Burr-Brown Corporation announced the dual OPA2686, a high speed operational amplifier featuring low noise and low distortion and targeted to DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) receivers, especially VDSL (Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line).

The OPA2686 provides two very low noise, high gain bandwidth, voltage feedback op amps in a single package. The combination of low noise, high slew rate, and broad bandwidth allow a longer reach in high speed DSL applications. With DSL technology, modem connections are expected to be at least 25 times faster than present 56k products.

At the higher speeds required of VDSL, where cable attenuation drops receiver signal strength even further, a low noise driver, such as the OPA2686, can often make the difference in extending reach. The low noise of the OPA2686 allows this extension without compromising signal quality.

"The OPA2686 provides an enabling product to the VDSL market with its very low input voltage noise, exceptionally low harmonic distortion, and high gain bandwidth," said Michael Steffes, strategic marketing engineer at Burr-Brown. "There are no comparable dual, low noise voltage feedback op amps in this speed range."

The vast network of existing copper wire infrastructures makes DSL an attractive alternative to other high speed data transfer technologies. There are more than 600 million copper access lines worldwide, potentially making DSL a multi-billion dollar market.

As a general purpose amplifier, the OPA2686's high gain bandwidth at the lowest noise of any competing product makes it also well suited for multi-channel systems in medical imaging.

Operating from a low 12mA/channel quiescent current, each channel provides a 1.4nV/root(Hz) input voltage noise with a 1.6GHz gain bandwidth product. Minimum stable gain is specified at +7V/V while exceptional flatness is guaranteed at a gain of +10. Other key specifications include -90dBc harmonic distortion at 5MHz, 70dB channel isolation, 600V/ýs slew rate, and ý5V operation.

When you want a specialized op amp it seems like Burr-Brown is the place to go. This product is superbly positioned for the VDSL market with extremely low noise and, of course, an exceptional gain bandwidth product. I don't yet understand the performance needs in terms of distortion for VDSL operations but it seems that the -90 dBc number achieved here is certainly about as low as you can get without sacrificing bandwidth. The per channel quiescent of 12 mA is not as low as we are expecting these days but the bandwidth comes at a price.