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Op Amp Applications, Edited by Walt Jung, published by Analog Devices, Inc. 2002, ISBN 0-916550-26-5

He’s done it again! Walt Jung, author of several generations of IC Op-Amp Cookbook, going back to 1974, has just completed an all-new op amp book. Together with Walt Kester and ADI’s staff of Field Applications Engineers, he has assembled what may well be the ultimate op amp book, Op Amp Applications. This 970-page volume is brimming with application circuits, handy design tips, historical perspectives, and in-depth looks at the latest techniques to simplify designs and improve their performance.

But this is more than just the last word on applications. In a brief but fascinating History section, he outlines the early development of the feedback amplifier, starting with H. S. Black’s invention of seventy years ago—and provides priceless insights into the application needs, technological developments, and creative personalities that drove the many generations of op-amp designs.

Following the history chapter, the book has seven sections with self-explanatory titles:

Op-amp basics: Topologies, structures, specifications, precision op amps, high-speed op amps

Specialty amplifiers: Instrumentation, programmable gain, isolation

Using op amps with data converters: ADC/DAC specifications, driving ADC inputs, driving ADC/DAC reference inputs, buffering DAC outputs

Sensor signal conditioning: Bridge circuits, strain, force, pressure, and flow measurements, high-impedance sensors, temperature sensors

Analog filters: Transfer functions, time-domain responses, standard responses, frequency transformations, filter realizations, practical implementation problems, design examples

Signal amplifiers: Audio, buffers/driving capacitive loads, video, communications, amplifier ideas, composite amplifiers

Hardware and housekeeping techniques: Passive components; PCB design issues; power-supply systems; protection; thermal considerations; EMI/RFI; simulation, breadboarding, and prototyping.

There are three indexes: a comprehensive subject index, an Analog Devices parts index, and a standard-device parts index. The book is in an 8½ × 11-inch softcover format. Its price is $40.00. For copies, get in touch with Analog Devices Customer Service and request OP-AMP-APPLIC-BOOK. In North America, call toll-free 1-800-262-5643.

Walt Jung, who recently retired from ADI’s Central Applications Group, is a well-known long-time electronics and audio experimenter and a prolific writer. A member of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society, he was inducted into Electronic Design’s Hall of Fame in 2002. His books include three editions of the IC Op-Amp Cookbook, plus the IC Timer Cookbook, and the IC Converter Cookbook. A perennial resident of Maryland, he worked for a number of years as a design engineer, and for many years as a consultant and writer before joining ADI’s Applications team in 1991.