The term instrumentation amplifier (INA) often is misused, referring to the application rather than the architecture of the device. Historically, any amplifier that was considered precision (i.e., ...

The operational amplifier is arguably the most useful single device in analog electronic circuitry. When you apply them in the circuits, you must know their basics and functions. As for the function ...

Operational amplifiers (op amps) play many different roles in optimizing the performance of mixed signal system design. Today’s mixed signal designer is challenged to understand the requirements of ...

Though sometimes taken for granted, designers shouldn’t overlook the intricacies of voltage- and current-feedback op amps—integral players in the analog and mixed-signal worlds. Op amps amplify tiny ...

If you’ve ever wondered why an op amp has the little plus and minus symbols on it, its because at the heart of it, the device is a differential amplifier. The problem is that — ideally, at least — it ...

In the first article about measurement systems we looked at sensors as a way to bring data into a measurement system. I explained that a sensor measures physical quantities which are turned into a ...

My hands-on introduction to operational amplifiers was in 1969 while in the army as a junior scientist in the Atmospheric Science Laboratory at the White Sands Proving Grounds. We had taken a ...

The most common device for the measurement of load, pressure, torque, and even piezo-resistive (low frequency) acceleration is the strain gauge transducer. As a transducer, which converts a measured ...

Texas Instruments has introduced a fully-differential op-amp for driving fast ADCs up to 100MHz, claiming it to be the lowest noise, lowest distortion amplifier of its type. Built on the firm’s ...