Low-voltage operational amplifier with rail-to-rail input and output ranges

An operational amplifier is described which can perform precision signal operations in nearly the full supply voltage range, event when this range is as low as 1.5 V totally. The untrimmed input offset voltage is typically 0.3 mV in an input common-mode (CM) voltage range which extends beyond both supply voltages for about 200 mV. The output voltage can reach each supply rail within 150 mV. A nested-loop frequency-compensation scheme yields a stable unity-gain bandwidth of 0.6 MHz while the low-frequency open-loop voltage gain is 110 dB. The op amp is integrated in a standard low-cost bipolar process and the chip measures 1.5×1.7 mm/SUP 2/.