+5V, Low-Power, 8-Bit Quad DAC

with Rail-to-Rail Output Buffers

______________________________________________________________________________________

11

Interfacing to the Microprocessor

The MAX534 is Microwire™ and SPI™/QSPI™ compati-

ble (Figures 4 and 5). For SPI and QSPI, clear the

CPOL and CPHA configuration bits (CPOL = CPHA =

0). The SPI/QSPI CPOL = CPHA = 1 configuration can

also be used if the DOUT output is ignored.

The MAX534 can interface with Intel’s 80C5X/80C3X

family in mode 0 if the SCLK clock polarity is inverted.

More universally, if a serial port is not available, three

lines from one of the parallel ports can be used for bit

manipulation.

Digital feedthrough at the voltage outputs is greatly

minimized by operating the serial clock only to update

the registers. The clock idle state is low.

Daisy-Chaining Devices

Any number of MAX534s can be daisy-chained by con-

necting DOUT of one device to DIN of the following

device in the chain. The NOP instruction (Table 1)

allows data to be passed from DIN to DOUT without

changing the input or DAC registers of the passing

device. A 3-wire interface updates daisy-chained or

individual MAX534s simultaneously by bringing

CS

high (Figure 6).

Analog Section

DAC Operation

The MAX534 uses a matrix decoding architecture for

the DACs, which saves power in the overall system.

The external reference voltage is divided down by a

resistor string placed in a matrix fashion. Row and col-

umn decoders select the appropriate tab from the

resistor string to provide the needed analog voltages.

The resistor string presents a code-independent input

impedance to the reference and guarantees a mono-

tonic output. Figure 8 shows a simplified diagram of the

four DACs.

Reference Input

The voltage at REF sets the full-scale output voltage for

all four DACs. The 460k

Ω typical input impedance at

REF is code independent. The output voltage for any

DAC can be represented by a digitally programmable

voltage source as follows:

where NB is the numerical value of the DAC’s binary

input code.

SCLK

DIN

DEVICE A

DEVICE B

DEVICE C

CS

MAX534

SCLK

DIN

CS

MAX534

SCLK

DIN

CS

MAX534

SCLK

DIN

CS

MAX534

DOUT

DOUT

DOUT

SCLK

DIN

CS

SCLK

DIN

CS

TO OTHER

SERIAL DEVICES

Figure 6. Daisy-chained or individual MAX534s are simultaneously updated by bringing

CS high. Only three wires are required.