15 FN6934.4
May 25, 2010
Special Applications Considerations
In addition to post-assembly examination, there are also
other X-ray sources that may affect the FGA reference
long term accuracy. Airport screening machines contain
X-rays and will have a cumulative effect on the voltage
reference output accuracy. Carry-on luggage screening
uses low level X-rays and is not a major source of output
voltage shift, however, if a product is expected to pass
through that type of screening over 100 times, it may
need to consider shielding with copper or aluminum.
Checked luggage X-rays are higher intensity and can
cause output voltage shift in much fewer passes, thus
devices expected to go through those machines should
definitely consider shielding. Note that just two layers of
1/2 ounce copper planes will reduce the received dose by
over 90%. The leadframe for the device which is on the
bottom also provides similar shielding.
If a device is expected to pass through luggage X-ray
machines numerous times, it is advised to mount a
2-layer (minimum) PC board on the top, and along with a
ground plane underneath will effectively shield it from
from 50 to 100 passes through the machine. Since these
machines vary in X-ray dose delivered, it is difficult to
produce an accurate maximum pass recommendation.
Nanopower Operation
Reference devices achieve their highest accuracy when
powered up continuously, and after initial stabilization
has taken place. This drift can be eliminated by leaving
the power on continuously.
The ISL21080 is the first high precision voltage reference
with ultra low power consumption that makes it possible to
leave power on continuously in battery operated circuits.
The ISL21080 consumes extremely low supply current due
to the proprietary FGA technology. Supply current at room
temperature is typically 350nA, which is 1 to 2 orders of
magnitude lower than competitive devices. Application
circuits using battery power will benefit greatly from having
an accurate, stable reference, which essentially presents no
load to the battery.
In particular, battery powered data converter circuits that
would normally require the entire circuit to be disabled
when not in use can remain powered up between
conversions as shown in Figure 37. Data acquisition
circuits providing 12 bits to 24 bits of accuracy can
operate with the reference device continuously biased
with no power penalty, providing the highest accuracy
and lowest possible long term drift.
Other reference devices consuming higher supply currents
will need to be disabled in between conversions to conserve
battery capacity. Absolute accuracy will suffer as the device
is biased and requires time to settle to its final value, or,
may not actually settle to a final value as power on time
may be short. Table 1 shows an example of battery life in
years for ISL21080 in various power on condition with
1.5µA maximum current consumption.
ISL21080 Used as a Low Cost Precision
Current Source
Using an N-JET and a Nanopower voltage reference,
ISL21080, a precision, low cost, high impedance current
source can be created. The precision of the current
source is largely dependent on the tempco and accuracy
of the reference. The current setting resistor contributes
less than 20% of the error.
Board Mounting Considerations
For applications requiring the highest accuracy, board
mounting location should be reviewed. Placing the device
in areas subject to slight twisting can cause degradation
of the accuracy of the reference voltage due to die
stresses. It is normally best to place the device near the
edge of a board, or the shortest side, as the axis of
bending is most limited at that location. Obviously,
mounting the device on flexprint or extremely thin PC
material will likewise cause loss of reference accuracy.
TABLE 1. EXAMPLE OF BATTERY LIFE IN YEARS FOR
ISL21080 IN VARIOUS POWER ON
CONDITIONS WITH 1.5µA MAX CURRENT
BATTERY RATING
(mAH) CONTINUOUS
50% DUTY
CYCLE
10% DUTY
CYCLE
40 3 6 30*
225 16.3* 32.6* 163*
NOTE: *Typical Li-ion battery has a shelf life of up to 10 years.
VIN = +3.0V
0.001µF TO 0.01µF
SERIAL
BUS
VIN VOUT
GND
ISL21080
REF IN
ENABLE
SCK
SDAT
A/D CONVERTER
12 TO 24-BIT
0.01µF
10µF
FIGURE 37. REFERENCE INPUT FOR ADC CONVERTER
ISL21080