AD8027/AD8028

Rev. B | Page 16 of 24

THEORY OF OPERATION

The AD8027/AD8028 is a rail-to-rail input and output amplifier

designed in Analog Devices XFCB process. The XFCB process

enables the AD8027/AD8028 to run on 2.7 V to 12 V supplies

with 190 MHz of bandwidth and over 100 V/µs of slew rate. The

AD8027/AD8028 has 4.3 nV/√Hz of wideband noise with

17 nV/√Hz noise at 10 Hz. This noise performance, with an

offset and drift performance of less than 900 µV maximum and

1.5 µV/°C typical, respectively, makes the AD8027/AD8028

ideal for high speed precision applications. Additionally, the

input stage operates 200 mV beyond the supply rails and shows

no phase reversal. The amplifier features overvoltage protection

on the input stage. Once the inputs exceed the supply rails by

0.7 V, ESD protection diodes will turn on, drawing excessive

current through the differential input pins. A series input resis-

tor should be included to limit the input current to less than

10 mA.

Input Stage

The rail-to-rail input performance is achieved by operating

complementary input pairs. Which pair is on is determined by

the common-mode level of the differential input signal. Look-

ated that sources the PNP differential input structure consisting

of Q1 and Q2. A reference voltage is generated internally that is

connected to the base of Q5. This voltage is continually com-

pared against the common-mode input voltage. When the

common-mode level exceeds the internal reference voltage, Q5

rent mirror that sources the NPN input pair consisting of Q3

and Q4. The NPN input pair can now operate 200 mV above

the positive rail. Both input pairs are protected from differential

input signals above 1.4 V by four diodes across the input (see

Figure 55). In the event of differential input signals that exceed

1.4 V, the diodes will conduct and excessive current will flow

through them. A series input resistor should be included to limit

the input current to 10 mA.

Crossover Selection

A new feature available on the AD8027/AD8028, which is called

Crossover Selection, allows the user to choose the crossover

point between the PNP/NPN differential pairs. Although the

crossover region is small, operating in this region should be

avoided since it can introduce offset and distortion to the out-

put signal. To help avoid operating in the crossover region, the

AD8027/AD8028 allows the user to select from two preset

crossover locations (i.e., voltage levels) using the SELECT pin.

Looking at the schematic in Figure 55, the crossover region is

about 200 mV and is defined by the voltage level at the base of

Q5. Internally, two separate voltage sources are created approxi-

mately 1.2 V from either rail. One or the other is connected to

Q5 based on the voltage applied to the SELECT pin. This allows

for either dominant PNP pair operation, when the SELECT pin

is left open, or dominant NPN pair operation, when the

SELECT pin is pulled high. This pin also provides the tradi-

tional power-down function when it is pulled low. This allows

the designer to achieve the best precision and ac performance

for high-side and low-side signal applications. See Figure 50

through Figure 53 for SELECT pin characteristics.

VCC

1.2V

+

–

VEE

1.2V

+

–

LOGIC

VSEL

VP

Q5

Q3

Q1

Q2

Q4

VN

VOUTP

VOUTN

VCC

VEE

03327-A-054

Figure 55. Simplified Input Stage