Precision Wide Bandwidth Measurement and Drive

There is an ever-increasing desire for more insights and more data from the world around us. To extract those insights, it can mean that instruments must carry out both time domain and frequency domain analysis. The underlying circuity in the instruments must have good DC and AC performance to enable those insights to be extracted. Careful attention should be placed on the hardware linearity performance in addition to noise and distortion across the bandwidth of interest. When looking over a Narrow Bandwidth e.g. < 10kHz it is usual that solutions classified for this challenge are from the precision portfolio. However, as the need for insights over a wider bandwidth grows e.g. > couple of hundred kHz, the challenge becomes greater. This requires the need for a faster measurement or drive solution that operates over this wider bandwidth while still delivering that combination of good DC and AC precision. 

Delivering Precision AC and DC performance over a wide bandwidth

The Precision Wide Bandwidth page on Analog.com should be a starting point if you are faced with this challenge. A curated set of signal chains are presented where the focus is on delivering precision with speed (or across a wide bandwidth). The remit of these signal chains is to deliver both AC and DC precision over a bandwidth from DC to MHz. The solutions presented sit at the boundary between the traditional precision and the high-speed portfolios. The signal chains provide options for overvoltage protection right through to isolation and these components are picked to meet the challenge of delivering precision with speed. The Precision Wide Bandwidth page provides curated collateral that can be used either at the research phase or design phase. For example this recent article focuses on calculating the impact of sample clock jitter on isolated signal chains. Each signal chain has a curated power solution that provides a great starting point when developing a power design.

Figure 1 Precision Wide Bandwidth Current/Voltage Measurement example signal chain

Figure 2 Precision Wide Bandwidth Current/Voltage Drive example signal chain

Applications that require precision performance over a wide bandwidth

There are many closed loop applications that require precision performance over a wide bandwidth or put in another way precision performance combined with low latency. In test and measurement instruments like SMU (source measurement unit) or systems like HiL (Hardware in the loop) delivering that precision performance with low latency is important to reduce the overall loop latency. Even in Medical Instrumentation like for example, a flow cytometer where sample cell sorting is carried out, precision performance with low latency is required.   

Introduction to I/V measurement and I/V drive

Closed Loop applications like Hardware in the Loop or a Source measurement unit are test solutions that relay on both Measurement and Drive signal chains that provide the combination of precision and low latency. Delivering Low Latency precision measurement and drive is important for the response time and accuracy of the loop.

Listen to the webinar on Get More Out of Your Precision Low Latency Signal Chain for more details on these precision with speed signal chains.

Focus on AD3552R

Focusing on the precision with speed output or drive signal chain, ADI recently announced the AD3552R and AD3542R Digital-to-Analog converters both offering value to low latency precision drive signal chains. The AD3552R offers the unique combination of precision DC and AC performance at update rates up to 33 MUPS. The next series of this blog with focus in more detail on these DAC (Digital-to-Analog) components.