An untrimmed monolithic 14‐bit D/A converter

Recently, a need has arisen for an economical untrimmed 14 - 16-bit D/A converter in the field of digital audio and precision metrological systems. However, the precision of the monolithic D/A converter is about 10 bits to date, which can be improved to 12 - 13 bits by applying a special trim technique. In order to obtain the required high-precision converter, a self-correcting equation is established to treat the error involved. The result—a monolithic IC—has been studied experimentally. For the most part, this paper discusses the circuit structure and the test results of the monolithic 14-bit, DAC developed on the basis of this self-correcting equation. The monolithic DAC was prepared by combining the type I2L digital analog process and the two-layer microwiring technique and exhibited a linearity of ±1/2 LSB (±0.003%) and a setting time of 1.2 μsec.