Last time I counted there were 1,275,552 (±3) different operational amplifiers (op-amps) on the market. Given this large choice one would expect that for every possible application a suitable device would be available, and yet semiconductor manufacturers keep surprising us with new types. Take this one for instance, the TSZ182, a new dual operational amplifier featuring very low offset voltages with virtually zero drift over varying temperature.

Launched this month by STMicroelectronics, the new device offers rail-to-rail input and output, which is always nice, and a 3 MHz gain bandwidth product (ain’t that much), while consuming about 1 mA at 5 V. With its ultra-low input bias current, it is obvious that the op-amp is ideal for high accuracy, high-bandwidth sensor interfaces.

According to the datasheet the TSZ182 also has an excellent speed/power consumption ratio. Now what would that be? How much is an excellent speed/power consumption ratio anyway? 5 mph/W? 100 km/h/mWh? Slew rate per MHz? The datasheet is loaded with graphs and tables, but, probably because I don’t know where to look, impossible to find something relating speed to power. Microprocessor manufacturers sometimes specify things like mW/MHz, making comparisons possible, but simply saying that something is excellent is just an empty, silly and useless statement. ST, please, you can do better than that.