New Industry Products

Microchip Technology Announces Low-Power, High-Accuracy Op Amps

April 16, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

Microchip Technology Inc. announced it has expanded its linear product portfolio into the low power, high-precision arena with the MCP6031, MCP6032, MCP6033 and MCP6034 (MCP603X) operational amplifiers (op amps). The new, sub-microampere amplifiers have a quiescent current of only 900nA and a bandwidth of 10kHz, with a maximum voltage offset of just 150µV at 25°C. The amplifiers are suitable for handheld, portable electronic devices used in the medical, industrial and consumer markets.

Microchip’s low-power CMOS technology and implementation of non-volatile memory for in-package trimming enables the MCP603X amplifiers’ extremely low offset. This minimizes error, especially at higher gains. Additionally, with an operating voltage range of 1.8 to 5.5V, the amplifiers can run off of two 1.5V battery cells under full battery utilization. Their low power consumption extends battery life, and their rail-to-rail input/output structure enables greater dynamic range and better performance across the entire operating-voltage range.

"Microchip continues to leverage its low-power, CMOS technology to provide another family of industry-leading op amps," said Bryan Liddiard, Vice President of Microchip’s Analog and Interface Products Division. "The MCP603X devices lead the industry with their combination of low power consumption and low-offset performance, and are expected to enable new markets for Microchip in portable instrumentation."

The MCP603X devices are well suited for applications requiring low power consumption, low-voltage operation and high precision, such as portable instrumentation devices used in the industrial (portable gas detectors, pressure-monitoring devices, toll-booth tags, digital multimeters, RFID readers, bar-code scanners); medical (blood glucose meters, wearable heart-rate monitors and body-temperature measurement sensors); and consumer (gaming consoles, set-top boxes and portable audio players) markets.

The MCP6031, MCP6032 and MCP6033 amplifiers are available in 8-pin MSOP and SOIC packages, and the MCP6034 in 14-pin SOIC and TSSOP packages. The MCP6031 is priced at $0.53 each; the MCP6032 at $0.71 each; the MCP6033 at $0.55 each and the MCP6034 at $1.26 each, all in 10,000-unit quantities.