AD8601/AD8602/AD8604
Input Overvoltage Protection
As with any semiconductor device, if a condition could exist
that would cause the input voltage to exceed the power supply,
the device’s input overvoltage characteristic must be considered.
Excess input voltage will energize internal PN junctions in the
AD860x, allowing current to flow from the input to the supplies.
This input current will not damage the amplifier, provided it is
limited to 5 mA or less. This can be ensured by placing a resis-
tor in series with the input. For example, if the input voltage
could exceed the supply by 5 V, the series resistor should be at
least (5 V/5 mA) = 1 kΩ. With the input voltage within the
supply rails, a minimal amount of current is drawn into the
inputs, which, in turn, causes a negligible voltage drop across
the series resistor. Therefore, adding the series resistor will
not adversely affect circuit performance.
Overdrive Recovery
Overdrive recovery is defined as the time it takes the output of
an amplifier to come off the supply rail when recovering from
an overload signal. This is tested by placing the amplifier in a
closed-loop gain of 10 with an input square wave of 2 V p-p while
the amplifier is powered from either 5 V or 3 V.
The AD860x has excellent recovery time from overload condi-
tions. The output recovers from the positive supply rail within
200 ns at all supply voltages. Recovery from the negative rail is
within 500 ns at 5 V supply, decreasing to within 350 ns when
the device is powered from 2.7 V.
Power-On Time
Power-on time is important in portable applications, where the
supply voltage to the amplifier may be toggled to shut down the
device to improve battery life. Fast power-up behavior ensures
that the output of the amplifier will quickly settle to its final
voltage, improving the power-up speed of the entire system.
Once the supply voltage reaches a minimum of 2.5 V, the AD860x
will settle to a valid output within 1 µs. This turn-on response
time is faster than many other precision amplifiers, which can
take tens or hundreds of microseconds for their outputs to settle.
Using the AD8602 in High Source Impedance Applications
The CMOS rail-to-rail input structure of the AD860x allows
these amplifiers to have very low input bias currents, typically
0.2 pA. This allows the AD860x to be used in any application
that has a high source impedance or must use large value resis-
tances around the amplifier. For example, the photodiode
amplifier circuit shown in Figure 3 requires a low input bias
current op amp to reduce output voltage error. The AD8601
minimizes offset errors due to its low input bias current and low
offset voltage.
The current through the photodiode is proportional to the inci-
dent light power on its surface. The 4.7 MΩ resistor converts
this current into a voltage, with the output of the AD8601
increasing at 4.7 V/µA. The feedback capacitor reduces excess
noise at higher frequencies by limiting the bandwidth of the
circuit to
BW
=
1
2π(4.7 MΩ)CF
(1)
Using a 10 pF feedback capacitor limits the bandwidth to approxi-
mately 3.3 kHz.
10pF
(OPTIONAL)
4.7M⍀
D1
VOUT
4.7V/A
AD8601
Figure 3. Amplifier Photodiode Circuit
High- and Low-Side Precision Current Monitoring
Because of its low input bias current and low offset voltage, the
AD860x can be used for precision current monitoring. The true
rail-to-rail input feature of the AD860x allows the amplifier to
monitor current on either high-side or low-side. Using both
amplifiers in an AD8602 provides a simple method for monitoring
both current supply and return paths for load or fault detec-
tion. Figures 4 and 5 demonstrate both circuits.
3V
R2
2.49k⍀
MONITOR
OUTPUT
Q1
2N3904
3V
R1
100⍀
RSENSE
0.1⍀
1/2 AD8602
RETURN TO
GROUND
Figure 4. A Low-Side Current Monitor
RSENSE
0.1⍀
3V
IL
V+
3V
R1
100⍀
1/2
AD8602
Q1
2N3905
MONITOR
OUTPUT
R2
2.49k⍀
Figure 5. A High-Side Current Monitor
Voltage drop is created across the 0.1 Ω resistor that is propor-
tional to the load current. This voltage appears at the inverting
input of the amplifier due to the feedback correction around the
op amp. This creates a current through R1 which, in turn, pulls
current through R2. For the low-side monitor, the monitor
output voltage is given by
Monitor
Output
=
3V
–
R2
×
RSENSE
R1
×
IL
(2)
–14–
REV. D