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Hello.. I am confused with the term "Current output" ... i want to know if for example a current out dac is used then what will appear at its o/p pin?what voltage will appear ? thnx
The voltage will be whatever it takes to produce its rated current, limited only by the "compliance" (look it up) of the DAC. If the DAC is set to output 1mA, then it will put 1V across a 1000Ω load, 2V into a 2000Ω load, and so on. E=I*R.
As a side note, all that's often required is a single resistor to turn a current mode DAC into a voltage out DAC, as Mike said the resistor will allow you to adjust it's range. However it's almost always recommended to feed such an output into a high impedance buffer amplifier to keep whatever the signal is driving from affecting the DAC's output, variations in the destination load will effect the output voltage.
For best output accuracy you can have the output current drive the virtual ground (-) input of an inverting op amp. That way the DAC output current accuracy is not affected by any variation in output voltage since the output voltage is always near zero. Of course this inverts the polarity of the output voltage.
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