Digital and Analogue Devices and Circuits

Operational Amplifiers (Op amps)

Op amps are ICs containing a few dozen transistors (sometimes a mixture of FET
types at the input, and bipolar ones for the rest of the circuit) that almost always have
differential inputs, and very high voltage gain.

non-inverting input output

inverting input

The essentials are shown in the diagram above: you just worry about the two input
signals and the output. There are connections to a positive supply (e.g. +15V) and a
negative (-15V) as well, but these are often omitted from circuit diagrams.
The output goes up if the +input is at a higher voltage than the –input. It goes down if
the situation is reversed. The voltage gain is extremely high: maybe 100,000. Even a
voltage difference of just 10V (10 millionths of a volt) between the input
connections would be enough when multiplied by this huge gain to give a 1V output.
Putting it the other way round, if the output is at some voltage within the range
allowed by the power supply, then the difference between the two signal inputs will be
virtually zero.
Op amps are almost always used with a technique known as ‘negative feedback’.
With such circuits the two input signals are taken to be at the same voltage as each
other. This is one of the key points to bear in mind when analysing op amp circuits.
Perhaps the simplest circuit that uses an op amp is the buffer, shown below.

input output

The negative feedback connection is the bit of wire joining the output back to the
inverting input. Using the key point mentioned above it is simple to predict how this
circuit will behave.
Suppose the input signal is 1V DC. This goes straight to the non-inverting input of
the op amp. The inverting input will therefore try to sit at 1V. The way the op amp
brings this about is to make its output also sit at 1V.
The behaviour of the circuit, then, is simply that the output will follow the input
voltage almost exactly.
What’s the point of this circuit? The answer is to do with the amount of current
flowing in the input and output of the circuit. Very little current will be required to
feed the input, but a relatively large amount will be available at the output. If you
have a voltage source that only produces a small amount of current (has a high output
impedance) then the buffer circuit will boost that current, allowing the signal to drive
further circuits that require large amounts of current (have a low input impedance).

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Non-inverting amplifier

input output

R1
9k
X

R2
1k

0V
As mentioned on page 1, the key point to remember is that the op amp, when used
with negative feedback, will do whatever it needs to do to keep the two inputs to the
op amp at virtually the same voltage.
Let’s assume that the input connection to this circuit is 1V. By the argument just
given, the output will do what it needs to do in order to make X 1V as well.
In this circuit the potential divider circuit, R1 and R2, provides the negative feedback,
so the question becomes: what voltage is needed at the output of the circuit so that the
output of the potential divider (X) is 1V? The answer is: 10V.
If you can’t remember potential divider action you can always work things out using
Ohm’s Law. The current down through R2 needs to be 1V/1k = 1mA. This 1mA must
flow down through R1. The voltage drop across R1 must be 1mA  9k = 9V. The top
of R1 must therefore be 9V above the 1V at X: 10V.
Of course, we could have started with some voltage other than 1V at the input.
Whatever voltage we had thought of, the output would come out 10 times greater.
You can think of the circuit as a lever. The potential divider is the lever, which is
fixed at the bottom end. X acts as the input to the lever, and follows the input to the
entire circuit. The top end of the lever is the output of the circuit.

R1
9k
R2 X
1k

input
output (10
times bigger
than input)

Q1. Suppose both resistors in the non-inverting op-amp amplifier circuit are 1k. The
gain will be:
a) 1 b) -1 c) 2 d) -2

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Inverting amplifier
R1 9k

R2 1k
input X
output

0V

As before, assume that the two inputs to the op amp are at virtually the same voltage.
In this case, both inputs are at 0V, and point X is referred to as a ‘virtual earth’.
Let us also imagine an input signal to the entire circuit of +1V. Since X is at 0V, there
will be 1V/1k = 1mA of current through R2 flowing towards X. Where can this
current go? It can’t go into the op amp itself, because the inputs are very high
resistance, and take extremely small amounts of current. The only place for it to go is
through R1, where it creates a volt-drop of 1mA  9k = 9V. Remember that this
current is flowing from left to right: the right-hand end of R1 must be 9V lower than
the left-hand end. In other words, the output must be at –9V.
We have an amplifier that inverts the input signal as well as amplifying it by a factor
of 9.
The lever analogy looks like this:

