ROHM, a world-renowned semiconductor manufacturer (headquartered in Kyoto, Japan), has developed a CMOS operational amplifier "TLR377GYZ" with an ultra-small package, which is ideal for amplifying sensor detection signals such as temperature, pressure, and flow in applications such as smartphones and small IoT devices.
As smartphones and IoT terminals become increasingly smaller, the components they carry must also become smaller. On the other hand, in order to improve the control capabilities of application products, it is necessary to amplify the tiny signals from sensors with high accuracy, so miniaturization is required while maintaining high accuracy. Against this backdrop, ROHM has developed an operational amplifier that meets both the needs of "smallness" and "high accuracy" by further improving the "circuit design technology", "process technology" and "packaging technology" that have been cultivated over the years.
The new product has successfully achieved miniaturization and high accuracy, which are generally considered difficult to achieve simultaneously in operational amplifiers, by further improving the "circuit design technology", "process technology" and "packaging technology" that ROHM has cultivated over the years.
The factors that cause errors in operational amplifiers generally include "input offset voltage"*1 and "noise". Both are items related to amplification accuracy and can be suppressed by increasing the size of the built-in transistor, but this involves a trade-off relationship with miniaturization. By embedding an offset voltage correction circuit developed using ROHM's own circuit design technology, the new product achieves a low input offset voltage of only 1mV while maintaining the same transistor size.
In addition, the new product not only improves the common flicker noise*2 using ROHM's own process technology, but also achieves ultra-low noise by re-adjusting the resistance component at the component level, with an equivalent input noise voltage density*3 of only 12nV/√Hz. In addition, the new product adopts WLCSP (Wafer Level Chip Size Package) packaging, which uses ROHM's own packaging technology to reduce the pin pitch to 0.3mm. Compared with previous products, the size is reduced by about 69%; compared with previous small products, the size is reduced by about 46%.
The new product has been put into mass production at a scale of 100,000 per month since May 2024 (sample price 220 yen/piece, tax excluded). In order to facilitate replacement evaluation and initial evaluation by customers, ROHM also provides a conversion board that supports SSOP6 packaging with IC installed. Both the new product and the conversion board are now available for online purchase through the Ameya360 e-commerce platform. In addition, you can also obtain the high-precision SPICE model "ROHM Real Model"*4, a simulation model for verification, from the ROHM website.
In the future, ROHM will continue to work on improving the performance of operational amplifiers, pursuing smaller size, higher precision, and lower power consumption by incorporating ROHM's own ultra-low quiescent current technology, and continue to contribute to solving social problems through more advanced application product control technology.
Main features of the product
The new product has high precision and ultra-small size, and has a built-in shutdown function required by mobile devices to reduce current consumption during standby.
Application examples
Smartphones, small IoT devices with detection amplifiers, etc.
E-commerce sales information
Start of sales: May 2024
E-commerce platform: Ameya360
The new product will also be gradually released on other e-commerce platforms.
Product model: TLR377GYZ
Conversion board with IC mounted: TLR377GYZ-EVK-001
About the high-precision simulation model "ROHM Real Model"
In the simulation model used for new product verification, ROHM's own modeling technology is used to faithfully reproduce the electrical characteristics and temperature characteristics of the actual IC, and the simulation values are successfully matched with the values of the actual IC. ROHM provides this high-precision SPICE model "ROHM Real Model", which can effectively prevent rework after actual trial production through reliable verification, and help improve the development efficiency of application products.
This SPICE model can be obtained from the ROHM official website.
Term explanation
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Input offset voltage
The error voltage generated between the input pins of the operational amplifier is called "input offset voltage".
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Flicker noise
A type of noise that is always generated in electronic components such as semiconductors. Since the power is inversely proportional to the frequency, the lower the frequency, the greater the flicker noise. It is also called "1/f noise" or "pink noise". In addition, there are different types of noise such as thermal noise (white noise).
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Equivalent input noise voltage density
The value obtained by short-circuiting the input pins and converting the noise voltage density at the output to the input. Since the amplifier has a gain (amplification factor), the noise characteristics of the amplifier itself can be reasonably evaluated by dividing the output noise voltage density by the gain.
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ROHM Real Model
A high-precision simulation model that successfully matches the simulation value with the actual IC value using ROHM's own modeling technology.
