General > General Technical Chat
Why is the 741 op amp still produced?
bsfeechannel:
The 741 is one of those products that established a standard in its category. It is like the 6L6 (introduced in 1936), or the 555, 1N4007, 1N4148 or the 7400 and 4000 series. I would not fret they're still around. I'd celebrate their longevity. They managed to survive even in face of "better" options.
magic:
I have seen one ST UA741 in an analog soldering station. At least that's what was written on it ::)
The station was some Atten IIRC.
I'm not sure if they are even cheaper than LM358. I have seen fake 741 with 358 inside :)
james_s:
Is the modern 741 still the same as the original 741? Or is it just a modern op-amp die that works in most applications that used a 741?
magic:
Those from reputable manufacturers should be legit. I have never looked at 741, but you can see 5532, 358 and 4558 dice on Zeptobars and they still implement the original topology and ought to meet the original specs. Perhaps with some perks like more consistent offset or less flicker and popcorn noise.
There is also some difference in die size. For example, modern 5532 from TI and ONS are noticably smaller than old-ass Signetics. In fact, Signetics die was too large to fit in SO8 so they offered it in wide SO16 with half of the pins unused, like LM10.
On AliBay all bets are off. I have made a thread on that. Most chips that I tested were 358 or 4558. And, I mean, heavily die-shrunk clones of those, presumably made in China. Never tested if they meet the specs, power output and dissipation would be particularly interesting. Some people reported in the past that fake 5532 behave like a 4558 when watched on a scope, so there is that.
tszaboo:
For example, if you certified a product, you dont want to re-certify it, because a part is no longer made. so the longer they make it the batter. Sometimes, it doesnt need to be the shiniest part in your circuit, and if the 741 works, you dont want to change it. Sometimes clueless people blindly copy schematics and they end up with 30 year old pars in their brand new device, and spend all the time in the world trying to fix it in software.
It should just say NRND on the datasheet, and keep being produced.
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