I am using the ADS5500 and the DAC5687 in a digital radio design and I am looking for some guidance on how to connect the ground pins. Does TI recommend using a single ground plane for all the ground pins of these devices (analog gnd, digital gnd, clock gnd, etc.)? Or should they be split ground planes connected at just one point?
I cannot see any recommendations in the datasheets on this although it looks like the evaluation boards from TI use a single ground for everything. We have a development board from another company that uses these parts and it uses separate grounds. We used this board for our proof-of-concept testing as it mates with an FPGA board and now we are designing our own hardware. We started basing our design on this development board but I now see the discrepancy compared to the TI eval boards.
I also have seen application notes from another high speed data converter manufacturer that recommend a single ground plane for all ground pins on their converters.
Can someone from TI please tell me what they recommend?
Best regards,
Russ