Design with Operational Amplifiers and Analog Integrated Circuits

This is an excellent book on linear circuit design, the best I have read to-date. It covers feedback theory, ideal op amps, active filter design & most importantly practical op amp limitations. It also covers voltage regulators, voltage references, ADCs, DACs, op amp noise & more. What I liked most was the combination of mathematical circuit analysis & practical design. Too many books show useful circuits without bothering to explain anything about how they work. It also has plenty of exercises to tax the brain.

Really a top notch book on op-amps and almost anything you'd ever do with them. Has math where it's needed and rules of thumb where it isn't. Actually is just a great analog design book altogether. Really the definative text on the subject of designing with op-amps.

This book can be an excellent resource for any Analog Integrated Circuit Design Electrical Engineering student or practicing engineer. The book can assist in the modeling of IC devices such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. It also sensibly covers the building blocks of analog integrated circuits: gain stages, output stages, level shifters, current sources and mirrors. The reader is expected to have a general understanding of electronics, frequency-domain analysis procedures, and understand basic Pspice operations. The book generally covers enough material for a half-year of courses at the upper-division/graduate level although the book could certainly be useful for a single class. The material generally starts out as basic and proceeds to a complex level. There are helpful figures and diagrams on nearly every page and the organization is generally sensible and intuitive. There are many worked examples and hundreds of end-of-chapter problems. The text is supported by a website that offers downloadable design projects, additional examples, and design software. Franco has done an admiral job at presenting a complicated subject.Here's a brief description of SOME of the topics found in each chapter:1) Basic amplifier concepts and arrangements are explored. Also covers negative feedback, the loop gain, and basic circuit analysis.2) Current-to-Voltage & Voltage-to-Current Converters, Current, Difference, Instrumentation, and Transducer Bridge Amplifiers.3) Active Filters. Transfer Function, 1st order, KRC, multiple-feedback, state-variable, audio, and biquad filters.4) Filter Approximations, switched-capacitor, universal sc filters, and cascade design.5) Low-input bias-current Op amps, low-input-offset-voltage Op Amps, Op Amp Circuit Diagrams, and Input offset Voltage.6) Open and Closed loop response. Transient Response, Input and Output Impedances, and effect of Finite GBP on Filters and Integrator Circuits.7) Noise Dynamics and Properties. Sources of Noise and Low-Noise Op Amps.8) Stability problems. Stability of CFA Circuits and in Constant-GBP Op Amp Circuits. Internal and External Frequency Compensation.9) Schmitt Triggers, analog switches, voltage comparators, and precision rectifiers.10) Sine, Triangular, Sawtooth, and Monolithic Wave Generators. Also Multivibrators and V-F and F-V Converters.11) Voltage References and Regulators. Switching, linear, and monolithic switching regulators.12) Performance Specifications, D-A and A-D Conversion Techniques. Oversampling Converters and Multiplying DAC Applications.13) Nonlinear Amplifiers. Phase-Locked Loops, Monolithic PLLs, Analog Multipliers. Log/Antilog and Operational Transconductance Amplifiers.

This is a very good intermediate text for op amp design. Some acquaitance with op amps will be needed before reading this book because the learning curve is steep in the first chapter. However, the approach is thorough and professionally presented. The book is more than a cookbook. Furthermore, the book does not stop with the single op amp, but discusses the use of op amp(s) in circuits. The book is perfectly suited for prototyping the many circuits contained between its two covers. Since my interest was in instrumentation amplifiers, I decided to reduce the circuits of chapter 2 to practice. It was a real learning experience. I think chapter titles will further indicate the comprehensive nature of the book: (1) OA Fundamentals, (2) Circuits w/ Resistive Feedback, (3,4) Active Filter, (5) Static OA Limitations, (6) Dynamic OA Limitations, (7) Noise, (8) Stability, (9) Nonlinear Circuits, (10) Signal Generators, (11) Voltage References and Regulators, (12) D-A & A-D Converters, (13) Nonlinear Amplifiers & Phase-Locked Loops.

Sergio Franco's book demonstrates important fundamental concepts of op-amps, which is crucial in the design of analog/digital circuits, and ICs. It should deserve a sixth star if it also comes with answers to selected problems on calculation and design. This is an excellent text for undergrads or working professionals in need of a good op-amp reference.