Digital to analog converter with current steering source for reduced glitch energy error

• Main Authors: GARRITY DOUGLAS A, BRASWELL BRANDT, KABIR MOHAMMAD NIZAM U
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 13.05.2014
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL; CODING; DECODING; ELECTRICITY

A digital to analog converter including at least one current steering source and a master replica bias network. Each current steering source includes a data current source, two switches, two buffer devices, and two activation current sources. The switches are controlled by a data bit and its inverse for switching the source current between first and second control nodes. The buffer devices buffer the control nodes between corresponding output nodes. The activation current sources ensure that each buffer device remains active regardless of the state of the switches. The master replica bias network includes a replica buffer device coupled to a replica control node and a master buffer amplifier. The master buffer amplifier drives the first, second and replica buffer devices in parallel to maintain the first, second and replica control nodes at a common master control voltage to minimize noise and glitches at the output.