Adjustable shunt reference for precision bias and ADC drive
The Texas Instruments TL4051BIDBZT is an adjustable shunt voltage reference in a SOT-23-3 package, covering an output range from 1.212 V up to 10 V with a ±0.2% initial tolerance. It operates as a shunt (two-terminal) reference, meaning it sinks current through an external resistor to set the output voltage — no separate supply pin needed.
The adjustable output from 1.212 V (the internal bandgap) to 10 V means a single resistor pair sets the reference voltage — no need to stock multiple fixed-voltage references. The 12 mA output current capability is the maximum the shunt can sink; for driving a typical ADC reference input (drawing microamps), that headroom is generous, but if you are paralleling several loads or driving a long trace, keep the total cathode current under 12 mA. The 65 µA minimum cathode current is the floor — below that the reference may drop out of regulation, so size the bias resistor to guarantee at least 65 µA through the device at all line and load conditions.