R2
1k X

input
R1
9k
Output (9
times bigger
than input,
and inverted)

Note that with this amplifier the input signal has to supply a significant amount of
current. The 1mA flowing through R2 in the calculation above has to come from the
input signal. This may be a problem and the way to describe this problem is to say
that the input impedance of the circuit is rather low: just 1k.
With the non-inverting amplifier (see previous page) virtually no current is taken from
the input signal. The input impedance of that circuit is extremely high, and very low
power signals would be capable of driving that amplifier.

Q2. Suppose both resistors in the inverting op-amp amplifier circuit are 1k. The gain
will be:
a) 1 b) -1 c) 2 d) -2

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Differential input amplifier
The two amplifier circuits described above are single-input. The circuit below has a
differential input.

R1 9k

R2 1k
V2 X
output
differential
input
V1 Y
R4 1k
R3
9k

0V

To analyse the circuit voltages, four steps are needed:

1. First calculate the voltage at Y, using potential divider theory. With the circuit
values shown above Y will be 9/10ths of the voltage V1.
2. Next, assume X sits at virtually the same voltage as Y, then calculate the current
through R2, taking into account the voltages at V2 and X.
3. Next, assume the current flowing through R2 then flows through R1. Hence
calculate the volt-drop across R1.
4. Finally, calculate the output voltage, taking into account the volt-drop across R1
and the voltage at X.
We will analyse the action of the circuit for three situations: a) both inputs are 10V;
b) V2 is 11V and V1 is 10V; and c) V2 is 9V and V1 is 10V
a) Both inputs 10V
Step 1: Y will be 9V.
10 - 9
Step 2: X will be 9V, and the current through R2 will be  1mA
1k
Step 3: current through R1 will be 1mA; volt-drop will be 9V.
Step 4: output voltage will be the VX less the volt-drop across R1. 9V – 9V = 0V.
b) V2 = 11V, V1 = 10V
Y (and so X) is still 9V. The voltage across R2 is now 2V, so the current through R2
and R1 is 2mA. This makes the volt-drop across R1 18V, so the output is –9V.
c) V2 = 9V, V1 = 10V
Y (and so X) is still 9V so there will be no voltage across R2 and no current through
R2 or R1. The output is +9V.
From these examples we can see that the output of this circuit is (V1 - V2)  9. We
have a differential amplifier with a gain of 9.

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Integrating circuit
C 1F

input R 1Meg
X
output

0V

In this circuit a capacitor provides the feedback, rather than a resistor, but we can
again work out what will happen using the two key points of op amps:
 the two inputs to the op amp are at virtually the same voltage
 the two inputs to the op amp take virtually no current
By the first of these rules we can see that point X will be a virtual earth. By the
second we can deduce that any current that flows through the resistor must also flow
through the capacitor.
Suppose the circuit input is +1V. The current through R will be 1V/1Meg = 1A.
How will the capacitor react to having a current of 1A flowing through it? It will
charge up. In other words, the voltage between the capacitor plates will build up and
up and up, so long as the current exists.
How fast will the voltage build up? Mathematically we can write:
dV I 1A
   1 volt/sec
dt C 1F
Generally, we can write:
dVout V
  in volt/sec
dt RC
Integrating gives:
1
RC 
Vout   Vin dt volts

The output is thus the integral of the input voltage, hence the name given to the
circuit.
This may look a little scary if you’re not used to the maths! What it means in terms of
signals is this: if the input is a fixed DC voltage, the output will ramp down at a speed
depending on the input voltage and the RC value. If the input is a sine wave, the
output will also be a sine wave, with a phase shift of 90, leading. The amplitude of
the output will depend on the RC value and the frequency of the signal: the higher the
frequency the smaller the amplitude.

