SECTION 8-4

IC Op Amps

Birth of the Monolithic IC Op Amp

The first generally recognized monolithic IC op amp was from Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation (FSC), the μA702. The μA702 was designed by a young engineer, Robert J. (Bob) Widlar. As will be seen, Bob Widlar was a man who was shortly to make an indelible mark on the IC world. But, his 1963 μA702 didn’t exactly take the world by storm. It wasn’t well received, due to quirky characteristics—odd supply voltages, low input/output swings, low gain, and so forth. Nevertheless, and despite these shortcomings, the μA702 established some important IC design trends. As pioneered by Bob Widlar, these concepts were to carry over to future op amps (see Reference 1). In fact, they are standard linear ...

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