High-speed op amps

Microchip has announced what it claims is the world’s first and only op amp to include mCal, an on-chip calibration circuit that calibrates offset voltage at power-up using an internal power on-reset detector or based on the state of an external pin.

The result is a low initial voltage offset and a means to minimise drift over time and temperature, which are extremely important for applications involving instrumentation and sensor conditioning.

The high-bandwidth (50 MHz), low-power MCP651/2/5 (MCP65X) op amps provide low bias and quiescent currents, high output-drive capability and a rail-to-rail output for better performance across the entire operating-voltage range.

This makes the op amps suitable for applications including those in the consumer, industrial and medical markets.

The amps have a high output-drive current of 95 mA, which enables them to drive heavy loads and results in better performance across a wide range of applications.

With their rail-to-rail output, they provide greater dynamic range — even at lower operating voltages.

The company has also announced the MCP651 evaluation board at the same time, to provide a simple means for measuring the op amp’s input offset voltage under a variety of conditions.

The measured input offset voltage includes the input offset voltage specified in the MCP651 datasheet, plus changes due to power-supply voltage, common-mode voltage, output voltage, input offset-voltage drift over temperature and l/f noise.

The MCP65X family is supported by the FilterLab analog filtering software tool and the Mindi online simulator tool.