Difference between « High Speed » and « Wide Band » OpAmps

[jean_prieur]

Posted on May 11, 2012 at 11:57

Hello,

In products selection tools, there is often a distinction between  Â« High Speed » and « Wide Band » OpAmps.What are the differentiation parameters?Thanks for the support,Jean

[Nickname14663_O]

Posted on May 14, 2012 at 10:15

Dear Jean,

Most of the time the wide band amplifiers are used for RF application. They have been called ''wide band'' in opposite to the narrow band amplifiers that have a higher selectivity. These narrow band amplifiers can be used to amplify a signal at a specific frequency : 1.8GHz or 2.45GHz for example.

Another point is that the wide band denomination is related to the application. For example, a 200MHz  audio amplifiers can be assimilated to a wideband amplifier.

Regarding the op-amps, there is no real difference between wide band and high speed. Both of them have a high GBP. High speed amplifiers have a GBP higher than 50MHz (the boundary is not frozen, it can shift a little bit).

Note that in a general case, the high speed and wide band amplifiers are not able to drive as heavy capacitive loads as the op-amps can do.

Best regards,

Sylvain

Hello,

In products selection tools, there is often a distinction between  Â« High Speed » and « Wide Band » OpAmps.What are the differentiation parameters? Thanks for the support, Jean