Basic Op Amp Circuits

Manuel Toledo INEL 5205 Instrumentation August 13, 2008

Introduction

The operational amplier (op amp or OA for short) is perhaps the most important building block for the design of analog circuits. Combined with simple negative feedback networks, op amps allow engineers to build many circuits in a simple fashion, at low cost and using relatively few discrete components. Good knowledge of the op amp characteristics and aplications is essencial for a sucessful analog engineer.
+

Op amps are dierential ampliers, and their output voltage is proportional to the dierence of the two input voltages. The op amps schematic symbol is shown in the above gure. The two input terminals, called the inverting and non-inverting, are labeled with - and +, respectively. Most op amps are designed to work with two supplies usually connected to positive and negative voltages of equal magnitute (like the uA741 which works with 15V ). Some, however, work with a single-voltage supply. An example is the LM358. The supply connections may or may not be shown in a schematic diagram.

Basic Op Amp Circuits

Ideal Op Amp Analysis

An ideal analysis assumes that the op amp has innite gain so the the loop gain A = and Af = 1/; the input impedance is , so the input terminals drain no current; negative feedback forces the voltage dierence at the op amp inputs to vanish, and the the inputs are virtually connected; when one of the two inputs is connected to ground, the other one is said to be at virtual ground ; the op amp output resistance is zero. A few examples of the most common op amp circuits and their analysis assuming the ideal op amp model follow. 1

Inverting amplier
Since the op amp takes no input current, the same current ows through R1 and R2 . Because the non-inverting input is grounded, a virtual ground exist in the inverting input by virtue of the innite gain and the negative feedback being used. Thus vi = i R1 and vo = i R2 . It follows that the gain of the inverting amplier is vo = R2 . vi R1 The input impedance Ri = R1 . To nd the output impedance, apply a test current source to the output and ground to vi . Because of virtual ground, no current ows through R1 . Since no current ows into the inverting input, the current through R2 must be 0 as well. Thus, independently of the test current, vo remains grounded in the ideal op amp. Consecuently the output resistance is ideally 0.
Rf vi R1 + vo

Summing amplier
A KCL at the inverting input yields v1 v2 vn vo + + ... + = R1 R2 Rn Rf Thus vo =
v1 v2 v3

Rf Rf Rf v1 + v2 + ... + vn R1 R2 Rn
R1 R2 R3 + Rf

vo

vn

Rn

Non-inverting amplier
Since the two terminals must be at the same voltage, i1 = and vi R1

vi vo R2 But no current ows into the inverting terminal, so i1 = i2 . Substituting into this equation and solving for vo yields R2 vo = 1 + vi R1 i2 = 2

Input impedance Ri is innite. Output impedance is very low.

R2 vi + Rf

vo

Voltage follower or buer amplier

Since Rf = 0 and this conguration is the same than the non-inverting amplier, the gain is unity. The input impedance is, however, innity. So this conguration elliminates loading, allowing a source with a relatively large Thevenins resistance to be connected to a load with a relatively small resistance.
+ R1 R2 v1 v2 + vi vo

Dierence amplier
This circuit provides an output voltage that is proportional to the dierence of the two inputs. Applying KCL at the inverting terminal yields i1 = v1 v v vo = i2 = R1 R2

Solving for vo and reordering terms gives vo = Since v = v+ =

R4 v, R3 +R4 2

R1 + R2 R2 v v1 R1 R1

vo =

R1 + R2 R4 R2 v2 v1 R1 R3 + R4 R1

By choosing R1 = R3 and R2 = R4 one gets that vo = R2 (v2 v1 ) R1

vo

Current-to-voltage converter
Since the source current is can not ow into the ampliers inverting input, it must ow thorugh Rf . Since the inverting input is virtual ground, vo = is Rf Also, the virtual ground assumption implies that Ri = 0 for this circuit.
Rf is +

vo

Voltage-to-current converter
In this cricuit, the load is not grounded but takes the place of the feedback resistor. Since the inverting input is virtual ground, iL = iin =
R1 iin +

vin R1
ZL iL vo

vin

Instrumentation amplier
This amplier is just two buers followed by a dierential amplier. So it is a dierential amplier but the two sources see an innite resistance load.
v1 + R1 + R4 R2

vo

v2

R3

Integrator
Let vin be an arbitrary function of time. The current through the capacitor is iin = From the capacitor law, dvC iC = C dt or 1 1 vo = vC = iC dt = vin dt C R1 C
vin iin R1 + C

vin . R1

vo

Active low-pass lter

Here we assume that the input is sinusoidal. Thus we can use the concepts of impedance and reactance and work in the frequency domain. Thus, the circuit is an inverting amplier, but the feedback resistor as been replaced with Zf , the parallel combination of R2 and C. Therefore, 1 R R2 sC 2 = Zf = 1 1 + sCR2 + R2 sC From the expression for the inverting ampliers gain, vo (s) = which is small for s large.
R2 vin iin R1 + C

