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How to properly terminate an unused op amp
We are often tasked by customers to select the best products to complete a design, including how to configure unused operational amplifiers in quad or dual op amp devices.While this may seem like a...
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Inexpensive analog isolation
Popular applications like LED lighting, brushless motors and power monitoring all require a combination of direct offline power electronics with isolated control electronics. Now more than ever,...
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Correcting DC errors in high-speed amplifier circuits
When both high DC accuracy and high bandwidth are required at the same time, it may be difficult to implement. Depending on the circuit configuration, there are several valid approaches including...
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Decompensated op amps to the rescue
With all the handheld devices at our fingertips these days, from PDA’s and smart phones, to medical devices and test equipment, it’s no surprise we need them to last as long as possible before giving...
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Engineer it: Thermal considerations when selecting an integrated motor driver
<p>Have you had a chance to watch any <strong>Engineer It</strong> videos yet? We launched this series to bring technical “how to” design topics to life. Be sure...
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Noise gain, signal gain, what a pain!
When I was little my grandfather would ask me “what’s heavier, 5 pounds of lead or 5 pounds of feathers?” and I would immediately answer “lead of course!”Although the volume is not the same, the weight...
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What’s the difference between macro models and behavioral models?
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Spice macro model and a behavioral model? The basic difference is that macro models like the LMV641 are transistor based. There’s of...
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Let there be light
Converting light into a voltage is no trivial task. Photodiodes are used in various areas ranging from general purpose use, such as automatic faucets, hand dryers and bill counters, to industrial...
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What you always wanted to know about TINA-TI but were afraid to ask! (Part 2)
In Part 1 I explained how to create a versatile and accurate differential source in TINA-TI which comes in handy when dealing with a fully differential amplifier (FDA) or other differential circuits....
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A new era for CMOS amplifiers
A little over a decade ago, semiconductor design and applications engineers high fived each other when they had working silicon on CMOS because it achieved sub 100uV of input offset voltage in...
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Is it time to move beyond FR4?
Is your circuit board compromising your circuit? Is it time to consider a change from the standby FR4 board material? With rising operating frequencies and higher data rates, signal fidelity is more...
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How to evaluate a transimpedance amplifier (part 2)
In my previous blog on "How to evaluate a transimpedance amplifier, part 1", we looked at the OPA857 performance, but didn’t go in depth in explaining how those measurements were taken. Now that we’ve...
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What you need to know about using general purpose op amps at low voltage
You need to design a basic op amp circuit at a low supply voltage and are tempted to use that high-voltage, low cost op-amp to save money. But will it work? I’ll show you how to tell.l started with the...
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What you always wanted to know about TINA-TI but were afraid to ask! (Part 3)
Whether or not you were ever “afraid” to ask about any of the TINA-TI topics we discussed in Part 1 or in Part 2 of this Analog Wire series, I’m hoping that you find my next topic, noise analysis using...
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How to use EMI hardened op amps to reduce your errors
Before the birth of EMI hardened amplifiers, system designers implemented their own filtering scheme. Some worked and others not so well. A common mishap is to insert a capacitor across the inputs of...
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Increasing dynamic performance in radar systems
If you’re designing automotive radar or even commercial or military radar systems, we are all bound by physics. I’d like to change that, but many of my old professors in college said “there are rules...
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What you always wanted to know about TINA-TI but were afraid to ask! (Part 4)
This installment of the TINA-TI series is based on your requests from the list in Part 1. In this post we’ll learn how to generate:Time varying (piecewise linear) sourceFrequency varying sourceTime...
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Minimize your current, pick a sweet spot!
Pick any CMOS or JFET amplifier and you’ll get the lowest possible input bias (Ib) current, right?Not so fast. If you mean low Ib compared to that of bipolar, then yes. But if you mean sub 10pA, there...
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SPICE it up: Why I like TINA-TI (Part 1)
TINA-TI is TI’s circuit design and SPICE simulation tool. I’m a big fan of the software, but it’s not just because I work at TI. I’ve used other SPICE-based simulation programs over the years. While...
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Get Connected: Data aggregation using a general purpose SerDes
Welcome back to the Get Connected blog series here on Analog Wire! In my previous Get Connected blog, we reviewed the benefits of implementing equalization in high-speed serial links that are prone to...
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