OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIERS

Objectives
• Describe basic op-amp characteristics.
• Discuss op-amp modes and
parameters.
• Explain negative feedback.
• Analyze inverting, non-inverting,
voltage follower and inverting op-amp
configurations.
BASIC OP-AMP
 Symbol and Terminals

Figure 1a: Symbol Figure 1b: Symbol with dc supply

connections

• A standard operational amplifier (op-amp) has;

• Vout  is the output voltage,
• V+  is the non-inverting input voltage,
• V-  is the inverting input voltage.

• Typical op-amp operates with 2 dc supply voltages,

• +ve supply.
• –ve supply.

741 general purpose op-amp made by
Fairchild Semiconductor
An op amp is an active
circuit element designed
to perform mathematical
Operations of addition,
subtraction,
multiplication, division,
differentiation, and
integration.
 Operational Amplifiers
The op amp is built using VLSI techniques. The circuit
diagram of an LM 741 from National Semiconductor is
shown below. V+

Vin(-)

Vo
Taken from National
Vin(+) Semiconductor
data sheet as shown on the web.

Internal circuitry of LM741. V-

 The Ideal Op-Amp
_

Figure 2a: Ideal op-amp

representation Vin
Zin=∞ AvVin

Zout=0

Av=∞

• The ideal op-amp has; +

• Infinite voltage gain.

• Infinite bandwidth.
• Infinite input impedance
• zero output impedance.
• The input voltage, Vin appears between the two input
terminal.
• The output voltage is AvVin as indicated by the internal
voltage source symbol.
 The Practical Op-Amp
• Characteristic of a practical op-amp are;
• Very high voltage gain.
• Very high input impedance.
• Very low output impedance.
• Wide bandwidth.

Zin

Vin
AvVin

Zout

+
Figure 2b: Practical op-amp
representation
OP-AMP INPUT MODES AND
PARAMETERS
 Input Signal Modes
A) Single-Ended Input
• Operation mode;

• One input is grounded.

• The signal voltage is applied only to the other input.
• When the signal voltage is applied to the inverting input,

• an inverted amplified signal voltage appears at the

output. (figure 3a)
V in .

_
V out

+
.

Figure 3a
• When the signal voltage is applied to the noninverting
input with the inverting input grounded,

• a noninverted amplified signal voltage appears at the

output. (figure 3b)

_
V out
V in

.
+

Figure 3b
B) Differential Input
• Operation mode;

• Two opposite-polarity (out-of-phase) signals are

applied to the inputs
• This type of operation is also referred to as double-ended.
• The amplified difference between the two inputs appears
on the output.

V in 1 .

V out
V in 2

.
+

Figure 3c
C) Common-Mode Input
• Operation mode
• Two signal voltages of the same phase, frequency and
amplitude are applied to the two inputs. (figure 3d)
• When equal input signals are applied to both inputs, they
cancel, resulting in a zero output voltage.
• This action is called common-mode rejection.
• Means that this unwanted signal will not appear on the
output and distort
V i n . the desired signal.

_ V out
V in
+
.

Figure 3d
 Common-Mode Rejection
•
Ratio
Desired signals can appear on only
• one input or
• with opposite polarities on both input lines.
• These desired signals are
• amplified and appear on the output.
• Unwanted signals (noise) appearing with the same polarity
on both input lines are
• essentially cancelled by the op-amp and do not appear
on the output.
• The measure of an amplifier’s ability to reject common-
mode signal is called
• CMRR (common-mode rejection ration).
• Ideally, op-amp provides
• a very high gain for desired signal (single-ended or
differential)
• zero gain for common-mode signal.
• The higher the open-loop gain with respect to the
common-mode gain,
• the better the performance of the op-amp in terms of
rejection of common-mode signals.
Aol
• Therefore; CMRR 
Acm

where Aol = open-loop voltage gain

Acm = common-mode gain

• The higher the CMRR, the better.
• A very high value of CMRR means that
 Aol 
CMRR  20 log  and
• the open-loop gain, Aol is high
 Acm 
• the common-mode gain, Acm is low.
 Open-Loop Voltage Gain
• Open-loop voltage gain, Aol of an op-amp
• is the internal voltage gain of the device
• represents the ration of output voltage to input
voltage when there are no external
components.
• The open-loop voltage gain is set entirely by the
internal design.
• Open-loop voltage gain can range up to
• 200,000 and is not a well-controlled parameter.
• Data sheet often refer to the open-loop voltage
gain as
• the large-signal voltage gain.
 Example 1
A certain op-amp has an open-loop voltage gain of 100,000
and a common-mode gain of 0.2.
Determine the CMRR and express it in decibels.

Answer: a) 500,000 b) 114dB

 Common-Mode Input
Voltage Range
• All op-amp have limitation on the range of voltages over
which they will operate.
• The common-mode input voltage range is
• the range of input voltages which when applied to both
inputs will cause clipping or other output distortion.
• Many op-amp have common-mode input ranges of
• ±10V with dc supply voltages of ±15V.
 Input Bias Current
I1

V1 _

I2 Vout
+
V2

Figure 4a: Input bias current is the average of the two op-amp input currents.

• The input bias current is

• the dc current required by the inputs of the amplifier
to properly operate the first stage.
• By definition, the input bias current is
• the average of both input currents and is calculated
as;
I1  I 2
I BIAS 
2
 Input Impedance
• Two basic ways of specifying the input impedance of an
op-amp are
• Differential.
• Common-mode.
• Differential input impedance is
• the total resistance between the inverting and the
noninverting input.
• Measured by determining the change in bias current
for a given change in differential input voltage.
_

ZIN(d) .

Figure 4b: Differential input impedance

• Common-mode input impedance is

• the resistance between each input and ground.

