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Which DAC to choose?

BhavaniSingh Thakur
Prodigy 200 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DXP, DAC5686, DAC2904

Hi Guys,

               I want to create a digital signal generator using MSP430 micrcontroller and a DAC, with so many options available, its very confusing for me to identify which DAC will be best possible for my application, I want a DAC which can help me in generating signals from DC to 1MHz properly.

              I want voltage output, and i would like to know what factors should i look into any datasheet while choosing a DAC, my metrics are low cost, good range, "DIP Package", should be able to produce continuous-time signals.

Thank You.

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 46290 points

    BhavaniSingh,

    You should consider what peak to peak output voltages you wish to be able to produce as well as the resolution (step size) you want to achieve. Also consider what data-rates you will need to achieve however many points / period you want to see in the AC wave-forms. You'll want to look at glitch and settling time as well for pushing up to higher frequencies. Depending on a lot of these requirements you may be better off posting in the high-speed data-converters forum.

    If you need help considering these parameters you might want to download one of our tools called DXP - the DAC Excerciser Program. You can check it out here. It's recently been updated to version 2 which provides a waveform creation utility that can load parameters of various DACs in the precision DAC portfolio and help you visualize the performance you can achieve (these are ideally simulated results that do not take into account glitch and settling time). When paired with the evaluation hardware of your chosen DACs you can evaluate the performance.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin Duke
    Prodigy 200 points

    Hi Kevin,

                    Thanks that's a really nice tool, but is guess it is built only for a subset of DACs that TI provides, or is there any way to include all the DACs that TI provides.

    it actually solved 50% of my problem and thanks for that.

  • 0 in reply to BhavaniSingh Thakur
    TI__Mastermind 46290 points

    BhavaniSingh,

    I apologize for my late response here. The tool only officially supports DACs that have EVMs associated with them since a large part of the tool's usage is with respect to evaluating physical hardware rather than running simulations.

    The DACs are all represented by simple XML files. You could probably copy / modify one of the existing DAC XML files to create a representation of the missing device(s) you'd like to have a look at. Which devices are of interest to you that are missing?

  • 0 in reply to Kevin Duke
    Prodigy 200 points

    The Program supports DACs with upto 1Msps sampling frequency and i was looking whether it supports high speed DACs beyond 1Msps.

    devices like DAC2904, DAC5686

  • 0 in reply to BhavaniSingh Thakur
    TI__Mastermind 46290 points

    BhavaniSingh,

    Right now DXP only aimed at the TI Precision DAC Portfolio, which are all DACs under 10MSPS. The High-Speed Data-Converter Apps team does have EVM offerings for each of those devices: DAC2904EVM & DAC5686EVM.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin Duke
    Prodigy 200 points

    Thank You Kevin,

                                   That solves my problem.