AD7940

Rev. 0 | Page 15 of 20

POWER VS. THROUGHPUT RATE

By using the power-down mode on the AD7940 when not

converting, the average power consumption of the ADC

decreases at lower throughput rates. Figure 19 shows how as the

throughput rate is reduced, the part remains in its shutdown

state longer, and the average power consumption over time

drops accordingly.

For example, if the AD7940 is operated in a continuous sam-

pling mode, with a throughput rate of 10 kSPS and an SCLK of

mode between conversions, the power consumption is calcu-

lated as follows. The maximum power dissipation during nor-

from power-down is 1 µs, and the remaining conversion time is

6.4 µs, (using a 16 SCLK transfer), then the AD7940 can be said

to dissipate 6.84 mW for 7.4 µs during each conversion cycle.

With a throughput rate of 10 kSPS, the cycle time is 100 µs. For

the remainder of the conversion cycle, 92.6 µs, the part remains

in power-down mode. The AD7940 can be said to dissipate

1.08 µW for the remaining 92.6 µs of the conversion cycle.

Therefore, with a throughput rate of 10 kSPS, the average power

dissipated during each cycle is

(7.4/100) × (6.84 mW) + (92.6/100) × (1.08 µW) = 0.51 mW

Figure 19 shows the power dissipation versus the throughput

rate when using the power-down mode with 3.6 V supplies and

a 2.5 MHz SCLK.

0.01

0

5

10

15

20

25

THROUGHPUT (kSPS)

30

35

40

45

50

0.1

1

10

Figure 19. Power vs. Throughput Using Power-Down Mode at 3.6 V