Calibration and error compensation of analog to digital scan converters

The paper deals with a procedure for the correction of scan converter-based transient digitizers. The procedure includes two main phases: an experimental characterization for identifying the actual distortion model, and a correction for compensating errors directly on the converter output. The characterization is based on a dc generator; thus, the proposed procedure can be implemented as a self-correction technique by using the internal reference offset source of the scan digitizer. If periodically carried out, the procedure allows the influence of thermal effects on semiconductor diodes of target matrix to be significantly reduced. The procedure and the experimental results of its application to an actual digitizer have been made available to a large number of scan converter users by developing a Web site. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.