• Measured by determining the change in bias current
for a given change in common-mode input voltage.

ZIN(cm)
.

Figure 4c: Common-mode impedance

 Output Impedance

• The output impedance is

• the resistance viewed from the output terminal of the
op-amp as indicated in figure 4d

Zout
.

Figure 4d: Op-amp output impedance

 Slew Rate
• What is slew rate?
• The maximum rate of change of the output voltage in
response to a step input voltage.
• Is dependent upon the high-frequency response of the
amplifier stages within the op-amp.
• Is measured with an op-amp connected as shown in
figure 4e

_
V out

+
V in

Figure 4e: Test circuit

• A pulse is applied to the input,
the output voltage is
measured as indicated in Vin
figure 4f. 0

• The width of the input pulse

must be sufficient
+Vmax
• to allow the output to slew
from its lower limit to its
upper limit. Vout

• A certain time interval ∆t, is

-Vmax
required for the output voltage
∆t

• to go from its lower limit

–Vmax to its upper limit Figure 4f: Step input voltage and
+Vmax, once the input step the resulting output voltage
is applied.
• The slew rate is expressed as
Vout
t

Where ∆Vout = +Vmax-(-Vmax).

• The unit is volts per microsecond (V/μs).

 Example 2
The output voltage of a certain op-amp appears as shown
in figure below in response to a step input.
Determine the slew rate.
Vout(V)

10

0
t

-9
-10

2μs
12μs

Answer: 1.8 V/us

OP-AMPS WITH NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
• Negative feedback is a
process whereby a portion of
the output voltage returned to
the input with a phase angle
opposed the input signal
• Advantages:
• Higher input impedance
• More stable gain
• Improved frequency response
• Lower output impedance
• More linear operation
 Closed-Loop Voltage Gain,
Acl
• The closed-loop voltage gain is
• the voltage gain of an op-amp with external
feedback.
• The amplifier configuration consists of
• the op-amp
• an external negative feedback circuit that
connects the output to the inverting input.
• The closed-loop voltage gain is determined by
• the external component values and can be
precisely controlled by them.
 Noninverting Amplifier
+
V out
_
V in Rf
Figure 5: Noninverting . Feedback
amplifier Vf
network
Ri

• Noninverting amplifier is
• an op-amp connected in a closed-loop with a controlled
amount of voltage gain is shown in figure 5.
• 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.
• This creates negative feedback as follows.
• Resistor Ri and Rf form a voltage divider circuit, which
reduces Vout and connects the reduced voltage Vf to the
inverting input.  
Ri
V  V
• The feedback voltage is expressed as f  R  R  out
 i f 

Vout 1 Ri  R f
Acl ( NI )   
• The closed-loop gainVin of the
B noninverting
Ri (NI) amplifier is

Ri
B
Ri  R f

Rf
• Where Acl ( NI )  1 
Ri
 Example 3
Determine the gain of the amplifier in figure below. The
open-loop voltage gain of the op-amp is 100,000.

V in +
V out
_
Rf
100kΩ

Ri
4.7kΩ

Answer: 22.3
 Voltage-Follower
_

Vout
+
Vin

Figure 6: Op-amp
voltage-follower

• The voltage-follower configuration is a special case of the

noninverting amplifier
• where all the output voltage is fed back to the inverting
(-) input by a straight connection. (figure 6)
• The straight feedback connection has a voltage gain of 1
(no gain).
• The closed-loop voltage gain of a noninverting amplifier is
1/B.
• Since B=1, for a voltage-follower,
• the closed-loop voltage gain of the voltage follower is

Acl(VF)=1

• 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
the
• interfacing high-impedance sources
 Inverting Amplifier
Rf

Ri
_
Vout
Vin Aol
+

Figure 7: Inverting
Amplifier
• Inverting amplifier
• An op-amp connected with a controlled amount of
voltage gain. (figure 7)
• The input signal is applied through a series input resistor
Ri to the inverting (-) input.
• The output is fed back through Rf to the same input.
• The noninverting (+) input is grounded.
• For inverting amplifier
Vout Rf

Vin Ri

• The closed-loop voltage gain is the ratio of the

Rf
feedback resistance (Rf) to   resistance (Ri).
A the input
cl ( I )
Ri

R
This gain is independent ofAthe op-amp’sf internal open-
•
cl ( I ) 
loop gain. R i
 Example 4
Given the op-amp configuration in figure below, determine
the value of Rf required to produce a closed-loop voltage
gain of -100.

Rf

Ri
_

2.2kΩ Vout
Vin
Aol
+

Answer: 220 kΩ
 Op-amp Impedances

Noninverting amplifier: Where Zin is the open-loop

Z in (NI)   1  Aol B  Z in input impedance (internal) of
Z out the op-amp (without feedback
Z out (NI)  connection)
 1  Aol B 
Inverting amplifier:
Z in (I)  Ri Generally, assumed to be Ri
Z out
Z out (I)  Generally, assumed to be 0
 1  Aol B 
Note that the output impedance has the same form for both amplifiers.
 Example 5
(a) Determine the input and output impedances of the amplifier in Figure below.
The op-amp datasheet gives Zin = 2MΩ, Zout = 75Ω, and Aol = 200,000.
(b) Find the closed-loop voltage gain.

Answer: (a) Zin(NI)=17.5GΩ, Zout(NI)=8.6mΩ, (b) Acl(NI) = 23.0

 Example 6
Find the values of the input and output impedances in Figure below. Also,
determine the closed-loop voltage gain. The op-amp has the following
parameters: Aol = 50,000; Zin = 4MΩ; and Zout = 50 Ω

Answer: Zin(I)=1.0kΩ, Zout(I)=980mΩ, Acl(I)=-100

~End~