Improved-Bandwidth Transimpedance Amplifier

The widest available operational amplifier, with the best voltage and current noise characteristics, is considered for transimpedance amplifier (TIA) applications where wide bandwidth is required to handle fast rising input signals (as for time-of-flight measurement cases). The added amplifier inside the TIA feedback loop can be configured to have slightly lower voltage gain than the bandwidth reduction factor (the ratio of the input capacitance plus the feedback capacitance to the feed capacitance). This innovation enables the optimization of design based on suitable space-approved operational amplifiers and provides better, stronger performance under radiation and wide temperature variations. In many cases, this approach can eliminate the need to qualify new amplifiers.