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Austriamicrosystems, a manufacturer of analog ICs, has introduced the AS1538. This is an I²C interfaced A/D converter that combines low-power operation, maximum possible conversion speed for I²C and fully-differential or single-ended analog input modes — together with excellent dynamic performance in a 16-pin TSSOP package. Total harmonic distortion is -75 dB down. This makes the AS1538 well-suited for 2.7 V to 5.25 V battery-powered and industrial applications using an I²C bus.

The AS1538 offers 12-bit resolution on each of its eight input channels. It has a conversion speed of 50 ksamples/s while consuming less than 850-microamperes supply — including the internal reference. In shutdown mode the current drops to less than 1.5 microamperes. The internal 2.5 V reference or an external reference in the 1 V to 5.25 V range determines the full-scale analog input range.

The AS1538 has software-configurable analog inputs offering the choice of 4-channel, fully differential or 8-channel single-ended mode, thereby providing flexibility for a broad range of applications. At the same time, the fully differential input mode enables precise measurements under noisy conditions commonly found in industrial environments.

The AS1538's I2C-compatible interface supports interface speeds up to 3.4 MHz, including industry-standard speeds of 100 kHz and 400 kHz. User-programmable I2C addresses enable placing up to four of these devices on a single I2C bus.