Operational Amplifiers

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Introduction
• Operational amplifiers are versatile ICs containing a hundred or so transistors that can
perform a variety of mathematical functions. For this reason, they are the building blocks of
many Analog signal processing circuits and analog electronic circuits
• Operational amplifiers are linear devices that have all the properties required for nearly
ideal DC amplification and are therefore used extensively in signal conditioning, filtering or
to perform mathematical operations such as add, subtract, integration and differentiation.
• An Operational Amplifier, or op-amp for short, is fundamentally a voltage amplifying device
designed to be used with external feedback components such as resistors and capacitors
between its output and input terminals.
• Different feedback configurations like resistive, capacitive or both, the amplifier can perform
a variety of different operations, giving rise to its name of “Operational Amplifier”.
• Integrated circuit fabrication techniques have made high-performance operational amplifiers
very inexpensive in comparison to older discrete devices.
OP-Amp Symbol & Pin Configuration

The 741IC op amp consists of 8 pins.

•Pin 1 is Offset null.
•Pin 2 is Inverting input terminal.
•Pin 3 is a non-inverting input terminal.
•Pin 4 is negative voltage supply (VCC)
•Pin 5 is offset null.
•Pin 6 is the output voltage.
•Pin 7 is positive voltage supply (+VCC)
•Pin 8 has no connection
Characteristics of an ideal op-amp
• Infinite input impedance, Ri = infinity
• Zero output impedance, Ro = 0
• Infinite voltage gain, AV = infinity
• Infinite bandwidth, BW = infinity
• Infinité Common-mode rejection ratio(CMRR)
• Infinite slew-rate (SR)
• Zero offset, i.e. when V1 = V2, Vo = 0
• Characteristics do not drift with temperature.
Operations Possible with Op-Amp
Inverting Amplifier
The Inverting Operational Amplifier configuration is one of the simplest and most commonly used op-amp topologies
Input signal is given to the inverting input with non-inverting terminal grounded.
• Negative Feedback is the process of “feeding back” a fraction of
the output signal back to the input,
• Inverting Amplifier uses the negative feedback, as output is fed
back to the negative or “inverting input” terminal of the op-amp
using an external Feedback Resistor called Rƒ.
When dealing with operational amplifiers there are two very important
rules to remember :
“No current flows into the input terminal”
“V1 always equals V2”.
At virtual summing point V1=V2=0

Applying KCL at the summing point, Equating both and substituting V2=0
𝑉 𝑖𝑛 −𝑉 2 𝑉 2 −𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉 𝑖𝑛 − 0 0 −𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑅𝑓
𝐼 𝑖𝑛 =𝐼 𝑓 𝐼 𝑖𝑛 = 𝐼𝑓= = 𝑉 𝑖𝑛
=−
𝑅𝑖𝑛
𝑅𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑓 𝑅𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑓
Inverting Amplifier Input/output Waveforms of an
Inverting Amplifier

• The negative sign in the equation indicates an inversion of

the output signal with respect to the input as it is 180o out
of phase.
• This is due to the feedback being negative in value.
• If the two resistors are of equal value, Rin = Rƒ then the gain of the amplifier will be -1
• It produces a complementary form of the input voltage at its output as Vout = -Vin.
• This type of inverting amplifier configuration is generally called a Unity Gain Inverter
of simply an Inverting Buffer.
Non inverting amplifier
• The second basic configuration of an operational amplifier circuit is
that of a Non-inverting Operational Amplifier.
• Input is given to the non-inverting input and the inverting terminal is
grounded thru resistors R1 and with feed back resistor Rf.

Feedback control of the non-inverting operational amplifier is

achieved by applying a small part of the output voltage signal back to
the inverting input terminal thru Rƒ – R1 voltage divider network,
producing negative feedback.
From the feedback potential divider circuit,
𝑅1 𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑅1 + 𝑅 𝑓
𝑉 1= 𝑉 =
𝑅1 + 𝑅 𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝑉 𝑖𝑛 𝑅1
We know the potential at the two input should be same
𝑅1 𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑅𝑓
𝑉 1=𝑉 𝑖𝑛 𝑉 𝑖𝑛= 𝑉 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛= =1+
𝑅1 + 𝑅 𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉 𝑖𝑛 𝑅1
 Non inverting amplifier

𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑅𝑓 𝑅𝑓
𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛= =1+ 𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 =(1+ ) 𝑉 𝑖𝑛
𝑉 𝑖𝑛 𝑅1 𝑅1

Non-inverting amplifier does not provide any

phase shift between its input and output
• If the feedback resistor, Rƒ equal to zero, (Rƒ = 0), and resistor R1 equal
to infinity, (R1 = ∞), then the resulting circuit would have a fixed gain of Voltage Follower
“1” (unity) as all the output voltage is fed back to the inverting input
terminal (negative feedback).
• This configuration would produce a special type of the non-inverting
amplifier circuit called a Voltage Follower, also known as a “unity gain
buffer”.
• It can be used when impedance matching or circuit isolation
Instrumentation amplifier
An instrumentation amplifier is used to amplify very low-level signals, rejecting noise and
interference signals.
Low level Signals like heartbeats, blood pressure, temperature, earthquakes and so on
require suitable amplification.
The essential characteristics of a good instrumentation amplifier are as follows.
• Inputs to the instrumentation amplifiers will have very low signal energy. Therefore the
instrumentation amplifier should have high gain and should be accurate.
• The gain should be easily adjustable using a single control.
• It must have High Input Impedance and Low Output Impedance to prevent loading.
• The Instrumentation amplifier should have High CMRR since the transducer output will
usually contain common mode signals such as noise when transmitted over long wires.
• It must also have a High Slew Rate to handle sharp rise times of events and provide a
maximum undistorted output voltage.
An Operational Amplifier based Instrumentation Amplifier can be the best option as it has all these characteristics.
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 Instrumentation Amplifier Circuit
• Consists of Three operational
Amplifiers
• The op-amps 1 & 2 are non-
inverting amplifiers and op-amp
3 is a difference amplifier.
• First two operational amplifiers
form the input stage that
provides high input impedance
and high CMRR
• The output stage is a differential
amplifier
• Vout is the amplified difference of
the input signals applied to the
input terminals of op-amp 3.
Instrumentation Amplifier
As the voltage at the inverting and non-inverting terminals is same

Gain of Differential amplifier:

If R5=R6, the voltage difference at the input of the differential amplifier

Substituting for

With R1=R2

Where gain,
Instrumentation Amplifier
Gain of Instrumentation Amplifier

• It is possible to adjust the differential gain by adjusting the value of a

single resistor RG.
• This is important because unlike the other resistors in the circuit, the
value of RG does not need to be matched with any other resistor.
• Apart from that it provides high input impedance, low output
impedance and high CMRR that suits the application.