Rainbow Electronics ATmega128L - Manual (Page 223)

223
ATmega128(L)
2467B–09/01
Operation The ADC converts an analog input voltage to a 10-bit digital value through successive
approximation. The minimum value represents GND and the maximum value represents
the voltage on the AREF pin minus 1 LSB. Optionally, AVCC or an internal 2.56 V refer-
ence voltage may be connected to the AREF pin by writing to the REFSn bits in the
ADMUX register. The internal voltage reference may thus be decoupled by an external
capacitor at the AREF pin to improve noise immunity.
The analog input channel and differential gain are selected by writing to the MUX bits in
ADMUX. Any of the ADC input pins, as well as GND and a fixed bandgap voltage refer-
ence, can be selected as single ended inputs to the ADC. A selection of ADC input pins
can be selected as positive and negative inputs to the differential gain amplifier.
If differential channels are selected, the differential gain stage amplifies the voltage dif-
ference between the selected input channel pair by the selected gain factor. This
amplified value then becomes the analog input to the ADC. If single ended channels are
used, the gain amplifier is bypassed altogether.
The ADC is enabled by setting the ADC Enable bit, ADEN in ADCSRA. Voltage refer-
ence and input channel selections will not go into effect until ADEN is set. The ADC
does not consume power when ADEN is cleared, so it is recommended to switch off the
ADC before entering power saving sleep modes.
The ADC generates a 10-bit result which is presented in the ADC data registers, ADCH
and ADCL. By default, the result is presented right adjusted, but can optionally be pre-
sented left adjusted by setting the ADLAR bit in ADMUX.
If the result is left adjusted and no more than 8-bit precision is required, it is sufficient to
read ADCH. Otherwise, ADCL must be read first, then ADCH, to ensure that the content
of the data registers belongs to the same conversion. Once ADCL is read, ADC access
to data registers is blocked. This means that if ADCL has been read, and a conversion
completes before ADCH is read, neither register is updated and the result from the con-
version is lost. When ADCH is read, ADC access to the ADCH and ADCL registers is re-
enabled.
The ADC has its own interrupt which can be triggered when a conversion completes.
When ADC access to the data registers is prohibited between reading of ADCH and
ADCL, the interrupt will trigger even if the result is lost.
Starting a Conversion A single conversion is started by writing a logical one to the ADC Start Conversion bit,
ADSC. This bit stays high as long as the conversion is in progress and will be cleared by
hardware when the conversion is completed. If a different data channel is selected while
a conversion is in progress, the ADC will finish the current conversion before performing
the channel change.
In Free Running Mode, the ADC is constantly sampling and updating the ADC Data
Register. Free Running Mode is selected by writing the ADFR bit in ADCSRA to one.
The first conversion must be started by writing a logical one to the ADSC bit in ADC-
SRA. In this mode the ADC will perform successive conversions independently of
whether the ADC Interrupt Flag, ADIF is cleared or not.