What type of noise can you expect to find in Delta-Sigma ADCs?
Total ADC noise has two main components: quantization noise and thermal noise. Quantization noise comes from the process of mapping an infinite number of analog voltages to a finite number of digital codes (the left side of Figure 1). As a result, any single digital output can correspond to several analog input voltages that may differ by as much as one-half least significant bit (LSB).
Thermal noise is a phenomenon inherent in all electrical components as a result of the physical movement of charge inside electrical conductors (the right side of Figure 1). Unfortunately, ADC end users cannot affect the device’s thermal noise because it is a function of the ADC’s design.
Do thermal and quantization noise affect low- and high-resolution ADCs equally? Read part 1, “Introduction to Noise in Delta-Sigma ADCs,” to find out.
