Application Hints
(Continued)
TL/H/5609–9
c. Single Supply, Unipolar Output
d. Single Supply, Bipolar Output
FIGURE 1. Reference Connections
(Continued)
OUTPUTS
The LM363’s output can typically swing within 1V of the
supplies at light loads. While specified to drive a 2 k
X
load
to
g
10V, current limit is typically 15 mA at room tempera-
ture. The output can stably drive capacitive loads up to
400 pF. For higher load capacitance, the amplifier may be
overcompensated (see COMPENSATION section, follow-
ing). The output may be continuously shorted to ground
without damaging the device.
OFFSET VOLTAGE
The LM363’s offset voltage is internally trimmed to a very
low value. Note that data sheet values are given at
T
j
e
25
§
C, V
CM
e
0V and V
a
e
V
b
e
15V. For other condi-
tions, warm-up drift, temperature drift, common-mode rejec-
tion and power supply rejection must be taken into account.
Warm-up drift, due to chip and package thermal gradients, is
an effect separate from temperature drift. Typical warm-up
drift is tabulated in the Electrical Characteristics; settling
time is approximately 5 minutes in still air. At load currents
up to 5 mA, thermal feedback effects are negligible
(
D
V
OS
s
2
m
V at G
e
1000).
Care must be taken in measuring the extremely low offset
voltages of the high gain amplifiers. Input leads must be
held isothermal to eliminate thermocouple effects. Oscilla-
tions, due to either heavy capacitive loading or stray capaci-
tance from input to output, can cause erroneous readings.
In either case, overcompensation will help. High frequency
noise fed into the inputs may be rectified internally, and pro-
duce an offset shift. A simple low-pass RC filter will usually
cure this problem (Figure 2). Use film type resistors for their
low thermal EMF. In highly noisy environments, LC filters
can be substituted for increased RF attenuation.
TL/H/5609–10
FIGURE 2. Low Pass Filter Prevents RF Rectification
Instrumentation amplifiers have both an input offset voltage
(V
IOS
) and an output offset voltage (V
OOS
). The total input-
referred offset voltage (V
OSRTI
) is related to the instrumen-
tation amplifier gain (G) as follows: V
OSRTI
e
V
IOS
a
V
OOS
/
G. The offset voltage given in the LM363 specifications is
the total input-referred offset. As long as only one gain is
used, offset voltage can be nulled at either input or output
as shown in Figures 3a and 3b. When the 16-pin device is
used at multiple gain settings, both V
IOS
and V
OOS
should
be nulled to get minimum offset at all gains, as shown in
Figure 3c. The correct procedure is to trim V
OOS
for zero
output at G
e
10, then trim V
IOS
at G
e
1000.
TL/H/5609–11
FIGURE 3. Offset Voltage Trimming
10