Many of the embedded control systems designed today
require some flavor of a Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Con-
verter. Embedded system applications such as data
acquisition, sensor monitoring and instrumentation and
Control all have varying A/D Converter requirements.
For the most part, these A/D Converter requirements
are a combination of performance, cost, package size,
and availability. Microchip offers a variety of solutions to
meet these design requirements. The first possible
solution is to implement the PICmicro
®
microcontroller
(MCU). The PICmicro MCU offers many options for
smart solutions. One of these features is the A/D Con-
verter module. These A/D Converter modules are pri-
marily successive approximation register (SAR) type
and range in functionality from 8- to 12-bit with channel
size ranges of 4 to 16. For example, the PIC16C77 has
8-channels of 8-bit A/D Converter, while the
PIC17C766 has 16-channels of 10-bit A/D Converter.
These on-board A/D Converter modules fit well into
embedded applications, which requires a 10-35ksps
A/D Converter.
For those applications which require a higher perfor-
mance or remote sense capability, the Microchip
MCP3201, 12-bit A/D Converter fits very nicely. AN719
Interfacing Microchip’s MCP3201 Analog-to-Digital
Converter to the PICmicro Microcontroller
The MCP3201 employs a classic SAR architecture.
Author: Richard L. Fischer The device uses an internal sample and hold capacitor
Microchip Technology Inc. to store the analog input while the conversion is taking
place. Conversion rates of 100ksps are possible on the
INTRODUCTION MCP3201. Minimum clock speed (10kHz or 625sps,
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