Measuring the static characteristic of dithered A/D converters

Dithering is a useful technique that removes quantization error and part of the linearity error in A/D converters. Removing the remaining static error requires a periodical fast measurement of the characteristic, which is a rather difficult task because of the intrinsic very high resolution of the dithered device. Focusing on this issue, the paper examines three possible test methods: statistical analysis, time domain analysis, and, with more detail, frequency domain analysis. The peculiar nature of the static characteristic of dithered converters makes the third method particularly attractive. The frequency domain technique is proposed, therefore, as a good practical tool for implementing linearization in A/D converters with dither.