This tutorial introduced a lot of terms, so here's a recap in case you need to refresh your memory on one:
1LSB:
One Least-Significant Bit: The smallest change of input voltage that will make an ADC's ouput change from one code to another, or the smallest voltage an ADC can measure repeatably.
ADC:
Analog-to-Digital Converter: A circuit whose output consists of digital patterns called codes. Each code corresponds to a specific input voltage.
Aperture:
The time when a sample-and-hold circuit is connected to the input.
ASR:
Aperture Slew Rate: The fastest a signal can change and still be measured accurately by an ADC.
Calibration:
Comparing a measurement to a better one, or measuring a known signal, to find a circuit's error.
Code:
A pattern of ones and zeros. In this case, a code is the output produced by an ADC.
Compensation:
Subtracting a known error from a measurement without actually correcting the circuit to remove the error.
Correction:
Modifying a circuit to remove a repeatable error.
Correlation:
A relationship between the error and the signal being measured.
Distortion:
Error that changes depending on the size of the input signal.
Dynamic signals:
Signals that change at least 1LSB during an ADC's sampling interval.
Error:
The difference between the actual input voltage and the voltage represented by the ADC's output code.
Gaussian distribution:
A common kind of random signal with convenient statistical properties.
Input-referred error:
The signal you'd have to add to a perfect ADC's input to make it produce the same output as a real ADC.
NFCR:
Noise-Free Code Resolution: The amount of useful information you can get from an ADC in a given set of operating conditions.
Noise:
For the purposes of this tutorial, noise is random error that can't be corrected or compensated.
Offset:
A DC voltage added to another signal.
Repeatability:
The ability to reproduce a condition on demand.. the main difference between ideal circuits/signals and real ones.
RMS:
Root-mean-square: A way to measure AC signals that lets us compare them to DC measurements.
S&H:
Sample and Hold: The input circuit for most ADCs. It captures the input quickly, then holds that voltage stable while the ADC generates an output code.
Sample rate:
The number of different codes an ADC can produce in one second.
Sampling interval:
The time it takes an ADC to generate a code.
SAR:
Successive Approximation Register: an ADC architecture that compares the input to its last guess several times, reducing the error with each new guess.
Sigma-Delta:
An ADC architecture that uses positive and negative pulses of known charge to make a capacitor's voltage equal the input voltage.
Slew rate:
The amount a signal's voltage changes over time.
Standard deviation:
The band of values around a signal's average that contains 68% of the readings.
Static signals:
Signals that stay at a fixed voltage, or change less than 1LSB during an ADC's sampling interval.