Unity Gain Stable, Wideband Voltage Limiting Amplifier

The OPA698 is a wide-band, unity-gain

stable voltage-feedback op amp that offers bipolar output voltage limiting. Two

buffered limiting voltages take control of the output when attempting to drive

beyond these limits. This new output limiting architecture holds the limiter offset

error to ±5mV.

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 provides overdrive signals that are 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

benefits 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 pin-out SOIC-8 package. For higher gain, or transimpedance

applications that require output limiting with fast recovery, consider the OPA699.