
AD8553
Rev. A | Page 12 of 20
APPLICATIONS
GAIN SELECTION (GAIN-SETTING RESISTORS)
The gain of the AD8553 is set according to
G = 2 × (R2/R1)
(1)
Table 5 lists the recommended resistor values. Resistor R1 must
be at least 3.92 kΩ for proper operation. Use of resistors larger
than the recommended values results in higher offset and
higher noise.
Gain accuracy depends on the matching of R1 and R2. Any
mismatch in resistor values results in a gain error. Resistor
value errors due to drift affect gain by the amount indicated by
Equation 1. However, due to the current-mode operation of the
AD8553, a mismatch in R1 and R2 does not degrade the CMR.
Care should be taken when selecting and positioning the gain
setting resistors. The resistors should be made of the same
material and package style. Surface-mount resistors are
recommended. They should be positioned as close together
as possible to minimize TC errors.
To maintain good CMR vs. frequency, the parasitic capacitance
on the R1 gain setting pins should be minimized and matched.
This also helps maintain a low gain error at G < 10.
If resistor trimming is required to set a precise gain, trim
Resistor R2 only. Using a potentiometer for R1 degrades the
amplifier’s performance.
REFERENCE CONNECTION
Unlike traditional three op amp instrumentation amplifiers,
parasitic resistance in series with VREF (Pin 7) does not degrade
CMR performance. This allows the AD8553 to attain its extremely
high CMR performance without the use of an external buffer
amplifier to drive the VREF pin, which is required by industry-
standard instrumentation amplifiers. This helps save valuable
printed circuit board space and minimizes system costs.
For optimal performance in single-supply applications, VREF
should be set with a low noise precision voltage reference.
However, for a lower system cost, the reference voltage can be
set with a simple resistor voltage divider between the supply and
ground (see
Figure 31). This configuration results in degraded
output offset performance if the resistors deviate from their
ideal values. In dual-supply applications, VREF can simply be
connected to ground.
The VREF pin current is approximately 20 pA, and as a result, an
external buffer is not required.
DISABLE FUNCTION
The AD8553 provides a shutdown function to conserve power
when the device is not needed. Although there is a 1 μA pull-up
current on the ENABLE pin, Pin 6 should be connected to the
positive supply for normal operation and to the negative supply
to turn the device off. It is not recommended to leave Pin 6
floating.
Turn-on time upon switching Pin 6 high is dominated by the
output filters. When the device is disabled, the output becomes
high impedance enabling muxing application of multiple
AD8553 instrumentation amplifiers.
OUTPUT FILTERING
Filter Capacitor C2 is required to limit the amount of switching
noise present at the output. The recommended bandwidth of
the filter created by C2 and R2 is 1.4 kHz. The user should first
select R1 and R2 based on the desired gain, then select C2 based on
C2 = 1/(1400 × 2 × π × R2)
(2)
Addition of another single-pole RC filter of 1.4 kHz on the
bandwidths greater than 10 Hz. These two filters produce an
overall bandwidth of 1 kHz.
When driving an ADC, the recommended values for the second
filter are R3 = 100 Ω and C3 = 1 μF. This filter is required to
achieve the specified performance. It also acts as an antialiasing
filter for the ADC. If a sampling ADC is not being driven, the
value of the capacitor can be reduced, but the filter frequency
should remain unchanged.
For applications with low bandwidths (<10 Hz), only the first
filter is required. In this case, the high frequency noise from the
auto-zero amplifier (output amplifier) is not filtered before the
following stage.
CLOCK FEEDTHROUGH
The AD8553 uses two synchronized clocks to perform the
autocorrection. The input voltage-to-current amplifiers are
corrected at 60 kHz.
Trace amounts of these clock frequencies can be observed at the
output. The amount of feedthrough is dependent upon the gain,
because the autocorrection noise has an input and output
referred term. The correction feedthrough is also dependent
upon the values of the external filters R2/C2, and R3/C3.
LOW IMPEDANCE OUTPUT
For applications where a low output impedance is required, the
circuit in
Figure 33 should be used. This provides the same
filtering performance as shown in the configuration in
Figure 34.