Design and Operation of 6-bit, 0.25-mVpp Quasi-sine Voltage Waveform Generator based on SFQ Pulse-frequency Modulation

A digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) consisting of single-flux-quantum (SFQ) circuitry is known to generate accurate analogue voltages defined by the Josephson relationship. We have been developing SFQ-DACs of the pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) type. Toward voltage standard applications of SFQ-DACs, we have set the target values for the voltage amplitude and resolution at 20 mVpp and 10 bits, respectively. So far, we have reported a 5-bit, 10-μVpp quasi-sine voltage waveform generator comprising a PFM-type SFQ-DAC integrated with an on-chip digital code generator. Its small peak-to-peak voltage amplitude was due to the lack of an on-chip voltage multiplier (VM). In this paper, we present a 6-bit, 0.25-mVpp quasi-sine voltage waveform generator integrated with a 10-fold VM. The resolution is improved by introducing efficient logic sequences into the SFQ-DAC.