Designers often have questions about a typical specification of an amplifier to design a more robust circuit. Due to natural variation in process technology and manufacturing procedures, every specification of an amplifier exhibits some amount of deviation from the ideal value, like an amplifier's input offset voltage. These deviations often follow Gaussian (bell curve), or normal distributions, and circuit designers can leverage this information to guard band their system, even when there is not a minimum or maximum specification in the Electrical Characteristics table.

Figure 8-4 Ideal Gaussian Distribution

Figure 8-4 shows an example distribution, where µ, or mu, is the mean of the distribution, and where σ, or sigma, is the standard deviation of a system. For a specification that exhibits this kind of distribution, approximately two-thirds (68.26%) of all units can be expected to have a value within one standard deviation, or one sigma, of the mean (from µ – σ to µ + σ).

Depending on the specification, values listed in the typical column of the Electrical Characteristics table are represented in different ways. As a general rule, if a specification naturally has a nonzero mean (for example, like gain bandwidth), then the typical value is equal to the mean (µ). However, if a specification naturally has a mean near zero (like input offset voltage), then the typical value is equal to the mean plus one standard deviation (µ + σ) to most accurately represent the typical value.

You can use this chart to calculate approximate probability of a specification in a unit; for example, the INA351 typical input voltage offset is 200 µV, so 68.2% of all INA351 devices are expected to have an offset from –200 µV to +200 µV. At 4 σ (±800 µV), 99.9937% of the distribution has an offset voltage less than ±800 µV, which means 0.0063% of the population is outside of these limits, which corresponds to about 1 in 15,873 units.

Specifications with a value in the minimum or maximum column are verified by TI, and units outside these limits are removed from production material. For example, the INA351 family has a maximum offset voltage of 1.3 mV at 25°C, and even though this corresponds to 6 σ (≈1 in 500 million units), which is extremely unlikely, TI verifies that any unit with larger offset than 1.3 mV are removed from production material.

For specifications with no value in the minimum or maximum column, consider selecting a sigma value of sufficient guard band for your application, and design worst-case conditions using this value. As stated earlier, the 6-σ value corresponds to about 1 in 500 million units, which is an extremely unlikely chance, and can be an option as a wide guard band to design a system around. In this case, the INA351 family does not have a maximum or minimum for offset voltage drift, but based on Figure 7-2 and the typical value of 0.65 µV/°C in the Electrical Characteristics table, the 6-σ value for offset voltage drift can be calculated to 3.9 µV/°C. When designing for worst-case system conditions, this value can be used to estimate the worst possible offset drift without having an actual minimum or maximum value.

However, process variation and adjustments over time can shift typical means and standard deviations, and unless there is a value in the minimum or maximum specification column, TI cannot verify the performance of a device. This information must be used only to estimate the performance of a device.