ADC Resolution
LSB size, counts, and ideal dynamic range for an N-bit converter.
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The engineering
The 6.02N + 1.76 line is the quantization-noise floor of a perfect converter with a full-scale sine — real parts land below it, which is what ENOB measures. LSB size tells you what your front-end noise budget has to beat: one LSB of a 24-bit, 5 V converter is 0.3 µV, which is why 24-bit DAQ specs are really analog-design brags.
Rule of thumb: every bit is 6 dB. A 12-bit system has a 74 dB ceiling, period.
Where this math comes from
Harry Nyquist (1928) and Claude Shannon (1948-49) set the sampling law, but the quantization-noise formula on this card is W. R. Bennett's 1948 Bell Labs analysis of PCM noise — published the same remarkable year as Shannon's information theory and the transistor's announcement.
Bernard Oliver, John Pierce, and Shannon's 1948 'Philosophy of PCM' argued digital would win because noise stops accumulating — the thesis every ADC datasheet quietly assumes.
- 1928Harry NyquistSampling rate theorem groundwork.
- 1937Alec ReevesPatents PCM — digitized analog signals.
- 1948W. R. BennettQuantization noise analysis — the 6.02N + 1.76 dB line.
- 1949Claude ShannonSampling theorem formalized.
See the full timeline of the math behind every calculator →
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