Designers of high-sensitivity, low-noise preamplifiers recognize the benefits of galvanic isolation to reduce noise. Besides the noise benefits of isolation, some preamps have further requirements, such as the ability to float at a large dc offset voltage. Accommodating this requirement with off-the-shelf solutions may result in high cost and the addition of large components.
Designers can craft a high-isolation micropower dc-dc converter using a telecom transformer. The design is extremely low in cost, and it requires very little board area.
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