•  
• EDN Europe MAGAZINE
•  
• Free SUBSCRIPTION
• Subscription Renewal
• View Media Kit

• EDN
• EDN Australia
• EDN Asia
• EDN China
• EDN Japan

Nanopower op-amp

Extends battery life with under 560 nW power drain

For its PowerWise LPV521 nanopower operational amplifier (op amp), National Semiconductor claims the lowest-available power consumption figure at 552 nanowatts (nW), with guaranteed operation down to 1.6V. Applications in which the company expects it to contribute to improved battery life include wireless remote sensors, power-line monitoring, and micropower oxygen and gas sensors. The LPV521 operates from a supply voltage range from 1.6V to 5.5V with a maximum supply current of 0.4 μA. Its wide-input common-mode voltage range accepts input signals 100 mV beyond each rail, enabling direct connection to several sensor types. Input offset voltage is a maximum of 1 mV and input offset temperature coefficient is a maximum of 3.5 μV/ºC, for accurate and stable measurement for both high-side and low-side current sensing.

National says it is the only nanopower op amp equipped with electromagnetic interference suppression filters to reduce unwanted radio frequency interference from external sources. In a BiCMOS process technology, the op amp has a power-to-performance ratio of 65 μA per MHz. It comes in a 5-pin SC-70 package and costs $0.65 (1000).