9.1 Overview

The ADS8860 is a high-speed, successive approximation register (SAR), analog-to-digital converter (ADC) from a 16- and 18-bit device family. This compact device features high performance. Power consumption is inherently low and scales linearly with sampling speed. The architecture is based on charge redistribution that inherently includes a sample-and-hold (S/H) function.

The ADS8860 supports a single-ended analog input across two pins (INP and INN). When a conversion is initiated, the differential input on these pins is sampled on the internal capacitor array. While a conversion is in progress, both the INP and INN inputs are disconnected from the internal circuit.

The ADS8860 uses an internal clock to perform conversions. The device reconnects the sampling capacitors to the INP and INN pins after conversion and then enters an acquisition phase. During the acquisition phase, the device is powered down and the conversion result can be read.

The device digital output is available in SPI-compatible format, thus making interfacing with microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) easy.