[sdiy] LM3083 vs LM3086

[Ian Fritz]

At 10:34 AM 1/26/06, anthony wrote:

>I have seen LM3086's in lots of synth designs but I have a bunch of 
>LM3083's. Would these work in place of the '86? Is one better than the 
>other? I looked at the datasheets, but I really couldn't decide how much 
>different they were.

The 3083 is my prefered NPN array for expo converters.  I have found good 
matching for the Q1/Q2 pair in almost all devices I tested.  Note that 
matching for the 3086 pair is not even spec'ed!  Also the 3083's substrate 
has a separate connection, not connected to one of the emitters as in 3086 
and 3046.  The 3083 also has low emitter series resistance, which gives it 
much better log conformance than the 3046. I don't know this parameter for 
the 3083, but it is probably not good, since it is a low power device.

You are golden!

   Ian