[FAQ] ADC Noise: How can you reduce the amount of reference noise passing into your system?

One common way to reduce the amount of reference noise passed into the system is to limit the system’s overall ENBW. This can be achieved by slowing down the ADC’s output data rate. Figure 8 shows how reducing the ADC’s output data rate decreases both ADC noise and reference noise simultaneously. For example, between ENBW = 0.6 Hz (left) and ENBW = 96 Hz (right), the reference noise at 100% utilization decreases by a factor of 2.3, while the ADC noise decreases by a factor of 10, resulting in far less total noise.

Figure 8: Limiting ENBW reduces total noise: 0.6 Hz (left), 24 Hz (middle), 96 Hz (right)

Read part 9 to learn more about how your reference configuration can also reduce the amount of reference noise passing into your system.