C-Load™ Op Amps Conquer Instabilities – Design Note 107 Kevin R. Hoskins Introduction Linear Technology Corporation has taken advantage of advances in process technology and circuit innovations to create a series of C-Load operational amplifiers that are tolerant of capacitive loading, including the ultimate, amplifiers that remain stable driving any capacitive load. This series of amplifiers has a bandwidth that ranges from 160kHz to 140MHz. These amplifiers are appropriate for a wide range of applications from coaxial cable drivers to analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input buffer/amplifiers. Driving ADCs Most contemporary ADCs incorporate a sample-andhold (S/H). A typical S/H circuit is shown in Figure 1. The hold capacitor’s (C1) size varies with the ADC’s resolution but is generally in the range of 5pF to 20pF, 10pF to 30pF and 10pF to 50pF for 8-, 10- and 12-bit ADCs, respectively. an amplifier has not settled to a value that falls within the error band of the ADC, conversion errors will result. That is unless the amplifier is designed to gracefully and accurately drive capacitive loads, such as Linear Technology’s C-Load line of monolithic amplifiers. Table 1 lists Linear Technology’s unconditionally stable voltage feedback C-Load amplifiers. Table 2 lists other voltage feedback C-Load amplifiers that are stable with loads up to 10,000pF. Table 1. Unity-Gain Stable C-Load Amplifiers Stable with All Capacitive Loads SINGLES — LT1200 LT1220 LT1224 LT1354 LT1357 LT1360 LT1363 DUALS LT®1368 LT1201 — LT1208 LT1355 LT1358 LT1361 LT1364 QUADS LT1369 LT1202 — LT1209 LT1356 LT1359 LT1362 LT1365 GBW (MHz) 0.16 11 45 45 12 25 50 70 IS/AMP (mA) 0.375 1 8 7 1 2 4 6 C1 >> –AV AIN TO SAR GND FROM INTERNAL DAC DN107 • F01 Figure 1. Typical ADC Input Stage Showing Input Capacitors At the beginning of a conversion cycle, this circuit samples the applied signal’s voltage magnitude and stores it on its hold capacitor. Each time the switch opens or closes, the amplifier driving the S/H’s input faces a dynamically changing capacitive load. This condition generates current spikes on the input signal. This capacitive load and the spikes produced when they are switched constitutes a very challenging load that can potentially produce instabilities in an amplifier driving the ADC’s input. These instabilities make it difficult for an amplifier to quickly settle. If the output of 07/95/107_conv Table 2. Unity-Gain Stable C-Load Amplifiers Stable with CL ≤ 10,000pF SINGLES LT1012 — LT1097 — DUALS — LT1112 — LT1457 QUADS — LT1114 — — GBW (MHz) 0.6 0.65 0.7 2 IS/AMP (mA) 0.4 0.32 0.35 1.6 Remaining Stable in the Face of Difficult Loads As can be seen in Figure 2, an amplifier whose design is not optimized for handling a large capacitive load, has some trouble driving the hold capacitor of the LTC ®1410’s S/H. While the LT1006 has other very desirable characteristics such as very low VOS, very low offset drift, and low power dissipation, it has difficulty L, LT, LTC, LTM, Linear Technology and the Linear logo are registered trademarks and C-Load is a trademark of Linear Technology Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. accurately responding to dynamically changing capacitive loads and the current glitches and transients they produce (as indicated by the instabilities that appear in the lower trace of Figure 2a. CONVST 1V/DIV By contrast, Figure 2b shows the LT1360 C-Load op amp driving the same LTC1410 input. The photo shows that the LT1360 is an ideal solution for driving the ADC’s input capacitor quickly and cleanly with excellent stability. Its wide 50MHz gain-bandwidth and 800V/μs slew rate very adequately complement the LTC1410’s 20MHz full power bandwidth. The LT1360 is specified for ±5V operation. Figure 3 shows the circuit used to test the performance of op amps driving the LTC1410’s input and measure the input waveforms. INPUT 200mV/DIV 200ns/DIV DN1007 F02a Figure 2a. Input Signal Applied to an LTC1410 Driven by an LT1006 Conclusion Linear Technology’s C-Load amplifiers meet the challenging and difficult capacitive loads of contemporary ADC analog inputs by remaining stable and settling quickly. 5V 0.1μF CONVST 1V/DIV INPUT + LT1006 OR LT1360 +AIN – INPUT 50mV/DIV 12-BIT DATA – AIN 0.1μF LTC1410 – 5V 200ns/DIV DN1007 F02b AVDD + 10μF 5V 0.1μF 0.1μF DVDD Figure 2b. Input Signal Applied to an LTC1410 Driven by an LT1360 AGND OGND CONTROL LINES DGND CONVST DN107 • F03 Figure 3. Test Circuit Used to Measure LTC1410 Input Signal Waveform Data Sheet Download www.linear.com Linear Technology Corporation For applications help, call (408) 432-1900 dn107f_conv LT/GP 0795 190K • PRINTED IN THE USA 1630 McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas, CA 95035-7417 (408) 432-1900 ● FAX: (408) 434-0507 ● www.linear.com © LINEAR TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION 1995