TI DAC eyes wireless network cards, handheld radios

Texas Instruments (TI) Inc. has released what it claims is the industry's lowest power dual, 12-bit, 40MSPS DAC from the company's Burr-Brown product line. Designed for use in the transmit section of communications systems, such as wireless PC modem cards, wireless network cards and handheld radios, the DAC2932 is also suitable for a variety of portable test equipments, direct digital synthesis, portable medical instrumentation and arbitrary waveform generators.

The product features 29mW power dissipation, 75dB spurious-free dynamic range, 2.7V to 3.3V single-supply operation, and the integration of four 12-bit voltage-output DACs for signal path control.

Designed to operate with a single parallel data port, the DAC2932 has a high-impedance differential current output that allows for either a differential or single-ended analog signal interface, and incorporates a temperature compensated 1.22V band gap reference.

The output current can be lowered with an adjustable full-scale range of 0.5mA to 2mA, and a power-down mode reduces power dissipation to 25?W. Packaged in a TQFP-48 case, the DAC is priced at $7.95 in 1,000-piece quantities.