Product category:
Analogue and Mixed Signal ICs
News Release from: Analog Devices | Subject: IPolar amplifiers
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 19 May 2005
New process enables industrial amp
advances
Analog Devices is introducing a suite of amplifiers designed to meet the demanding signal conditioning requirements of high-voltage industrial and instrumentation equipment.
Analog Devices is introducing a suite of amplifiers designed to meet the demanding signal conditioning requirements of high-voltage industrial and instrumentation equipment With operating voltages up to +/-18V, these breakthrough analogue components increase performance relative to conventional bipolar amplifiers, while reducing package size by as much as 75% and power consumption by up to 50%
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 2 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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In many cases, this means industrial equipment designers can migrate from SOIC packaged ICs to much smaller TSOT-23 packages, generating a space savings that simplifies board layout or leaves room for other functions.
Moreover, the devices' +/-18V power supply dramatically reduces the additional signal conditioning, signal biasing and external components required to interface lower-voltage analogue components to high-voltage industrial and instrumentation sensors and transducers, further reducing design complexity for industrial equipment developers.
The products are manufactured on a new process technology developed by Analog Devices expressly for the needs of high-voltage applications.
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The iPolar trench isolation process technology is the industry's most significant re-engineering of 36V bipolar technology in nearly 20 years.
iPolar is a stable, high-voltage manufacturing methodology that replaces the bulky diffusion layers of traditional bipolar processes with a deep trench technique that dramatically increases transistor density and performance.
Three new products have been released based on Analog Devices' new +/-18V iPolar trench isolation process technology.
The AD8675 is the industry's lowest-noise, 36V precision amplifier.
With voltage noise density of less than 3nV/(rt)Hz and rail-to-rail output, the AD8675 features a 30% reduction in power, 75% lower input bias current and 65% less drift over temperature-all with three times the bandwidth and at half the cost and size of competing amplifiers.
The AD8677 operational amplifier packs improved OP07 performance into a tiny package, reducing board space by 75%.
The AD8677 features 75uV (maximum) offset voltage and 1.3uV/C (maximum) temperature drift while reducing bias current by 50% and power consumption by 40% with no loss of bandwidth.
Offering improved precision over competing ultra-low-offset-voltage op amps, the AD8677 uses just 25% of the package area while increasing PSRR (power supply rejection ratio) and CMRR (common mode rejection ratio).
High PSRR and CMRR greatly improve immunity to often-noisy industrial environments.
The ADA4004-4 is the industry's lowest-noise quad bipolar precision amplifier.
While achieving voltage noise of 2nV/(rt)Hz at just 1.7mA of supply current per amplifier, the ADA4004-4 reduces package area by up to 70% compared with competing amplifiers.
The combination of reduced power and size allows the ADA4004-4 to maintain excellent dynamic range, without the cooling fans or heatsinks required by competing devices, and is ideal for applications that demand high-voltage precision performance at extended industrial temperature ranges.
Analog Devices' iPolar process was preceded in 2004 by the introduction of iCMOS, a semiconductor manufacturing process technology complementary to iPolar that enables the integration of modern digital logic with high-voltage analogue components to achieve unprecedented levels of performance, design, and cost efficiencies in high-voltage industrial applications.
The new iPolar process yields precision linear ICs that enhance analogue signal processing, while the submicron 30V iCMOS process is used to manufacture highly integrated mixed-signal devices.
"When we released 15 products based on the iCMOS industrial process last November, Analog Devices renewed its pledge to bring the right technology to bear against each application we support".
"With today's introduction of amplifiers using our new iPolar high-voltage process, we are again delivering on that promise", said Robbie McAdam, Vice President, Analog Semiconductor Components, Analog Devices.
"Thousands of customers in the industrial sector now have an unparalleled choice of small, low-power, competitively priced analogue components that meet the specific power, integration, cost and performance parameters for their entire signal chain".
The result of significant, multi-year R and D investments, both the iPolar and iCMOS processes enable a new category of high-performance analogue components able to operate in electrically noisy, high-voltage environments such as process controls, factory automation systems, control loops, and other industrial electronic equipment and have increased performance in smaller packages at lower cost.
The development of the iCMOS and iPolar process technologies by Analog Devices stemmed from recognition that there is a growing gap between the needs of industrial equipment, which continue to use high-voltage (+/-10V) signals, and portable consumer and communications devices, where supply voltages are continuously declining.
The +/-18V iPolar process from ADI improves on the best characteristics of precision bipolar and JFET processes by using a lateral dielectric isolated trench technique and completely re-engineered transistors optimised for speed, noise, matching, linearity and stability.
iPolar is a stable, high-voltage manufacturing methodology that replaces the bulky diffusion layers of traditional bipolar processes with a deep trench technique that dramatically increases transistor density and performance.
Bandwidth of both the NPN and PNP transistors is at least 750MHz, and a wide variety of other structures such as JFETs and thin film resistors are available.
Tighter transistor density and improved transistor design also enable more precise matching of individual transistors, which, together with a new emitter-base-collector architecture, developed by Analog Devices, results in amplifiers with the best noise characteristics in their class.
"While other companies have warmed over their aging bipolar processes and increased wafer sizes, the iPolar process from Analog Devices has been redesigned from the ground up and represents the most compact, highest performing 36V bipolar process in the industry", said Steve Sockolov, Product Line Director for Precision Amplifiers for the Analog Semiconductor Components Division of Analog Devices.
"The exemplary performance, package size and power profile of the amplifiers we're introducing today reflect a 40-year commitment by Analog Devices to meeting and exceeding the needs of our industrial customers".
In addition to optimising board layout by enabling smaller package sizes, the iPolar process uses poly-nitride-metal capacitors to improve linearity and reduce parasitics.
This results in more stable analogue circuits with less variation due to temperature and voltage.
Users will experience improved performance predictability, cleaner board layout, and faster time to market.
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