Resolution and Input Range

 

The resolution of the A/D converter or D/A converter defines together with the selected input range the smallest voltage difference (voltage step) that could be recognized with this type of board. Compared to a 8 bit converter that is found in standard Digital Storage Oscilloscopes, the resolution of the 12 bit and 14 bit A/D are 16 and 64 times higher respectively, whilst 16 bit is 256 times higher!

   

Voltage Step per LSB for given +/- range
Resolution Steps +/- 50 mV +/- 100 mV +/- 200 mV +/- 500 mV +/- 1 V +/ 2 V +/- 5 V +/- 10 V
8 Bit 256 390 uV 780 uV 1.6 mV 3.9 mV 7.8 mV 15.6 mV 39 mV 78 mV
12 Bit 4096 24.4 uV 48.8 uV 0.1 mV 0.24 mV 0.49 mV 1 mV 2.4 mV 4.9 mV
14 Bit 16384 6 uV 12 uV 24 uV 61 uV 122 uV 244 uV 610 uV 1.2 mV
16 Bit 65536 1.5 uV 3 uV 6 uV 15 uV 30 uV 61 uV 152 uV 305 uV