National Semiconductor is claiming at top-rated precision amplifier design with its LMP8100A programmable gain amplifier which offers 0.03 per cent gain accuracy using a software adjustable gain (in 1V/V increments) from 1V/V to 16V/V.

The amplifier provides four levels of internal frequency compensation, which at the higher gain settings is designed to increase the usable signal bandwidth. An input zero calibration feature also allows the user to measure the output offset voltage to calibrate any errors resulting from temperature or voltage shifts.
The amplifier's control modes are programmed via a serial port that also allows several devices to be cascaded, permitting an array of LMP8100 amplifiers to be programmed by a single microcontroller serial data stream. The device's control-mode registers are double-buffered to ensure glitch-free transitions between programmed settings.

The amplifier has a slew rate of 12 V/µs and a 33MHz unity-gain bandwidth. The device's supply voltage range is 2.7V to 5.5V, with a 5.3mA supply current and output current of 20mA. A power-conserving shutdown mode reduces current consumption to 20µA.

There is also a semi-precision grade amplifier with 0.075 per cent gain accuracy over the -40 to 85 deg C temperature rage.