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3 About 10 years ago, the industry predicted that operational amplifiers (op amps) would become obsolete and replaced by the ever-increasing rise of microcontrollers. In actuality, the increased processing power, smaller size, and lower cost of the digital microcontroller have added opportunities for more accurate monitoring and control of real-world processes. The real world is not digital. Colors of the rainbow, temperature, pressure, flow, etc., are not a "1" or a "0." This is why the op amp is key to an analog signal chain, which converts very small real-world analog signals into accurate voltages, which can be read by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and then further processed by the microcontroller for decision making and output process control. Who will need an op amp? Op amps are needed in every major market segment ranging from industrial, personal electronics, and communications equipment to enterprise systems and automotive. Whether engineers are measuring temperature, pressure, flow, light, motion, gases, medical responses, moisture, voltages, current, power, or any other of the multitude of real-world monitor functions, the op amp will be required. When going back into the real world through actuators, valves, motors, speakers, laser diodes, etc., the control will almost always involve op amps. Texas Instruments (TI) has been involved in op amps since TI engineer Jack Kilby co- invented the integrated circuit (IC) in 1958. To this day, TI continues to be a leading provider of analog ICs, including op amp solutions for every system design need. You can choose from precision op amps (<1mV input offset voltage), general purpose op amps (>1mV input offset voltage), and high-speed op amps (>50MHz to >8GHz). TI's precision op amps input offset voltages have been designed down to 3uV maximum with a drift specification of 0.005uV/C. Among TI's general purpose amps, the industry's smallest op amp is available in a 0.8mm x 0.8mm package. TI's high-speed op amps include the highest DC-precision, 150-MHz fully differential amplifier. Op amps are alive, well, and thriving with ever-increasing performance and ever-decreasing size, power, and cost. So for today and the long foreseeable future, op amps will be needed in any type of control, monitoring, or interface to the real world. TI not only offers a full selection of op amps for conversion of small real-world signals into useable ranges for digitization but also offers the know-how and how-to for engineers to quickly get first pass designs to market. This eBook is a great starting point for any designer on the road to becoming an op amp expert. By Tim Green MGTS Applications Manager-Op Amps Texas Instruments Op Amps—Here Today… Gone Tomorrow? Tim Green is the Member Group Technical Staff (MGTS) Applications Manager – Op Amps at Texas Instruments. Tim has over three decades of analog and mixed signal experience with seventeen years in board/system level design and seventeen years in analog/ mixed signal semiconductors. Tim is also an expert in Op Amp stability & SPICE Op Amp macro- modeling and holds a BSEE from the University of Arizona. FOREWORD