TL072 dual JFET op-amp: pinout, input range, ratings and the TL071 and TL074

The last digit is the amplifier count: TL071 single, TL072 dual, TL074 quad. The letter after it is the temperature grade (on TI's parts C for 0 to 70 °C, I for −40 to 85 °C, M for −55 to 125 °C), and an A or B before that letter marks a part sorted for lower offset. The final letter is the package: P or N is the through-hole DIP, D or PS a surface-mount SO package. A TL072CP is the commercial-grade dual in an 8-pin DIP.

TI now builds the family on a new die, sold with an H suffix (TL072H). It also says a part marked without the H, such as a TL072CP, may come from either the old or the new production flow. You cannot tell from the print, so this page designs to the older, looser specification. ST sells the TL072 in SO8 only, marked 072C on the body.

The makers disagree on the supply. TI's table allows 42 V across the part, then its own power-supply section warns that more than 36 V, or more than ±18 V on a split supply, can damage it. ST rates the TL072 at ±18 V. Design to 36 V in total: ±15 V and ±12 V both sit comfortably inside it.

The input line matters more than the supply line. TI recommends keeping each input between 4 V above V− and 0.1 V above V+. ST puts it another way: at ±15 V the input range is ±11 V at least, typically −12 V to +15 V. Either way the inputs work right up to the positive rail and stop well short of the negative one. TI also notes that the new die clamps its inputs to both rails with diodes, so a signal that can swing more than 0.5 V past a rail needs a resistor to hold the current to 10 mA.

The JFET inputs draw at most 200 pA at 25 °C on both makers' sheets. That current is junction leakage, and ST notes it roughly doubles for every 10 °C, so the hot limit is 7 nA (TI, up to 70 °C) or 20 nA (ST, over its whole range). Even 20 nA through a 100 kΩ input resistor is only 2 mV.

The two makers part ways on noise and bandwidth. ST gives 15 nV/√Hz and a gain-bandwidth of 4 MHz typical, 2.5 MHz minimum. TI's current table splits by package: 18 nV/√Hz and 3 MHz on its SO packages, 37 nV/√Hz and 5.25 MHz on the rest, the DIP included. For a design, take ST's 2.5 MHz minimum, the only bandwidth figure either sheet guarantees.

On ±15 V the TL072 is comfortable: inputs from −11 V to +15 V, and an output TI and ST both guarantee to swing ±12 V into 10 kΩ. On a single 5 V supply the same rule (inputs at least 4 V above V−) leaves an input window from 4 V to 5.1 V. A signal centred at 2.5 V is outside it. Neither maker gives an output swing for a supply that low; TI's swing-against-supply curve starts at about ±3.5 V.

What happens outside the range is the other question. TI's current sheet shows a "No Phase Reversal" plot only for the new H die: a follower on ±10 V whose input runs past the rails, with an output that clips cleanly instead of flipping. It makes no such statement for the original die. ST lists "latch-up free operation" among the features and says nothing about phase reversal. Keep every input inside the stated range and you never depend on either behaviour.

The H die fixes most of this. TI rates its inputs from 1.5 V above V− up to V+, and its output within 215 mV of either rail at 10 kΩ (specified on a 40 V supply). If you must run from 5 V, buy a part marked TL072H, or use an op-amp made for single supplies.

The TL071 has the usual single op-amp pinout: inverting input on 2, non-inverting on 3, V− on 4, output on 6, V+ on 7. Pins 1 and 5 are where the makers now differ. ST's TL071 sheet still names them offset null 1 and 2, with a 100 kΩ trimmer between them and its wiper to V−. TI's July 2025 revision deleted the trim function from every package except its PS (SO-8) part, and draws pins 1, 5 and 8 of the DIP as "do not connect".

So do not wire a trimmer to a TL071 of unknown origin. If an old circuit has one, the part may ignore it, and pins marked no-connect are best left open. Null the offset in the circuit instead, or buy the TL071B with its 3 mV maximum.

The TL074 puts four amplifiers in a 14-pin DIP. Amplifiers 1 and 2 sit on pins 1 to 7 and amplifiers 3 and 4 on pins 8 to 14, in the same order as the TL072. The trap is the supply: V+ is pin 4 and V− is pin 11. On the TL072, pin 4 is V−.

Electrically it is the same amplifier: TI covers all three parts in one table, and for the C grade in a DIP the only line that changes is the thermal resistance, 80 °C/W for the 14-pin package against 85 °C/W for the 8-pin one.

• Audio preamps, mixers, tone controls and line drivers on ±12 V or ±15 V. The picoamp inputs let you use large resistors without a DC error.
• Active filters, where high-value resistors keep the capacitors small.
• Buffers for high-impedance sources: a piezo pickup, a pH probe, a sample-and-hold capacitor.
• Integrators, where bias current would otherwise charge the capacitor.

It is a poor choice on a single 5 V or 3.3 V rail next to a microcontroller, for anything that has to swing close to either rail, and for DC precision below a few millivolts. The op-amp limitations lesson explains each of these limits.

One half of a TL072 as an AC-coupled, non-inverting amplifier: a line-level signal in, about eleven times larger out, on the ±12 V rails common in audio gear.

Fit 100 nF from each supply pin to ground, close to the package, as TI's layout section asks. The non-inverting amplifier lesson derives the gain formula.

• Bypass both supply pins with 100 nF ceramics at the package, as TI's layout notes ask, and keep the input wiring short and away from the output and supply leads.
• An unused half still needs a defined state. Wire it as a follower with its non-inverting input at 0 V, so it sits quietly instead of drifting into a rail.
• For a DC-coupled stage with gain, the 10 mV offset multiplies by the gain. Buy the A or B grade (6 or 3 mV) or put a capacitor in series with the gain resistor so the DC gain drops to 1.
• Inputs that can be driven past a rail, such as an input jack plugged in with the power off, need a series resistor that keeps the current under 10 mA.
• Two TL072s and one TL074 are the same four amplifiers. The quad saves board space, but its supply pins are on 4 and 11.

The A, B and H versions of the TL072 drop into the same socket. The TL072H is the one to buy for new work: it fixes the input range and the output swing that this page keeps warning about.

1. Power the chip on ±12 V with no signal and measure each output to ground. A follower should sit within 10 mV of 0 V and the stage above within about 0.1 V (the offset times the gain of 11). An output stuck near a rail means an input is out of range or floating.
2. Measure the supply current. Two amplifiers draw 2.8 mA typical and 5 mA at most. Much more points to oscillation or a damaged part.
3. Feed a 1 kHz sine of 0.5 V peak into the stage and look at the output on a scope: a clean 5.5 V peak sine, in phase with the input.
4. Raise the input until the output clips. On ±12 V it should flatten somewhere past ±9 V, and the same way at the top and bottom.

The bench power supply lesson covers setting up a split supply with current limits.

Use the TL072 where it was designed to work: audio and filter stages on ±12 V or ±15 V, with input resistors of 100 kΩ or more and signals that stay at least 4 V clear of the negative rail. For new builds buy the TL072H, and for anything on a single 5 V supply choose a single-supply op-amp instead of hoping the original die copes.

The TL072CP in DIP-8 and the TL074CN in DIP-14 are stocked by most Indian component sellers, usually without a maker named. Ask whether the part is TI or ST, and look for the H suffix if you need the newer die. Check one from each batch with the bench test above before it goes into a board. Our guide to buying electronic components in India compares ten online sellers and covers how to spot fakes.