53.6.9.4 Dithering Mode

Dithering is enabled by setting DACCTRLx.DITHER to 1. In dithering mode, DATAx is a 16-bit unsigned value where DATAx[15:4] is the 12-bit data converted by DAC and DATA0x[3:0] represent the dither bits, used to minimize the quantization error.

The principle is to make 16 sub-conversions of the DATAx[15:4] value or the (DATAx[15:4] + 1) value, so that by averaging those two values, the conversion result of the 16-bit value (DATAx[15:0]) is accurate.

To operate, the STARTx event must be configured to generate 16 events for each DATAx[15:0] conversion, and DATABUFx must be loaded every 16 DAC conversions. EMPTYx event and DMA request are therefore generated every 16 DATABUF0x to DATAx transfer. STATUS.EOCx still reports end of each sub-conversions.

Following timing diagram shows examples with DATA0[15:0] = 0x1204 followed by DATA0[15:0] = 0x1238.