Digital-to-analog converter including current sources operable in a predetermined sequence and associated methods

A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) comprising:

• a substrate;
• a plurality of current sources on said substrate operable in a predetermined sequence of use for generating an output current based upon a digital input, each current source having an actual current value defining an error value with both a magnitude and polarity relative to a desired value;
• and
• a connection network for establishing the predetermined sequence of use for said plurality of current sources based upon the error values and to decrease an integral non-linearity error (INL) for the DAC.

A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) comprising:

• a substrate;
• a first group of most significant bit (MSB) current sources for a predetermined number of MSBs on said substrate operable in a predetermined sequence of use for generating an output current based upon a digital input, each MSB current source having an actual current value statistically related to a desired current value;
• and
• a connection network for establishing the predetermined sequence of use for said MSB current sources based upon the actual current values and to increase performance of the DAC.

A method for making a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) comprising the steps of:

• forming a plurality of current sources on a substrate operable in a predetermined sequence of use for generating an output current based upon a digital input, each current source having an actual current value statistically related to a desired current value;
• determining the predetermined sequence of use for the plurality of current sources based upon the actual current values and to increase performance of the DAC;
• and
• setting a connection network to establish the predetermined sequence of use for the plurality of current sources.