should never overlap each other.
Capacitive coupling between a typically noisy digital ground plane and the sensitive analog circuitry can lead to
poor performance that may seem impossible to isolate and remedy. The solution is to keep the analog circuity
well separated from the digital circuitry.
Digital circuits create substantial supply and ground current transients. The logic noise thus generated could
have significant impact upon system noise performance. The best logic family to use in systems with A/D
converters is one which employs non-saturating transistor designs, or has low noise characteristics, such as the
74HC(T) and 74AC(T)Q families. The worst noise generators are logic families that draw the largest supply
current transients during clock or signal edges, like the 74F and the 74AC(T) families. In general, slower logic
families, such as 74LS and 74HC(T), will produce less high frequency noise than do high speed logic families.
Since digital switching transients are composed largely of high frequency components, total ground plane copper
weight will have little effect upon the logic-generated nose. This is because of the skin effect. Total surface area
is more important that is total ground plane volume.
An effective way to control ground noise is by using a single, solid ground plane, splitting the power plane into
analog and digital areas and to have power and ground planes in adjacent board layers. There should be no
traces within either the power or the ground layers of the board. The analog and digital power planes should
reside in the same board layer so that they can not overlap each other. The analog and digital power planes
define the analog and digital areas of the board.
20 Submit Documentation Feedback Copyright © 1999–2013, Texas Instruments Incorporated
Product Folder Links: ADC1173