1

Operational Amplifiers
Course: Applied Electronics
Instructor: Ismail Amin Ali
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Duhok
2 Negative feedback
❑ As illustrated in Figure below, the inverting input (-)
makes the feedback signal 180° out of phase with the
input signal.

Vin +
Vout

Vf –

Internal inversion makes Vf

180° out of phase with Vin.

Negative
feedback
circuit
3 Negative feedback
❑ The open-loop voltage gain of a typical op-amp is very high (usually greater
than 100,000). Therefore, an extremely small input voltage drives the op-
amp into its saturated output states.
❑ Even the input offset voltage of the op-amp can drive it into saturation.
❑ The usefulness of an op-amp operated without negative feedback is
generally limited to comparator applications.
❑ With negative feedback, the closed-loop voltage gain (Acl) can be reduced
and controlled so that the op-amp can function as a linear amplifier.
❑ The closed-loop voltage gain is the voltage gain of an op-amp with external
feedback.
❑ The closed-loop voltage gain is determined by the external component
values and can be precisely controlled by them.
❑ In addition to providing a controlled, stable voltage gain, negative feedback
also provides for control of the input and output impedances and amplifier
bandwidth.
4 Noninverting Amplifier
❑ The input signal is applied to the noninverting (+) input.
❑ The output is applied back to the inverting input through the feedback
circuit (closed loop) formed by the input resistor Ri and the feedback
resistor Rf. The feedback voltage is expressed as:
𝑅𝑖
𝑉𝑓 = 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 +
𝑅𝑖 +𝑅𝑓
Vout
The attenuation B of feedback circuit is:
𝑅𝑖 Vin –
𝐵= Rf
𝑅𝑖 + 𝑅𝑓 Vf Feedback
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝑉𝑖𝑛 − 𝑉𝑓 = 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝑉𝑖𝑛 − 𝐵𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 circuit
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝑉𝑖𝑛 − 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝐵𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 ➔ 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝐵𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝑉𝑖𝑛 Ri
➔ 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 (1 + 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝐵) = 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝑉𝑖𝑛
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐴𝑜𝑙
=
𝑉𝑖𝑛 1 + 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝐵
The product AolB is typically much greater than 1, therefore:
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐴𝑜𝑙 1
≅ =
𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑜𝑙 𝐵 𝐵
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 1 𝑅𝑖 +𝑅𝑓 𝑅𝑓
𝐴𝑐𝑙(𝑁𝐼) = ≅ = =1+
𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝐵 𝑅𝑖 𝑅𝑖
5 Voltage-Follower
❑ The voltage-follower configuration is a special case of the
noninverting amplifier where all of the output voltage is fed back to
the inverting input by a straight connection.
❑ The closed-loop voltage gain of a noninverting amplifier is 1/B. Since
B = 1 , the closed-loop voltage gain of the voltage-follower is:

Vin +

Acl(VF) = 1 Vout
–
❑ The most important features of
the voltage-follower configuration are:
 very high input impedance
 very low output impedance

❑ These features make it a nearly ideal buffer amplifier for interfacing

high-impedance sources and low-impedance loads.
6 Inverting Amplifier
❑ The input signal is applied through a series input resistor Ri to the inverting
input. Also, the output is fed back through Rf to the same input. The
noninverting (+) input is grounded.
❑ An infinite input impedance (for an ideal op-amp) implies zero current at the
inverting input. Therefore, the current through Ri and the current through Rf
are equal.
Iin = If
❑ If there is zero current through the input impedance, then there must be no
voltage drop between the inverting and noninverting inputs. This means that
the voltage at the inverting input is zero because the noninverting (+) input
is grounded. This zero voltage at the inverting input terminal is referred to
as virtual ground.
7 Inverting Amplifier
❑ As the inverting input is a virtual ground and since If=Ii :

−𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝑖𝑛
=
𝑅𝑓 𝑅𝑖
Rearranging terms:

𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑅𝑓
=−
𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑖

Or:

