
AD8603/AD8607/AD8609
PROXIMITY SENSORS
Proximity sensors can be capacitive or inductive and are used in
a variety of applications. One of the most common applications
is liquid level sensing in tanks. This is particularly popular in
pharmaceutical environments where a tank must know when to
stop filling or mixing a given liquid. In aerospace applications,
these sensors detect the level of oxygen used to propel engines.
Whether in a combustible environment or not, capacitive
sensors generally use low voltage. The precision and low voltage
of the AD8603/AD8607/AD8609 make the parts an excellent
choice for such applications.
Rev. A | Page 13 of 16
COMPOSITE AMPLIFIERS
A composite amplifier can provide a very high gain in
applications where high closed-loop dc gains are needed. The
high gain achieved by the composite amplifier comes at the
expense of a loss in phase margin. Placing a small capacitor, C
F
,
in the feedback in parallel with R2 (Figure 45) improves the
phase margin. Picking C
F
= 50 pF yields a phase margin of
about 45° for the values shown in Figure 45.
A composite amplifier can be used to optimize dc and ac
characteristics. Figure 46 shows an example using the AD8603
and the AD8541. This circuit offers many advantages. The
bandwidth is increased substantially, and the input offset
voltage and noise of the AD8541 become insignificant since
they are divided by the high gain of the AD8603.
The circuit of Figure 46 offers a high bandwidth (nearly double
that of the AD8603), a high output current, and a very low
power consumption of less than 100 μA.
V
EE
V
CC
R1
1k
V
CC
V
EE
V
IN
99k
R2
AD8603
AD8541
V+
V
–
V+
V
–
0
R3
1k
R4
99k
U5
Figure 45. High Gain Composite Amplifier
R1
1k
1k
V+
V
–
V
–
V+
V
IN
100k
R2
AD8603
0
AD8541
100
C3
R4
R3
C2
V
CC
V
EE
V
CC
V
EE
Figure 46. Low Power Composite Amplifier