Pay attention to good layout practice. Keep traces short and, if possible, use a printed-circuit board (PCB) ground plane with surface-mount components placed as close as possible to the device pins. Place a 0.1-µF capacitor closely across the supply pins. Apply these guidelines throughout the analog circuit to improve performance and provide benefits, such as reducing the electromagnetic interference (EMI) susceptibility.

For lowest offset voltage and precision performance, optimize the circuit layout and mechanical conditions. Avoid temperature gradients that create thermoelectric (Seebeck) effects in the thermocouple junctions formed from connecting dissimilar conductors. These thermally-generated potentials can be made to cancel by making sure these potentials are equal on both input terminals. Other layout and design considerations include:

• Use low thermoelectric-coefficient conditions (avoid dissimilar metals).
• Thermally isolate components from power supplies or other heat sources.
• Shield operational amplifier and input circuitry from air currents, such as cooling fans.

Follow these guidelines to reduce the likelihood of junctions being at different temperatures, which can cause thermoelectric voltage drift of 0.1 µV/°C or greater, depending on the materials used.