[sdiy] PCB op-amp layout - 2x2 or 1x4

[rsdio at audiobanshee.com]

I always use quad chips (but make sure they're not a strange pinout or 16-pin, etc). Then again, I'm always dealing with multi-channel systems: 8-channel, 16-channel, 32-channel, 64-channel … so the quad chips really help on space. Also, I do SMD so that assembly is cheaper, and use 4-layer so it doesn't really matter which side the power is on. The only questions are where to place the vias and where to place the bypass cap (because I won't pay for double-sided SMD placement).

I'm still waiting to come across a circuit that actually needs dual instead of quad. I'm not counting designs where I only needed one or two channels - in which case I use a single or dual because the part is usually a different op-amp make anyway at that point (thus, I can't share a BoM item in quantity).

Brian


On Oct 29, 2015, at 9:59 AM, Justin Owen <juzowen at gmail.com> wrote:
> I guess there's probably not a hard right or wrong answer to this - but, when laying out a tight PCB with a lot of op-amps - do you choose 2x or 4x op-amp packages?
> 
> The 2x potentially gives you more placement flexibility - but increases overall parts count, the 4x decreases the part count but potentially leaves less room for routing traces between amps...
> 
> ...thoughts on this from experience?
>