Widlar current source
E1026750
The Widlar current source is an analog integrated circuit design that produces a precise, low-magnitude reference current using a resistor and transistor pair with emitter degeneration, widely used in early linear ICs.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Widlar current source canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13183649 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Widlar current source Context triple: [Bob Widlar, knownFor, Widlar current source]
-
A.
µA741
µA741 is a classic general-purpose operational amplifier integrated circuit widely used in analog electronics for signal conditioning, filtering, and amplification.
-
B.
LM-series analog ICs
LM-series analog ICs are a widely used family of linear integrated circuits, including voltage regulators, operational amplifiers, and timers, originally introduced by National Semiconductor for general-purpose analog signal processing and power management.
-
C.
Wien bridge oscillator
The Wien bridge oscillator is an electronic sine-wave generator that uses a Wien bridge network in its feedback loop to produce low-distortion audio-frequency signals.
-
D.
Darlington transistor configuration
The Darlington transistor configuration is an electronic circuit design that pairs two bipolar transistors to function as a single device with very high current gain and input impedance.
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E.
Linear Technology
Linear Technology was a semiconductor company renowned for designing high-performance analog integrated circuits used in industrial, automotive, communications, and consumer applications.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Widlar current source Target entity description: The Widlar current source is an analog integrated circuit design that produces a precise, low-magnitude reference current using a resistor and transistor pair with emitter degeneration, widely used in early linear ICs.
-
A.
µA741
µA741 is a classic general-purpose operational amplifier integrated circuit widely used in analog electronics for signal conditioning, filtering, and amplification.
-
B.
LM-series analog ICs
LM-series analog ICs are a widely used family of linear integrated circuits, including voltage regulators, operational amplifiers, and timers, originally introduced by National Semiconductor for general-purpose analog signal processing and power management.
-
C.
Wien bridge oscillator
The Wien bridge oscillator is an electronic sine-wave generator that uses a Wien bridge network in its feedback loop to produce low-distortion audio-frequency signals.
-
D.
Darlington transistor configuration
The Darlington transistor configuration is an electronic circuit design that pairs two bipolar transistors to function as a single device with very high current gain and input impedance.
-
E.
Linear Technology
Linear Technology was a semiconductor company renowned for designing high-performance analog integrated circuits used in industrial, automotive, communications, and consumer applications.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (41)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
analog integrated circuit building block
ⓘ
current source circuit ⓘ |
| achieves | small reference currents with moderate resistor values ⓘ |
| category |
analog circuit design
ⓘ
reference current generator ⓘ |
| comparedTo | simple current mirror ⓘ |
| designedFor | monolithic integrated circuits ⓘ |
| developedBy | Bob Widlar NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| developedFor | early monolithic linear ICs ⓘ |
| enables | on-chip biasing currents of a few microamperes ⓘ |
| field |
analog electronics
ⓘ
integrated circuit design ⓘ |
| hasAdvantage |
better control of small bias currents
ⓘ
smaller chip area than using very large resistors for low currents ⓘ |
| hasLimitation |
limited output voltage compliance compared to ideal source
ⓘ
sensitivity to transistor parameter variations ⓘ |
| hasProperty |
improved matching over simple current mirror at low currents
ⓘ
integrated-circuit-friendly implementation ⓘ low-magnitude reference current ⓘ reduced output current without large resistors ⓘ temperature-compensated current ⓘ |
| hasTopology | two-transistor current mirror with emitter resistor in one leg ⓘ |
| historicalUse | widely used in early linear IC families such as μA709 and μA741 era designs ⓘ |
| improvesOn | simple current mirror at low currents ⓘ |
| isPartOf | classic analog IC design techniques ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Bob Widlar NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| operatesWith | bipolar technology ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Wilson current mirror
ⓘ
bandgap reference ⓘ beta-helper current mirror ⓘ |
| reliesOn |
base-emitter voltage difference between transistors
ⓘ
exponential I–V characteristic of BJTs ⓘ |
| tradeOff | increased design complexity for better low-current performance ⓘ |
| usedIn |
analog reference circuits
ⓘ
linear integrated circuits ⓘ operational amplifiers ⓘ voltage regulators ⓘ |
| usesComponent |
bipolar junction transistor
ⓘ
resistor ⓘ |
| usesEffect | logarithmic relationship between current ratio and Vbe difference ⓘ |
| usesTechnique | emitter degeneration ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Widlar current source Description of subject: The Widlar current source is an analog integrated circuit design that produces a precise, low-magnitude reference current using a resistor and transistor pair with emitter degeneration, widely used in early linear ICs.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.