ADC Resolution Visualizer

Watch analog voltage become sampled ADC codes, then tune bits, reference voltage, and noise

Interactive ADC resolution visualizer for learning ADC code width, quantization bins, LSB voltage, noise-limited usable bits, and sensor-fit tradeoffs.

Interactive animation ADC fundamentals

ADC Resolution Visualizer

Watch a smooth sensor voltage move through sample-and-hold, quantization bins, and a digital code register. Then change the hardware settings to see what improves and what noise still hides.

8-bitSelected resolution

12.89 mVVoltage per count

430Current code

Goal

See how analog voltage becomes discrete digital codes.

Try

Press Play, then move from 8-bit to 12-bit and watch the staircase tighten.

Watch

The orange cursor is the sampled voltage; the red line is quantization error.

Apply

Choose enough bits for the sensor change you need to detect.

ADC Setup

Board or ADC Teaching demo Teaching demo - 8-bit, 3.3 V Arduino Uno - 10-bit, 5.0 V ESP32 - 12-bit, 3.3 V Raspberry Pi Pico - 12-bit, 3.3 V nRF52840 - 14-bit, 3.6 V ADS1115 external - 16-bit, 4.096 V

Resolution 10 bits

Reference Voltage 5.00 V

Manual Sample Voltage 2.10 V

Noise Estimate 2 counts

Sensor Scenario LM35 temperature sensor Soil moisture analog probe Battery voltage monitor Position knob

Live Numbers

Levels

1,024

Step Size

4.88 mV

Digital Code

430

Binary

0110101110

Error Band

+/-2.44 mV

Usable Bits

9.0 bit estimate

Analog to Digital Conversion Animation

The moving cursor samples the analog wave. The ADC maps that sample into one code bin and emits the digital code shown below.

Sample

1. Analog sensorSmooth voltage changes continuously.

2. Sample holdA moment in time is captured.

3. QuantizerThe voltage lands inside a bin.

4. Digital codeThe bin becomes a binary number.

sample

0 V2.50 V5.00 V

analog voltage quantized ADC output current sample quantization error

Digital code register

OK

Fit for coarse monitoring

This setup can show about 0.49 C per count for the selected temperature sensor.

Learning Support

Beginner Model

Bits create bins. An 8-bit ADC has 256 bins, a 10-bit ADC has 1024 bins, and a 12-bit ADC has 4096 bins across the reference voltage.

Design Rule

Your ADC step should be smaller than the smallest useful sensor change. Extra bits do not help if sensor noise is larger than the step.

What to Notice

• More bits make the staircase finer.
• Lower reference voltage also makes each step smaller.
• Noise can make extra bits unusable.

Quick Reference

Bits	Levels	3.3 V Step	5 V Step	Typical Fit

Technical Notes

Code Width

This teaching model uses LSB = Vref / 2^N and code range 0 to 2^N - 1 for an ideal unipolar ADC.

Quantization Error

The displayed error band is the ideal +/-0.5 LSB model. Offset, gain, nonlinearity, reference tolerance, sampling error, and input noise are separate limits.

Noise-Limited Fit

Find Minimum now includes the selected noise-count estimate, so it does not recommend more bits while ignoring a noisy sensor path.

Microchip ADC code width Microchip quantization error Analog Devices ADC basics