Properties of Low Precision Analog-to-Digital Converters

The problem of quantization and saturation noise introduced by the process of analog-to-digital conversion is addressed. Analog-to-digital converters (ADC) with even versus odd numbers of output states are compared. Expressions are derived and evaluated which yield the signal-to-noise ratio and the gain versus signal level input when the input signal has an assumed Gaussian probability density. The results presented should have application in all fields in which digital signal processing is performed.