Dual power booster adds serious muscle to op amp outputs

Attention, all you inhabitants of the world of milliwatt dissipation, microwatt drain, and single-volt drive: doing almost anything useful in the real world—where "useful" means driving substantial loads or moving physical things—often requires voltages in the two-and more digit range and currents measured in amps.

The PB63 dual-channel booster amplifier from Cirrus Logic's Apex Precision Power group targets those needs, taking a much-smaller signal from common, general-purpose op amps and amplifying it for operation up to +/-75V (or +150V) and +/-2A.

Figure 1: Typical circuit application of PB63 two-channel power-booster amplifier

With two channels in a single package, it is well-suited for diverse applications such as special power supplies, piezoelectric  transducers, electric and magnetic field excitation, scanning electron microscopes, motion/motor control, flat-panel display pattern generators, automated test equipment (ATE), wide-format ink-jet printer, programmable power supplies, medical and surgical instruments, and industrial audio installations.

Figure 2: The PB63 is offered in a 12-lead power single inline package (SIP)

Key performance attributes include:

•Unipolar output voltage swing of 40 to 150V (or split bipolar)

•Slew rate to 1000V/μsec

•Output current to 2A

•1 MHz power bandwidth

•Quiescent current of 20 mA

Packaging, price, support and availability: The PB63 is housed in a 12-pin power SIP (31 × 30 mm), offering a footprint of 1.5 in² (3.8 cm²). In 1000-unit orders, it is priced just under $129. Additional support includes an evaluation board with heatsink and associated hardware (here, it is "hardware" in the original meaning of the term), and several application notes.

For more information: contact Cirrus Logic at http://www.cirrus.com.