Texas Instruments OPA698

Unity-Gain Stable, Wideband Voltage Limiting Amplifier

The OPA698 is a wideband, unity-gain stable voltage-feedback op amp that offers bipolar output voltage limiting. Two buffered limiting voltages take control of the output when it attempts to drive beyond these limits. This new output limiting architecture holds the limiter offset error to 10mV. The op amp operates linearly to within 20mV of the output limit voltages. The combination of a narrow nonlinear range and the low limiting offset allows the limiting voltages to be set within 100mV of the desired linear output range. A fast 1ns recovery from limiting ensures that overdrive signals will be transparent to the signal channel. Implementing the limiting function at the output, as opposed to the input, gives the specified limiting accuracy for any gain, and allows the OPA698 to be used in all standard op amp applications. Nonlinear analog signal processing will benefit from the ability of the OPA698 to sharply transition from linear operation to output limiting. The quick recovery time supports high-speed applications. The OPA698 is available in an industry standard pinout SO-8 package. For higher gain, or transimpedance applications requiring output limiting with fast recovery, consider the OPA699.