Analog Devices Extends Low-Noise Performance Leadership with Introduction of 16-Bit Analog-to-Digital Converter.

NORWOOD, Mass. -- High-speed ADC features outstanding 80-dBfs signal-to-noise ratio and 90-dBc spurious-free dynamic range for test and measurement, industrial and instrumentation, and advanced communication applications.

Analog Devices Inc., the world leader in data converter technology, today introduced the industry's first 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to deliver 100-MSPS (mega-samples-per-second) data rates while offering both best-in-class signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR). With military and aerospace communication systems, high-end medical devices, test and measurement equipment, and other industrial and instrumentation applications demanding ever-higher resolution and faster sample rates, equipment manufacturers must pay particular attention to the need for signal noise reduction. As part of a family of high-speed converters optimized to deliver higher sample rates and improved dynamic performance at competitive prices, the AD9446 achieves a 10x increase in sample rates over other ADCs in its class while offering 90-dBc SFDR and 80-dBfs SNR at baseband-a full 6 dB better than the SNR achieved by the closest competing ADC. The AD9446 is available in an 80-MSPS speed-grade option that also achieves industry-leading 85-dBc SFDR, while improving the signal-to-noise ratio by another 2 dB to 82-dBfs SNR.

Best-in-Class Performance

"Today's industrial equipment manufacturers are under constant pressure to scale the performance of their products without introducing new sources of signal noise," said John Hussey, vice president of the High Speed Converter Group at Analog Devices. "In the case of advanced test equipment, for example, designers are on the lookout for ways to improve noise while maintaining a wide enough performance margin to ensure the reliable, repeatable testing of high-performance components, boards and systems. To build equipment capable of accurate testing and rapid debugs, these manufacturers need the resolution, speed and low noise characteristics that are enabled by the AD9446."

"High-performance, high speed data converters are one of the fundamental building blocks required to enable new generations of signal analyzers," said Richard King, vice president and general manager of the Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer Product Line at Tektronix, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation. "Tektronix has enjoyed the benefits of a great relationship with Analog Devices in our quest to produce the highest performance instruments available. The breakthrough level of performance achieved by the new AD9446 certainly promises to continue the trend of enabling new generations of high-performance instrumentation."

For high-performance test and measurement applications that use digital time sampling for frequency and time domain analysis, the AD9446 significantly lowers aperture jitter to just 60 fs (femto seconds), compared to the 120-fs to 140-fs range of competing ADCs. Aperture jitter is the sample-to-sample variation in aperture delay and a major contributor to overall system signal degradation. The reduced noise and 16-bit resolution of the AD9446 combine to enable developers of instrumentation and automated test and measurement equipment, data acquisition systems, medical imaging devices and advanced military/aerospace communication sub-systems to build more performance overhead into their designs by capturing a better representation of the input signal using fewer samples.

More about the AD9446

In addition to delivering the industry's best 16-bit SFDR and SNR at baseband, the AD9446 is highly accurate and features a typical 16-bit differential nonlinearity (DNL) of +/-0.5 LSB and a typical 16-bit integral nonlinearity (INL) of +/-3 LSB. The AD9446 is part of a family of high-speed ADCs that includes the recently introduced 14-bit, 80-MSPS AD9444 and the 14-bit, 125-MSPS AD9445, which Analog Devices introduced today. As with the AD9444 and the AD9445, the new AD9446 features parallel low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) outputs, including an output clock, which simplifies the interface to digital processing components and reduces the potential for digital noise coupling back into the ADC core.

Pricing and Availability

The AD9446 ADC is sampling now with production quantities available in September 2005. Available in a Pb-free, 100-lead surface mount plastic package (100-lead TQFP/EP), the AD9446-100 and AD9446-80 are priced at $79.90 and $72.25, each in 1,000-unit quantities, respectively. For more information, please visit www.analog.com/AD9446.

ADI's Data Conversion Technology: Critical Bridge Between Analog and Digital

Analog Devices is the world leader in data conversion technology. ADI's longstanding leadership in data conversion technology stems from an engineering culture that emphasizes deep understanding of the customer's system challenge, aggressive research and development investing and unmatched mixed-signal design expertise. From application-specific solutions designed to lower system cost to the broadest selection of speed, accuracy, size and power consumption in DACs and ADCs, Analog Devices provides the products, technology and support customers need to successfully bridge between real-world analog signals and the digital world of electronic equipment. ADI's data converters are used widely in consumer electronics, broadband and wireless communications, automotive systems, industrial equipment and medical electronics, as well as a host of other emerging market applications.

About Analog Devices

Innovation, performance, and excellence are the cultural pillars on which Analog Devices has built one of the most long-standing, high-growth companies within the technology sector. Acknowledged industry-wide as the world leader in data conversion and signal conditioning technology, Analog Devices serves over 60,000 customers around the world, representing virtually all types of electronic equipment. Celebrating 40 years as a leading global manufacturer of high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications, Analog Devices is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, and employs approximately 8,900 people worldwide. The company has 30 product design centers around the world and manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Ireland, and the Philippines. Analog Devices' common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "ADI" and is included in the S&P 500 Index.