An 8 b 800 MHz D/A converter

An 800-MHz digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that has a power dissipation of only 750 mW is described. The low power dissipation is achieved by the use of a decoder circuit and precise adjustment of timing and data multiplexing. This DAC, with on-chip video function capability, can be used for high-resolution displays of over 3000 lines or superfast waveform generators. A fast logic circuit utilizing multilevel emitter-coupled logic (MEL) is used in the decoder. MEL has several advantages: it requires fewer elements, and no reference voltage, and it needs less series gating and/or fewer gate stages. This configuration further reduces power and delay.<>