Research trends and challenges in testing digital-to-analog converters

Today, a broad range of different applications relies on digital-to-analog converters. Different digital-to-analog converter architectures have been developed over the years, and several different specifications exist for quantifying their effective performance, the essential information to verify the requirement fulfilment, and the digital-to-analog converter’s suitability for the specific application. As a result, testing digital-to-analog converters has assumed and continues to assume increasing importance. The main testing challenges include the reduction of the testing time and costs; the measurement uncertainty computation; and emerging built-in self-test solutions. To clarify digital-to-analog converter terms, definitions, and test methods, IEEE Standard 1658 has been developed and is currently undergoing revision. To highlight the trends and issues that provide useful information for the revision of the standard, this article presents an overview of the recent research work dealing with digital-to-analog converter testing.