One of the most demanding, and yet very common, load conditions for an op amp is capacitive loading. Often, the capacitive load is the input of an ADC—including additional external capacitance that can be recommended to improve ADC linearity. A high-speed, high open-loop gain amplifier like the OPA830 can be very susceptible to decreased stability and closed-loop response peaking when a capacitive load is placed directly on the output pin. When the primary considerations are frequency response flatness, pulse response fidelity, or distortion, the simplest and most effective solution is to isolate the capacitive load from the feedback loop by inserting a series isolation resistor between the amplifier output and the capacitive load.

The typical characteristic curves show the recommended R_S versus capacitive load and the resulting frequency response at the load. Parasitic capacitive loads greater than 2pF can begin to degrade the performance of the OPA830. Long PCB traces, unmatched cables, and connections to multiple devices can easily exceed this value. Always consider this effect carefully, and add the recommended series resistor as close as possible to the output pin (see also the Layout Guidelines section).

The criterion for setting this R_S resistor is a maximum bandwidth, flat frequency response at the load. For a gain of +2, the frequency response at the output pin is already slightly peaked without the capacitive load, requiring relatively high values of R_S to flatten the response at the load. Increasing the noise gain also reduces the peaking (see Figure 8-9).