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 the ADC linearity. A high-speed, high open-loop gain amplifier such as the THS6212 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 amplifier open-loop output resistance is considered, this capacitive load introduces an additional pole in the signal path that can decrease the phase margin. One external solution to this problem is described in this section.

When the primary considerations are frequency response flatness, pulse response fidelity, and 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. This series resistor does not eliminate the pole from the loop response, but shifts the pole and adds a zero at a higher frequency. The additional zero functions to cancel the phase lag from the capacitive load pole, thus increasing the phase margin and improving stability.

The Typical Characteristics sections describe the recommended R_S versus capacitive load (see Figure 5-10) and the resulting frequency response at the load. Parasitic capacitive loads greater than 2 pF can begin to degrade device performance. Long printed-circuit board (PCB) traces, unmatched cables, and connections to multiple devices can easily cause this value to be exceeded. Always consider this effect carefully, and add the recommended series resistor as close as possible to the THS6212 output pin (see the Layout Guidelines section).