TI introduces the industry’s highest precision PGA

15th October 2013

Nat Bowers

0 0

Datasheet

Texas Instruments have today announced a new fully differential, zero-drift, 36-V programmable gain amplifier, the PGA281. At 5uV, the new PGA offers the lowest offset voltage in its class to improve accuracy and long-term stability and it features zero-drift architecture to enable DC precision and long-term stability. It also reduces the need for future system calibration. Designers can use the PGA281 in industrial signal acquisition applications, including test and measurement, strain gauges, bridge amplifiers, and medical instrumentation.

Key features and benefits of the PGA281:

Zero-drift architecture: An offset voltage of 25 uV and an offset voltage drift of 174 nV/C with a maximum gain of 128 enables designers to optimize system performance. The offset voltage provides stability over a wide variety of conditions, including time and temperature,
Best-in-class CMRR: More than 140 dB over a wide frequency range doubles the ability to reject common mode signals at unity gain compared to the competition. This allows minimal error when resolving changes in voltage,
Wide range of internal gain options: Digitally programmable internal gain options and output scaling capabilities provide more than 20 unique gain selections. Programmable gain and attenuation allow for a wide input range of a few millivolts to greater than 20 V, which makes the device a versatile front end,
Internal error detection: An error flag pin indicates if an over-voltage or over-load condition has occurred, allowing the designer to monitor and maintain a clear signal.

Tools and support

TI offers a variety of tools and support to speed design with the PGA281.

The PGA281EVM evaluation module allows designers to quickly and easily evaluate the functionality and versatility of the device.

The PGA281 is included in a new TI Precision Designs reference design, “10uA-100mA, 0.05% Error, High-Side Current Sensing,” that uses flexible gain configurations to achieve precise current sensing across four decades. The TI Precision Designs reference design library provides comprehensive board-level precision designs to help engineers quickly evaluate and customize their systems.

A SPICE model is also available for designing, testing and troubleshooting a broad variety of basic and advanced circuits, including complex architectures, without any node or number of device limitations.

Support is available on the Amplifier Forum in the TI E2E Community, where engineers can ask questions and get answers from TI experts.

Packaging, availability and pricing

The PGA281 is available now in a 5-mm by 6.4-mm, 16-pin TSSOP package, specified over a temperature range of –40 C to +105 C, for a suggested retail price of US$2.55 in 1,000-unit quantities.