PSoC 6 SAR ADC

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Thought I'd give an introduction for the ADC available on the PSoC 6 architecture. The ADC is a Successive Approximation (SAR) type with 12 bits of resolution. It is an updated and improved version of the SAR ADC found on PSoC 4 devices. The key features are:

• Up to 1 million samples per second at a fixed 12 bits of resolution
• The programmable analog features of PSoC 6 allow almost every pin to be used as an ADC input. The GPIO pin analog signals can be routed to the ADC through the AMUX busses under software control.
• A built in 8 channel hardware sequencer can also automatically scan each channel and stores the results for later CPU processing. An upper and lower limit is also able to be compared with each scan and generate an interrupt if an out of range condition is detected.
• Sequencer channels also support hardware averaging and accumulation of up to 256 samples for lower noise or higher resolution and the resulting 16-bit results.
• Sequencer allows a software controlled 9^th channel to be injected between scans for less frequent measurements. The 9^th channel can connect to almost any pin through the AMUX busses. 
• The ADC provides dedicated connections to the integrated CTBm OpAmps and DAC allowing advanced analog signal effects to be generated and scanned.
• Supports single ended and differential conversions. The 8 channel sequencer supports up to 4 differential signals.
• Analog reference is selectable to Vdd, Vdd/2, 1.024V, or an external reference provided to a GPIO pin.
• Able to read the on chip temperature sensor and supply voltages to allow temperature and voltage based adjustments.
• Supports one shot or continuous hardware scan triggering and a variety of conversion complete signals that can be used with interrupts, DMA, or custom logic.
• The ADC control signals and data can be routed to the programmable digital logic (UDBs) to create custom scan functionality, and unique automatic processing of conversion data in hardware.

Feel free to leave comments or questions, we appreciate the feedback!

[Anonymous]

Will there be a programmable gain amplifier on this? That is something that's sorely lacking on PSoC 4 and is actually available on the other PSoC chips. Just using MUXes with external components is not the greatest solution because (a) I wind up with a bunch of external components which I'd rather not have just to get a gain, (b) I'd love to have a larger set of gain value options available, and (c) putting external components on a MUX uses up a lot of the AMUX bus when we otherwise wouldn't have to.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

The ADC in this initial PSoC 6 release does not have a programmable gain amplifier. However, this is a feature we are looking into since there has been feedback from you guys out there and we are strongly considering implementing this into future PSoC 6 MCU lineups.

Thanks for the question

[MiSi_284936]

Never needed anything that fast, and the wider flexibility of the ADC in the PSoc 3/5, along with possible PGA made it a winner. Why the seeming downgrade ? Cost that much extra in silicon ?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I wouldn't say this is a downgrade. We built the PSoC 6 architecture to be flexible, meaning that we can enable and provide more high-performance analog and digital resources for future lineups. For this initial PSoC 6 release, (PSoC 63 Connectivity line), we took into consideration the needs for wearables and consumer IoT application segments. Overall, the needs for these segments don't require analog resources with this kind of performance or capability. But because the architecture is flexible, we are planning other PSoC 6 lineups that will provide higher performance analog and more analog/digital resources. Stay tuned!

Let me know if you have other questions!

[BrMc_296271]

> Supports one shot or continuous hardware scan triggering

This wording seems to exclude timer-based triggering (fixed-rate sampling for e.g. audio). Am I mis-reading?

[Anonymous]

This is the same as the description for PSoC 4 -- you can have multiple channels sampling, each at its own fixed rate, but then there's this additional "injection" channel for occasional nonperiodic  samples.

For example, I gather acoustic data continuously when the ADC is enabled, but on my first sample, i also enable the injection channel to grab a single sample of my battery voltage. I'd personally love it if the PSoC 6 had several injection channels instead of just 1.

[Anonymous]

Hello lym,

Thank you for all the nice preview information!

One "elephant in the room" is the inclusion of a *single* ADC only.  My application, as well as many others, require simultaneous sampling of two channels.  This is common in motor control, for example.  Will a future version have 2 (or more) complete ADCs?  Or, will I need to wait for the M7-based parts;-)

Thank you again!

Regards,

Dave