CAN technical description and architectures
Conversions analogique-numérique et numérique-analogique (partie 2)

This paragraph describes the most common architectures: serial, parallel and Sigma-Delta (ΣΔ), and their performance in generic terms, as well as the technologies encountered depending on the architecture.

The two main architectures encountered are serial and parallel (flash ). These are the first to be used. A third, more recent architecture (1980) is Sigma-Delta (ΣΔ). Thanks to its very high intrinsic precision and good figure of merit, it is increasingly used.

An increasingly common practice in high-performance products is to combine several architectures to achieve the best compromise for a given application.

• Typical serial architecture involves a clock counting down while the value to be converted charges a capacitor; this countdown is stopped when the integrated voltage reaches a certain threshold. CAN with...