Quantization Noise Calculator
Calculate the theoretical SNR and noise level introduced by analog-to-digital quantization.
Ideal SNR
74.00 dB
Ideal SNR vs ADC Resolution (bits)
Quantization Noise in ADCs
When an analog signal is digitized, the rounding to discrete levels introduces quantization noise uniformly distributed over one LSB.
Formulas
Ideal SNR = 6.02 x N + 1.76 dB (for a full-scale sine wave)
LSB = V_full_scale / 2^N
Quantization Noise RMS = LSB / sqrt(12)
Each additional bit of resolution adds approximately 6 dB of SNR. Real ADCs achieve slightly less due to thermal noise, linearity errors, and timing jitter.
Example Calculation
A 12-bit ADC with 3.3 V full-scale range.
- 01Ideal SNR: 6.02 x 12 + 1.76 = 74.0 dB
- 02LSB: 3.3 / 4096 = 0.000806 V = 0.806 mV
- 03Quantization noise RMS: 0.806 / sqrt(12) = 0.233 mV
- 04Quantization levels: 2^12 = 4096
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