Introduction

Welcome to the documentation for the AD4060 and AD4062 precision analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and their evaluation ecosystem. This guide provides complete information on hardware evaluation, firmware development, Linux kernel integration, and FPGA design for these advanced 2 MSPS SAR ADCs with I3C digital interface.

About the AD4060 and AD4062

The AD4060 and AD4062 are compact, low-power successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters featuring an I3C digital interface. These devices are part of Analog Devices’ Easy Drive SAR ADC family, designed to simplify precision measurement applications while minimizing power consumption.

What is I3C?

I3C (Improved Inter-Integrated Circuit) is a modern serial communication protocol that combines the simplicity of I²C with the speed of SPI. Key advantages include:

  • Lower pin count: Only 2 wires (SDA and SCL) for communication

  • Higher throughput: Up to 12.5 MHz data rate

  • Multi-device support: Multiple devices on a single bus with dynamic addressing

  • In-Band Interrupts (IBI): Devices can signal the host without dedicated interrupt lines

  • Hot-join: Devices can be added to the bus during operation

  • Backwards compatibility: Can coexist with legacy I²C devices

For the AD4060/AD4062, I3C enables efficient data acquisition while minimizing board complexity and power consumption.

Evaluation Ecosystem

This documentation covers the complete evaluation ecosystem for the AD4060 and AD4062:

Hardware:

  • EVAL-AD4060-ARDZ / EVAL-AD4062-ARDZ - Arduino Uno Shield-compatible evaluation boards with on-board signal conditioning, voltage reference, and power management

  • Supported carriers:

    • STM32 Nucleo boards (NUCLEO-H503RB, NUCLEO-H563ZI) for bare-metal evaluation

    • AMD Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC (Cora Z7S) for Linux evaluation

    • Intel Cyclone V SoC (DE10-Nano) for Linux evaluation

Firmware:

  • no-OS (bare-metal): Portable C drivers and example projects for microcontrollers, with TinyIIO support for remote control via libiio

  • Linux kernel: Full-featured IIO driver with support for triggers, events, buffered acquisition, and GPIO control

FPGA Design:

  • HDL project: Reference design implementing I3C controller with DMA support for high-throughput data acquisition on Zynq-7000 and Cyclone V SoCs

Software Tools:

  • libiio: Cross-platform library for interfacing with IIO devices

  • IIO Oscilloscope: GUI application for waveform visualization and analysis

  • Scopy: Advanced signal analysis and debugging tool

  • pyadi-iio: Python bindings for rapid prototyping and automation

Target Audience

This documentation is designed for:

  • System designers evaluating the AD4060/AD4062 for precision measurement applications

  • Firmware engineers developing bare-metal applications on microcontrollers

  • Linux developers integrating the devices into embedded Linux systems

  • FPGA designers implementing custom I3C interfaces or modifying the reference design

  • Application engineers using the evaluation boards for rapid prototyping

How to Use This Documentation

This guide is organized into distinct sections that can be read independently or sequentially:

  1. Evaluation Board - Start here if you’ve just received the hardware and want to get up and running quickly. Covers hardware setup, firmware flashing, and basic usage with GUI tools.

  2. Linux IIO Driver - For embedded Linux developers. Describes the kernel driver architecture, devicetree configuration, and all supported features including buffered acquisition, events, and GPIO control.

  3. no-OS Driver and Projects - For bare-metal firmware developers. Explains the driver API, TinyIIO layer, and example projects for STM32 platforms.

  4. HDL Design - For FPGA developers. Documents the I3C controller implementation, AXI interfaces, and integration with the Analog Devices HDL framework.

  5. Software Tools - Reference guide for libiio command-line tools and usage examples.

Recommended Reading Paths:

  • Quick evaluation: Read sections 1 and 5 to evaluate using pre-built firmware and GUI tools

  • Linux integration: Read sections 1, 2, 4, and 5 for complete Linux integration

  • Bare-metal development: Read sections 1, 3, and 5 for microcontroller implementation

  • Custom FPGA design: Read all sections for complete system understanding

Getting Help

For technical questions and support: