Reasons not to use a 741 op-amp?
There are many good reasons not to use the 1968-vintage LM741: -
- Minimum recommended power supply rails are +/- 10 volts
- Modern op-amps have power supplies that can be as low as 1.8 volts.
- Input voltage range is typically from -Vs + 2 volt to +Vs - 2 volt
- Modern op-amps can be chosen that are rail-to-rail
- Input offset voltage is typically 1 mV (5 mV maximum)
- Modern op-amps can easily be as low as a few micro volts and have low drift.
- Input offset current is typically 20 nA (200 nA maximum)
- Modern op-amps are commonly available that are less than 100 pA
- Input bias current is typically 80 nA (500 nA maximum)
- Modern op-amps are commonly less than 1 nA
- Input resistance is typically 2 MΩ (300 kΩ minimum)
- Modern input resistance starts at hundreds of MΩ
- Typical output voltage swing is -Vs + 1 volt to +Vs - 1 volt
- Many cheap rail-to-rail op-amps get to their supplies within a few mV
- Guaranteed output voltage swing is -Vs + 3 volt to +Vs - 3 volt
- Supply current is typically 1.7 mA (2.8 mA maximum)
- Modern op-amps with this current consumption are ten times faster and better in many other ways too.
- Noise is 60 nV/sqrt(Hz) for LM348 (quad version of 741)
- GBWP is 1 MHz with a slew rate of 0.5 V/us
The LM741A is slightly better but still a dinosaur in most areas.
Things of importance that the 741 data sheet does not appear to list (and that may depend on the age and manufacturer): -
- Input offset voltage drift versus temperature
- Input offset current drift versus temperature
- Common mode rejection ratio versus frequency
- Output resistance (closed or open loop)
- Phase margin
- likeliness of latchup (and gain reversal)
I can't think of any valid reasons to use the 741 other than "that's all I will ever have or own". Common reasons why they are still used in actual devices appear to be: -
- Someone had a design that they didn't want to change from the 70s
- Someone had millions of them lying around and wanted to put them to use
- Someone actually determined that all the parameters are fine for their design, and at that moment the 741 was the cheapest to acquire and in millions of units it saved a few thousand dollars in total.
I've been an electronics designer since 1980 and I have never used or specified a 741 in any design I've been associated with. Maybe I'm missing out on something?
If there weren't loads of textbooks dating back decades that used the 741 as an example, I'd be surprised if many people knew of it now. It'd now be remembered like the OC71, which was the BC108 of the mid/late 60s.
One of the reasons I think it persisted for so long beyond the mid-80s, when it was well superseded, was because of its many bad characteristics. It is an example to teach students the characteristics to be concerned about, that highlight the inner workings of the op-amp. It has the input offset voltages, input current, needs the offset null, shows the bandwidth/gain product so vividly. Few/no op-amps of 20 years past have brandished so many of these so prominently.
I've been designing for 30 years, starting with mid-volume equipment in the mid-80s. In my experience, the 741 wasn't anyone's choice then or since - there were always much better and cheaper parts to use. I imagine maybe I've worked on a circuit with one on in that time but I genuinely can't recall it.
Another reason not to use a 741 is that under certain conditions it can go into a latch-up state, where the output saturates and sticks to one of the supply rails until it is powered down. I can't find a reference specifically about the 741, but this page describes something similar: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/semiconductors/chpt-8/op-amp-practical-considerations/ (search for the word "latch-up" on the page).
Just out of school, I built a thermostat for our fish-tank, using a 741 with a small amount of positive feedback to act as a comparator to switch the tank heater with a relay. Twice the 741 latched up and killed all our fish.