I have a homework until the next month to choose a DAC or ADC and design it in LTSpice so that it satisfies some parameters (the parameters are not imposed...I choose the values).

The problem is I never did something like this before.

Can someone point me into the right direction? Give me a list of baby steps to follow maybe.

I am completely lost.

I know what the ADC or DAC 's role is. I view them more like black boxes.

 

Well, I would start by.
- googling ADC or DAC and reading the Wikipedia pages
- maybe reading about them in my text book

- Then find a simple, old-school part number of an 8-bit ADC
- Look up the datasheet
- Find the block diagram and circuit's schematic on the datasheet and figure out how it works.
- look at the recommended external parts for use in non application at the back of the datasheet.

Start to think about how it could be simulated.

 

I do not have a textbook.

What old school 8-bit ADC would you recommend?

 

We used to use an ADC0800 8-Bit A/D Converter by Texas Instruments. Look at any Ti's datasheets for A/D's they were the best and still are.

-Tony

 

I do not have a textbook.

What old school 8-bit ADC would you recommend?

How do you suppose the guys who developed the first one felt?

 

One place to start might be looking at how to bit-bang a DAC using a digital output port and some resistors followed by a voltage-follower buffer. You can start with just two or three bits to get the feel and then go to a few more bits to start seeing how the precision of the resistors starts coming into play.