New data converters, op amps and voltage references are optimized for noisy environments where operating voltages can exceed 30 V, while highly integrated intelligent sensors simplify design of industrial tools and machinery.
Analog Devices is introducing its latest wave of solutions, including data converters, amplifiers, voltage references and a new family of smart sensing devices, designed to meet the unique signal conditioning requirements of industrial and instrumentation equipment. By addressing the particular performance needs of high-voltage industrial systems operating in electrically noisy environments, the new data converter, amplifier and voltage reference components — enabled by ADI’s patented high-voltage manufacturing processes — feature reduced power consumption, cost and package size to simplify system development and free up board space for the inclusion of new product features. The new family of smart sensors, meanwhile, is based on ADI’s existing iMEMS® (integrated Micro Electromechanical Systems) technology coupled with a novel, advanced integration technique. The new sensors deliver breakthrough performance and programmability to simplify the design of factory automation controls, platform monitoring systems and other motion-sensitive industrial tools and machinery.
Programmable PulSAR® analog-to-digital converters
The new 16-bit AD761x and 18-bit AD763x PulSAR analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) eliminate the need for expensive level shifting and gain stages in front-end analog circuitry through the innovative addition of software selectable input ranges. By leveraging ADI’s patented iCMOS™ industrial process technology, the new SAR (successive-approximation register) ADCs allow for the selection of unipolar input voltage ranges of 0 to 5 V and 0 to 10 V, and bipolar input voltage ranges of +/–5 V and +/–10 V ‘on the fly’ -with zero data latency. The result is a dramatic reduction in component costs and board space requirements for industrial applications, such as data acquisition and process control systems used in factory automation. Clocking at speeds up to 750 kSPS, devices in the 16-bit AD761x series offer up to a 6-fold improvement in sampling rate performance over existing programmable ADCs, while the AD763x ADCs allow more precise signal conversion at 18 bits of resolution. The combination of functionality, performance and a 50 percent smaller footprint available at half the price of competing products is unprecedented in a SAR ADC.
JFET-input operational amplifier and voltage references
The new JFET (junction field effect transistor)-input op amp (operational amplifier) and a new family of voltage references have been optimized to provide designers of industrial and instrumentation systems extremely high-precision performance, ultra small size and very low power consumption, saving board space and improving circuit layout flexibility at a cost lower than competing devices. Well suited for use as a reference buffer, active filter and level shifter, the ADA4000-1 op amp offers the best precision performance of any component in its class, with 80 percent lower input bias current and 50 percent lower offset voltage. Manufactured on ADI’s iPolar™ trench isolation process technology, the ADA4000-1 consumes 75 percent less power and is available in a TSOT-23 package 75 percent smaller than the closest competing op amp. The high precision and dc accuracy of the ADA4000-1 enable exact measurement and control functions in equipment that requires the highest accuracy, such as patient monitoring and data acquisition and safety systems.
The ADR12x family of low-power voltage references combines high precision and low-voltage operation within a TSOT-23 package, making it the perfect companion chip for data converters in handheld and battery-powered industrial and medical instrumentation equipment. The devices feature the lowest temperature drift performance (9 ppm per degree C) over the extended industrial temperature range (–40 degrees C to +125 degrees C)—a 10 percent improvement over competing devices—and require very little supply current, only 85 microA, for operation. This improvement in precision within a small footprint is optimized by the trimming efficiencies of the Analog Devices’ iPolar process technology.
iSensor™ intelligent sensors
The flagship of a new sensor product family from Analog Devices, the ADIS16201 iSensor intelligent motion sensor leverages a patent-pending advanced integration process that combines a dual-axis MEMS accelerometer, a digital temperature sensor, power management circuitry and embedded firmware. This system-in-a-package approach results in a small, cost-effective, easy-to-use sensor solution that provides fully calibrated digital outputs for motion and inclination measurements to make reliable sensing circuitry more accessible and affordable for designers of industrial systems. The combination of functionality is ideal for industrial applications, such as platform stabilization, machine vibration detection, and motion and positioning measurement. The new smart sensors include application-specific programmable power-management options, while a self-calibration feature, combined with multiple, easy-to-use, on-chip programming options and an industry standard SPI (serial port interface), significantly reduces the cost and time associated with system-level sensor integration.
About ADI’s iCMOS and iPolar Processes
The result of significant, multi-year R&D investments, both the iCMOS and iPolar processes enable a new category of high-performance analog components able to operate in electrically noisy, high-voltage environments such as process controls, factory automation systems, control loops, and other industrial electronic equipment.
The iCMOS process combines the performance benefits of a complementary bipolar process, the efficiency of CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) and high-voltage capability. Prior to this introduction, industrial designers considering an analog CMOS process were forced to add significant levels of signal conditioning, signal biasing and external op-amps to their systems. Under those conditions, manufacturing technologies capable of handling 30 V ranged up to 5.0 micron — an order of magnitude greater than the 0.6-micron line widths achievable through iCMOS. ADI’s iCMOS process is also able to fully isolate components from the substrate or each other, meaning that a single chip can mix-and-match 5-V CMOS with higher voltage 16-, 24- or 30-V CMOS circuitry, and with multiple voltage supplies running to the same chip.
The iPolar trench isolation process is a stable, high-voltage manufacturing methodology that replaces the bulky diffusion layers of traditional bipolar processes with a deep trench technique that dramatically increases transistor density and performance. This combination allows the development of products with significantly enhanced functionality while fitting into reduced package sizes. The iPolar process yields precision linear ICs that enhance analog signal processing, while the sub-micron 30-V iCMOS process is used to manufacture highly integrated mixed-signal devices. These new processes extend ADI’s analog and mixed-signal circuit design breakthroughs into the high-voltage realm, giving industrial instrumentation customers access to the most advanced data converter, amplifier and sensor components.
