NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR INTRODUCES A NEW FAMILY OF LOW-COST, HIGH-SPEED 12-BIT A/D CONVERTERS FOR IMAGING SYSTEMS

April 16, 1998 ? National Semiconductor Corporation® today announced a pair of 12-bit ADCs (analog-to-digital converters) for high-speed, high-resolution imaging applications. ADC12081 operates at 5MSPS and ADC12181 at 10MSPS. Both parts deliver excellent linearity (DNL) of 0.35 LSB and 0.40 LSB, respectively; and exceptional performance of 10.5 effective bits at Nyquist sampling rates.

"High-resolution ADCs are the key elements in a number of applications requiring image capture prior to digital processing," said Rich Wegner, National?s strategic marketing manager. "For example, still images from digital cameras need the wide dynamic range, color accuracy, and consistent granularity of 12-bit resolution. CCD page scanner output signals demand 5MHz or 10MHz speed to convert signals at competitive scan rates."

Both ICs use self-calibration and error correction to maintain accuracy and performance over the entire temperature range of 0 degrees C to 70 degrees C. They operate from a 5V power supply and can digitize analog input signals in the range of 0 to 2V. All digital I/O is TTL and CMOS compatible to 3V or 5V logic.

The ADC12081/ADC12181 have input signal sample-and-hold amplifiers and internal reference buffers. The analog input and the reference voltage are converted to differential signals internally, which reduces crosstalk and noise pickup from the digital section and power supply. The 5MHz device consumes only 105mW typical and the 10MHz part consumes a correspondingly low 235mW while operating at full speed. A power-down standby mode reduces power consumption to 50mW.

National also offers an evaluation board and software that facilitates quick bench trials and simplifies final circuit design. Using National?s WaveVision™ software running under Windows™, designers can capture and display multiple waveform data from the ADC in graphical form from a menu-driven environment. The software can also perform FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) calculations on the data to inspect dynamic performance of the ADC product standalone, or when installed in the user?s system.

Price and Availability
Available now in a 32-lead TQFP (Thin Quad Flat Package), the ADC12081CIVT is priced at $9.55 and the ADC12181CIVT is $11.00 in 1000-unit quantities.

National Semiconductor Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, produces system-on-a-chip silicon solutions for the information highway, based on its leadership in analog and mixed signal technologies. National is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and focuses on the communications, personal systems and consumer markets. National has annual sales of approximately $2.5 billion and 13,000 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.