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Understanding voltage reference specifications
as bit resolution
increases
(i.e., 10-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, and up)
and
the full-scale voltage
decreases
(i.e., 10V, 5.0V, 4.096V, 3.6V, 2.50V, etc.). This usually leads to additional
filtering being required. For example, a 5-volt reference in a 12-bit system (with 1/2
LSB resolution) will have an upper noise limit of approximately 322 nV/
√
Hz (60 µV pk-
pk). In contrast, a 1.2-volt reference in a 16-bit system will impose an upper noise limit
of 5 nV/
√
Hz.
Figure 12.10 shows two good examples of very low noise levels. The following show
some examples of noise levels for some popular references. ...