Basics of Digital-to-Analog Conversion

This chapter discusses basic concepts of modern Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs). The basic generic DAC functionality and specifications are discussed, followed by the algorithmic aspects of D/A conversion. Next, algorithmic segmentation is addressed in the context of utilization of analog resources. Then, architectures and implementation options are discussed. Different DAC implementations are briefly reviewed. Finally, the chapter discusses the most important implementation for this book, the current-steering DAC, for which the basic analog entity is the current unit.