Advance Data Sheet
September 2001
LSP2961
Precision Log Ratio Amplifier
decade (1 nA to 1 mA) minimum, with seven-decade
(1 nA to 10 mA) and eight-decade (100 pA to 10 mA)
operation available with increased conformity error.
The amplifier has an internal trimmed reference 1 µA
5% current source that is also externally adjustable
using an external resistor. The output offset voltage
is 100 mV maximum and can be nulled using an
external potentiometer.
Features
I Seven decades (1 nA to 10 mA) typical input range
I Internal scale factor K = 1 ± 2% (K externally
adjustable):
IREF
(eq. 1)
OUTPUT = K × log-------------
IIN
The input current is applied to the IN pin and the
corresponding output is taken from the OUTPUT pin.
For a 1 V/decade application in a stable temperature
environment, no external components are required to
obtain the specified performance. For an application
that a scale factor other than 1 V/decade is required,
an external resistor connecting the SCALE FACTOR
pin to either the OUTPUT pin or GND will result in
less or more than 1 V/decade for the scale factor.
The amplifier’s output can range from (VCC – 1 V) to
(VEE + 1 V). This is ideal for the control in optical
density measurements, and in other situations such
as precision logarithm calculations. Each amplifier
has an internally trimmed reference current of 1 µA.
This reference current can be changed using an
external resistor connecting to the IREF_ADJ pin, and
either VCC or GND, depending on the need to
increase or decrease the reference current.
I Internal trimmed reference current
(IREF = 1 µA ± 5%, externally adjustable)
I Maximum ±100 mV output offset (externally
adjustable)
I Minimal external components
I ±5 V power supply
I TSSOP small package
Applications
I Optical light density measurement
I Log, log ratio computation
I Data linearization
Additionally, the maximum output offset voltage is
±100 mV. This can be nulled using an external
potentiometer connected between the ±5 V supplies
and the wiper connected to the VOS_ADJ pin. The
internal block diagram is shown in Figure 1.
Description
The LSP2961 is a single-channel precision logarithm
and log ratio integrated circuit powered by +5 V and
–5 V power supplies. The voltage output of the
amplifier is a logarithmic function of the ratio of a
reference current (IREF) over the input current (IIN).
The scale factor is set internally to 1 V/decade, and
is further adjustable by adding an external resistor.
The input dynamic range for the amplifier is a six-
The LSP2961 is available in a 3 mm x 3 mm TSSOP
package. The 8-pin LSP2961 requires one negative
5 V power supply (VEE) and one positive 5 V power
supply (VCC). Refer to Table 1 for detailed pin
information. Figure 3 references the external pin
connections.