STMicroelectronics introduced the first members of a high-speed CMOS A/D converter family that combines high performance and ultra low power dissipation. The new devices - one 8-bit A/D converter and two 10-bit con-verters - are fabricated in 0.25µm CMOS technology. Each device has a pipeline structure and employs digital error correction to provide excellent static linearity. Each converter oper-ates from a single 2.5V supply and has a 2Vpp differential input range. The new A/D con-verters are the 8-bit TSA0801 and the 10-bit TSA1001 and TSA1002.

The TSA0801 is an 8-bit device with a 40 million samples per second (Msps) sampling fre-quency. Power dissipation is just 40mW at 40 Msps. The TSA0801 goes beyond 7.9 effective bits at Fs=40Msps and Fin=10MHz. Typical applications are hand-held instrumentation, camcorders, computer scanners and digital communications systems.

The TSA1001, designed especially for portable applications, is a 10-bit device with a 25Msps sampling frequency. Power dissipation is just 35mW at 25 Msps (10mW at 5Msps). The TSA1001 goes beyond 9.8 effective bits at Fs=25Msps and Fin=10MHz. Typical applications are portable instrumentation, video processing, medical imaging and ultrasound systems, high-resolution fax machines and scanners, and digital communications systems.

The TSA1002, designed especially for high-speed, low-power applications, is a 10-bit device with a 50Msps sampling frequency. Power dissipation is just 50mW at 50 Msps. The TSA1001 guarantees 9.4 effective bits at Fs=50Msps and Fin=15MHz. Typical applications are medical imaging and ultrasound systems, portable instrumentation, cable modem receiv-ers, high-resolution fax machines and scanners, and high-speed DSP interfaces.

A new high-speed ADC player on the block and this is no newbie to analog. The performance of the TSA1002 (the 50-Msample/s 10 bit part) is way up there with the existing competition and it will be interesting to see what its arrival does to shake out some others. STM already give notice here that they are going for 12- and 14-bit parts because the company intends to keep the whole family pin-compatible.

These are 2.5-V parts with the 50 Msample/s power consumption of the TSA1002 just 50 mW. An internal reference is included and the output buffers provide tri-state conditions.

With the huge customer base that STM already has there will be many users looking at this family of parts and they will find design sockets. No prices were quoted by the company. The parts are in production and each converter is in a 7 x 7mm TQFP-48. Evaluation boards are available.

Data Sheet