Precision amplifiers originally evolved to fill the needs of the test and measurement community. This arena demanded test system elements with much more precision than the original instruments were intended to make. They also required a set of specifications and ways of verifying those specs that unquestionably demonstrated that superiority.
Today, precision amps are widely used in automotive and industrial applications, where they monitor the myriad sensors in the latest cars and manufacturing facilities. They're even showing up in power regulation in consumer products.
What is a precision op amp?
Precision op amps are defined by their datasheet characteristics, both typical and guaranteed maximum/minimum values. Key specifications are input offset voltage and offset current (V OS and I OS ) and the temperature coefficient of V OS (TCV OS ). Depending on the application, other critical specs include input bias current (I B ), input-referred voltage and current noise (e n and i n ), open-loop gain (Avol), gain-bandwidth product (GBWP), and power-supply and common-mode rejection ratio (PSRR and CMRR).
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