Patent ID: 7675450

Claim:
A digital-to-analog converter for high frequency data conversion at a high resolution, the converter comprising: an input configured to receive data bits; a most significant bit (MSB) sub-converter, coupled to the input, and configured to receive a first portion of the data bits; a least significant bit (LSB) sub-converter, coupled to the input, and configured to receive a second portion of the data bits, wherein the MSB sub-converter and the LSB sub-converter convert the first and second portions of bits, each sub-converter comprising a set of main cells, each main cell coupled to a set of voltage buffers and switching according to a data transition, wherein each of the main cells comprises a differential current steering stage and a pair of multiplexers at an input of each of the main cells; and a set of dummy cells, each dummy cell paired to a main cell of the MSB and LSB sub-converters and to the set of voltage buffers, the dummy cell configured to switch responsive to a lack of data transition in the paired main cell, so that switching occurs every cycle, independent of whether a data transition occurs in the main cell.