On Gaussian and Sine wave Histogram Tests for Wideband Applications

Abstract

Characterization and testing of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are interesting in many different aspects. Histogram test is a common method to characterize the linearity features of an ADC. Two commonly used stimuli signals are sine waves and Gaussian noise. This paper will present a metrological comparison between Gaussian and sine wave histogram tests for wideband applications; that is evaluate the performance in characterization of the ADC and the usability of post correction. A post-correction procedure involves characterization of the ADC nonlinearity and then utilization of this information by processing the ADC output samples to remove the distortion. The results indicates that even though the Gaussian histogram test seems to give reasonable accuracy to measure nonlinearities it is not thereby a suitable model for post-correction. A single-tone sine wave histogram will most likely be a better solution. Best result is to train the look-up table with several single-tone sine waves in the frequency band