Chapter 16 - What's All This Error Budget Stuff, Anyhow?

Abstract

An “operational” amplifier does perform, largely, an “operation” based on what task one asks it to perform when he or she “programs it” with Rs and Cs. If the offset varies, the gain does not, and vice versa. Things are much simpler now that people are mostly (but not entirely) designing with op-amps. The best thing is that the output offset and DC gain and AC gain errors are largely orthogonal. If all Rs have a 1% tolerance, the gain of (2.0 V per A) has a tolerance of ± 3%. This would cause ± 60 mV at full scale, but only ± 6 mV at small scale (0.1 A).