The question for any system designer is not whether he needs a voltage reference, but rather, which one? A voltage reference is simply that — a circuit or circuit element that provides a known potential for as long as the circuit requires it. This may be minutes, hours or years. If a product requires information about the world, such as battery voltage or current, power consumption, signal size or characteristics, or fault identification, then the signal in question must be compared to a standard. Each comparator, ADC, DAC, or detection circuit must have a voltage reference in order to do its job (Figure 1). By comparing the signal of interest to a known value, any signal may be quantified accurately.
How to Choose a Voltage Reference
