ECE 209: Circuits and Electronics Laboratory

Operational Amplier Basics: Its Not Black Magic; Its Negative Feedback
Generic dierential amplier. V+ V + Vout = G (V+ V ) For OA: G Vs
+ +

V+ V

+ G

Vout = G (V+ V ) G Kfb 1 Kfb

Figure 1: Operational amplier (OA) alone.

Figure 2: OA with negative feedback.

At the most basic level, an operational amplier (OA) is a special kind of dierential amplier like the one shown in Figure 1; the output is a scaled version of the dierence between its two inputs. The special feature of an operational amplier is that its gain is extremely large. In fact, it is so large that an operational amplier is useless as a typical dierential amplier. As Horowitz and Hill1 say, you should think of an op-amp as fodder for feedback. An operational amplier will almost always be used in a negative-feedback conguration like the one shown in Figure 2. A voltage divider is commonly used to implement the feedback, but any connection that provides this kind of connection between the OA output and the V input will suce2 . In this conguration, V = Vout Kfb + Vs = (V+ V ) GKfb + Vs = V+ GKfb V GKfb + Vs , and so V (1 + GKfb ) = V+ GKfb + Vs and V = V+ GKfb Vs + . 1 + GKfb 1 + GKfb

However, because GKfb is very large, Vs has negligible impact on V , and V tends to follow V+ . That is, V V+ because GKfb is very large. (1)

In other words, the operational amplier monitors the dierence between V and V+ . If V strays from V+ by even a small amount, the operational amplier compensates appropriately to close the gap between them. Because the operational amplier ensures that V is identical to V+ , it also ensures that Vout V+ Vs . Kfb (2)

So with clever choice of Vs (e.g., 0 V or a known signal) and feedback gain Kfb (e.g., some sub-unity gain from a voltage divider), the operational amplier will ensure some useful relationship among Vout , V+ , and Vs regardless of what else is connected to Vout . So an operational amplier provides a low-impedance output that has the ability to track some other high-impedance output; we can avoid loading parts of our circuits by buering them with an OA. Also, as in Figure 3, we can amplify or lter signals using Equation (2).
Kfb = ZI ZI + ZF V+
i+ = 0

Vout = Vout

F V+ VB ZIZ V+ Vs +ZF = ZI Kfb Z +Z I F

Vs = VB

ZF = VB (1 Kfb ) ZI + ZF

i = 0

= V+ ZF

ZI + ZF ZF VB ZI ZI ZF ZI VB ZF ZI

VB

ZI

= V+ 1 +

Figure 3: Typical ideal OA circuit. Uses voltage divider for feedback.

Document 1 The

from http://www.tedpavlic.com/teaching/osu/ece209/. Source code at http://hg.tedpavlic.com/ece209/. Art of Electronics (2nd edition) by Paul Horowitz and Wineld Hill. Cambridge University Press, 1989. Page 176. 2 In fact, even many nonlinear gains (e.g., K fb gains that vary with the output level) will suce.

Copyright 20072009 by Theodore P. Pavlic Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License

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