Design Considerations for Differential Low-Level Junction FET Commutators

The many advantages of junction field-effect transistors (FET) in commutation applications have prompted a serious effort to extend the technology without sacrificing performance and, in many areas, to realize an improvement over low-level commutator performance attainable by more conventional electronic means (especially Bright switches), so that these devices may be employed in general application, high-accuracy, low-level commutation. This paper is devoted to a generalization of knowledge recently gained during the development of such equipment, which will aid potential designers and users in their understanding and application of low-level FET commutators. A discussion of device characteristics is offered as the starting point of design. A number of topics are then discussed, including offset drift and scatter, gain drift and scatter, source and amplifier loading, crosstalk, and common-mode rejection. Also, several useful design guidelines, in the form of generalized expressions, are derived or furnished for the reader's use. Finally, in order to lend veracity to the design techniques suggested, the performance data of a low-level FET commutator developed following these techniques are offered for consideration.