Another solution commonly used for lower resolution measurements is a microcontroller with an integrated ADC. There are many different companies that produce microcontrollers with low-cost, low-resolution ADCs. The primary focus for a majority of these microcontrollers is integrating a wide array of functionality and digital circuitry. The ADC is often a “throw in” or an afterthought. So while the front page of the datasheet may say it’s a 16-bit ADC, the performance may actually be closer to 12 bits or 10 bits. Often, DC specifications such as INL, DNL, offset error, or gain error are either not specified or not guaranteed. This is because the ADC and all of the microcontroller’s digital circuitry will have to share the same noisy substrate, making it tough to get the best performance.