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Differentiating circuit

R 1Meg

C 1F
input
X
output

0V
Compared to the integrating circuit, the capacitor and resistor have been swapped
over. In a sense, all the input-output characteristics have swapped as well.
As before, point X will try to sit at virtual earth. If the input signal is some fixed
voltage, then no current will flow through the capacitor, so no current will flow
through the resistor, and the output will sit at 0V.
If the input voltage changes, however, then a current will need to flow between the
capacitor plates to charge it up a bit, or to discharge it. This current, flowing through
the resistor, will cause a voltage to appear at the output. This circuit, then, only
responds to changes in voltage at its input. The faster the input changes, the greater
the output voltage.
Mathematically, we may write:
dVin
Vout   RC
dt
For this circuit the output voltage is –RC times the differential of the input voltage,
hence the name: differentiating circuit. With the component values shown, R  C = 1
second, so an input voltage going down at a rate of 1V/sec would result in a fixed
output of +1V. An output sine wave would lag the input by 90 and would increase in
amplitude with increasing frequency.

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Comparator circuit

input
output

R1 9k
R2
1k

0V

This circuit employs positive feedback. You can recognise the positive feedback in
this circuit since the feedback resistor, R1 connects back to the + input of the op amp.
(On all the previous circuits the feedback has gone to the – input.)
Since there is no negative feedback you cannot assume that the two inputs to the op
amp will be at the same voltage.
The output of this circuit will ‘saturate’ at either the positive supply voltage, or the
negative one. As the input voltage changes the circuit output will, at some point,
suddenly snap from one of its extreme voltages to the other.
Let’s suppose that the output is sitting as far positive as it can go, say +12V. R1 and
R2 provide potential divider action, with the voltage at X being 1/10th of the output
voltage. X will thus be 1.2V. The input must be at some voltage lower than 1.2V in
order for the output to be saturated positive.
Suppose the input signal now goes more positive than 1.2V. Since the inverting input
is now more positive than the non-inverting input, the output of the op amp will go
rapidly negative, reaching negative saturation of, say, –12V. As a result, point X will
go to –1.2V.
How can we make the output snap back to the positive rail? The input signal will have
to drop below the new X voltage of –1.2V before this will happen.
The circuit is said to possess 'hysteresis'. The diagram below illustrates the behaviour.

+12V
output
input

+1.2
V
0V
hysteresis
-1.2V

-12V

Note the clean switching of the output, despite the slow, meandering input.

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Oscillator circuit
An application of the comparator circuit is the oscillator shown below.

R3 1Meg
Y output

C X
1F
0V R1 1k
1 R2
1k

0V

R1 and R2 are both 1k. This means X will always be just one half of the output
2 0
voltage. We again assume the op amp output can swing between +12V and –12V (X
will thus take values of +6V or –6V.) V
The capacitor can be charged or discharged via the resistor R3. Using capacitor
theory, it takes CR seconds to charge the capacitor to 63% of its final value using
such a circuit. With C = 1F and R = 1Meg, the CR ‘time constant’ of this circuit is
just 1 second.
output
+12
V X
+6V
Y

-6V

-12V
approx 1 sec

The diagram above shows what will happen. Initially it is assumed that the output is at
+12V, X is +6V, and Y is some value less than +6V.
The capacitor will charge up, since the right-hand end of R3 is at +12V. Y will rise on
an exponential trajectory, aiming towards +12V. It never reaches +12V because as
soon as it passes the +6V on X, the output flips to –12V. The capacitor now
discharges, aiming at –12V. Once it reaches the –6V now present on X the cycle starts
over.

Q3. Which of the following would increase the frequency of the oscillator?
a) increasing R1 b) increasing R2 c) increasing R3 d) increasing C

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