TI Markets First Programmable Differential Amps
The company's configurable 2.4 GHz PDAs provide optimised noise and distortion performance over a 6-dB to 26-dB gain range
Texas Instruments has introduced what it claims is the world's first programmable differential amplifiers (PDAs).
The company says its configurable 2.4 GHz PDAs provide optimised noise and distortion performance over a 6-dB to 26-dB gain range.The LMH6881 single-channel and LMH6882 dual-channel devices simplify the way engineers design with differential amplifiers.
Designing systems with PDAs increases flexibility and can significantly reduce design time, solution size and bill of materials cost for a broad range of applications.
PDAs combine the best of fully-differential amplifiers (FDAs) and digital variable gain amplifiers (DVGAs).
They allow engineers to easily modify their designs by changing gain without having to adjust external resistors, replace amplifiers, or reconfigure and optimise each gain stage.
Compared to traditional DVGAs, TI says its PDAs offer more consistent noise and distortion performance over the entire gain range.
Also, the programmable gain control in the LMH6881 and LMH6882 eliminates the need for gain-setting resistors and their associated mismatch errors, enabling more robust systems for applications, such as medical, test and measurement, military, wireless communications, and microwave backhaul.
Both the LMH6881 and LMH6882 devices have a 100-MHz input frequency and at a 9.7-dB noise figure, 44-dBm OIP3, and -100 dBc HD3.
Gain control can be implemented via SPI bus or dedicated pins, with no external resistors needed and they support DC/AC coupling and single-ended-to-differential conversion eliminates the need for a balun, giving designers the flexibility to operate from DC to high frequencies with minimal external components.
The LMH6882's channel gain matching of 0.2-dB and phase matching of 1.5 degrees improve image rejection for wideband zero IF and I/Q sampling applications.
Drive high-speed analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs), such as the 8-bit, single-channel ADC083000; 10-bit, dual-channel ADC10D1500; 12-bit, dual-channel ADC12D1800RF; and 14-bit, single-channel ADS4149.
TI also offers a variety of tools and support to speed development with the LMH6881 and LMH6882 PDAs.
The evaluation modules (EVMs), as well as TINA-TI SPICE models and reference designs, are available today to quickly evaluate these devices and accelerate system development:
The LMH6881EVAL EVM has a suggested retail price of US$149 while the LMH6882EVAL EVM has a suggested retail price of US$199
Engineers designing with either the LMH6881 or LMH6882 can also ask questions and get answers from TI experts in the TI E2E Community High Speed Amplifiers Forum.
The LMH6881 single-channel PDA is now available in a 24-pin, 2.6-mm by 2.6-mm QFN package for US$3.71 in 1,000-unit quantities.
The LMH6882 dual-channel PDA in a 36-pin package of 4.6-mm by 4.6-mm QFN package costs US$5.95 in 1,000-unit quantities.
