Calibration-spur reduction in current-steering DAC utilising digital-and-analogue hybrid return-to-zero (HRZ) method

A simple-but-efficient calibration-spur reduction technique is introduced that utilises the digital-and-analogue hybrid return-to-zero (HRZ) method in a current-steering DAC employing a round-robin-fashioned background current-source calibration scheme. A simulation with a 12 b 500 MS/s current-steering DAC showed 9.9 and 7.8 dB improvements in the spur-free dynamic range and signal-to-noise + distortion ratio, respectively, owing to the reduced calibration spur by the proposed HRZ technique.