𝑅𝑓
𝐴𝑐𝑙(𝐼) =−
𝑅𝑖
8 Impedances: Noninverting Amplifier
❑ Input Impedance: Assume a small differential voltage, Vd, exists
between the two inputs. The input voltage is:
Vin=Vd+Vf = Vd + BVout
Vin= Vd + AolBVd = (1 + AolB)Vd
Now substituting IinZin for Vd
Vin = (1 + AolB)IinZin
Zin is the open-loop input impedance (without feedback).
Vin/Iin= (1 + AolB)Zin
Vin/Iin is the overall input impedance of a closed-loop noninverting
amplifier
Zin(NI) = (1 + AolB)Zin
❑ This equation shows that the input impedance of the noninverting
amplifier with negative feedback is much greater than the internal
input impedance of the op-amp itself (without feedback).
9 Impedances: Noninverting Amplifier
❑ Output Impedance: Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage law to the output circuit:
Vout = AolVd - ZoutIout
Vd = Vin - Vf ; and assuming that AolVd >> ZoutIout , you can express the output
voltage as:
Vout  Aol(Vin - Vf )
Substituting BVout for Vf
Vout  Aol (Vin - BVout ) ➔ AolVin  (1 + AolB)Vout
Substituting IoutZout(NI) for Vout
AolVin = (1 + AolB) IoutZout(NI)➔ AolVin/Iout= (1 + AolB) Zout(NI)

The term AolVin/Iout is the internal output impedance of the op-amp (Zout)
because, without feedback, AolVin = Vout , Therefore:
Zout= (1 + AolB) Zout(NI) ➔ Zout(NI)= Zout/(1 + AolB)
❑ This equation shows that the output impedance of the noninverting amplifier
configuration with negative feedback is much less than the internal output
impedance, Zout, of the op-amp itself (without feedback).
10 Impedances: Inverting Amplifier
❑ Input Impedance: The input impedance for an inverting amplifier is:
Zin(I) = Ri

This is because the inverting input of the op-amp is at virtual ground

(0 V), and the input source simply sees Ri to ground.
❑ Output Impedance: The expression for the output impedance of an
inverting is the same as for the noninverting case:
Zout(I) = Zout/(1 + AolB)
❑ The output impedance of both the noninverting and the inverting
amplifier configurations is very low; in fact, it is almost zero in
practical cases.
11 Input Offset Voltage Compensation
❑ Most ICs provide a mean of compensation.
❑ An external potentiometer to the offset null pins of IC
package
12 Bandwidth Limitations
❑ Many op-amps have a roll off rate determined by a single
low-pass RC circuit, giving a constant -20 dB/decade
down to unity gain.
❑ The blue line represents the open-loop frequency
characteristic (Bode plot) for the op-amp.
Aol (dB)
Midrange
106
100

75
–20 dB/decade roll-off

50

25
Unity-gain frequency (fT)
Critical frequency

0 f (Hz)
1 10 100 1k 10k 100k 1M
13 Bandwidth Limitations
❑ For op-amps with a -20 dB/decade open-loop gain, the closed-loop
critical frequency is given by:
fc(cl) = fc(ol)(1 + BAol(mid))
❑ The closed-loop critical frequency is higher than the open-loop
critical frequency by the factor (1 + BAol(mid)). This means that you can
achieve a higher BW by accepting less gain. For a compensated op-
amp, Acl f(cl) = Aol fc(ol) A v
Open-loop gain
Aol(mid )

Closed-loop gain
Acl(mid )

f
0 fc( ol) fc (cl )
14 Bandwidth Limitations
❑ The equation, Acl f(cl) = Aol fc(ol) shows that the product of
the gain and bandwidth are constant. The gain-
bandwidth product is also equal to the unity gain
frequency. That is fT = Acl fc(cl), where fT is the unity-gain
bandwidth.
❑ The fT for a 741C op-amp is 1 MHz. What is the BWcl for
the amplifier? Vin +
741C Vout
𝑅𝑓 82 – Rf
𝐴𝑐𝑙(𝑁𝐼) = 1 + =1+ = 25.8
𝑅𝑖 3.3 82 kW
𝑓𝑇 106
𝐵𝑊𝑐𝑙 = = = 38687 𝐻𝑧
𝐴𝑐𝑙 25.8 Ri
3.3 kW