A 1 Gs/s, 10b digital-to-analog converter

At the 8b level, digital-to-analog converter (DAC) sampling rates exceeding 500 Ms/s have been reported. However, new application areas such as direct digital synthesis (DDS) and high-resolution graphics systems call for 10b to 12b linearity at sampling rates of 250 MHz and beyond. In a GaAs technology a 12b, 1 Gs/s DAC system has been implemented at the expense of a total power consumption of 3 W. This paper presents a differential DAC combining both 10b linearity with a 1 Gs/s sampling rate using only 730 mW from a single -4.5 V supply. The die is 5.0 mm/sup 2/.<<ETX>>