Zf R2 1 = vi (s) R1 R1 1 + sCR2

vo

Dierentiator
Here the input current is determined by the capacitor law, iin = C Thus vo = Rf iin = Rf C dvin dt dvin dt

vin

C +

Rf

vo

Active high-pass lter

Like in the low-pass lter, we consider vin to be sinusoidal and apply impedance concepts. The conguration is again like the inverting amplier, but the resistor R1 as been replaced with Z1 , which is R1 in series with C. Thus Z1 = R1 + and vo = which is small for s small.
vin iin R1 C R2 +

sR1 C + 1 1 = sC sC

Rf sCRf = Z1 sR1 C + 1

vo

Precision half-wave rectier

In this circuit, the diode conducts when the op amp output is positive and larger than 0.7V , 0.7 i.e. when the non-inverting inputs exceeds the inverting by Aopenloop volts, where Aopenloop represents the op amp open-loop gain, taken to be innity for an ideal device. Thus as soon as the input becomes negative, the diode conducts and the output becomes virtual ground. If the input is positive, the diode is an open circuit and the output is directly connected to the input. The circuit is used to rectify signals whose amplitude is smaller than the 0.7V required to forward-bias the diode.
vin + vo

Logarithmic Amplier
Here output and diodes voltage are equal in magnitude and of opposite signs. Since iD IS exp 6 vD VT

where VT is the thermal voltage, equal to 25mV at room temperature. It follows that vo = vD = VT (log(vin /R1 ) logIs ) and is thus proportional to the logarithm o the input.
vin iin R1 +

vo

Anti-logarithmic Amplier
The current iIN is given by iD IS exp or iIN IS exp Thus the output voltage is vO = iIN Rf IS Rf exp
vin iin + R1

vD VT vIN VT

vIN VT

vo

Comparator
An op amp can be used as a comparator in a circuit like the one shown below. This is a non-linear circuit in which the output saturates to about 90 % of the positive and negative supply voltages. The polarity of the output voltage depends on the sign of the dierential input, vi vREF . The sketch shows non-ideal characteristics tipically found in op amps. The oset voltage, vOF F SET , is on the order of few millivolts and causes the transition from low to high to be slightly displaced from the origin. vOF F SET can be negative or positive, and is zero in an ideal op amp. The posibility of having voltages between plus and minus vSAT , a consecuense of the nite gain of practical op amps, is also shown. This part of the curve would be vertical if the op amp is ideal. Special integrated circuits (like the MC1530) are specially build to be used as comparators and minimize these non-ideal eects.

vO +VSAT + vi vO -VSAT

vOFFSET

vi-vREF

vREF

Zero-crossing Detector
If the inverting input of a comparator is connected to ground, the devices output switches from positive to negative saturation when the input goes from positive to negative, and viceversa. Output vO1 on the following sketch displays this vehavior.
vi

Timing-marker Generator
If an RC network is connected to the output of a zero-crossing detector, capacitor charging and discharging produce the waveform vO2 shown in the above sketch. This signal is rectied to produce the waveform labeled vO3 . The circuit is called a timing-markers generator, or TMG, for obvious reasons.

Phase Meter
Combining two TMG and an adder, as shown in the following gure, one can build the so called phase meter. The time dierence T1 is proportional to the phase dierence between the two sinusoidal inputs.

vi

vO1 vO1 C vO2 R vO3 RL vO3 vO2

v1

v2 v1 TMG v2 TMG vO vO T1

Square Wave Generator

This circuit is an oscillator that generates a square wave. It is also known as an astable multivibrator. The op amp works as a comparator. Lets assume that the op amp output goes high on power-on, thus making vO = +VZ . The capacitor charges with a time constant = RC. When the capacitor voltage reaches vO = R2R3 3 , the op amp output switches +R low, and vO = VZ as shown in the graph.
vO vO

vO

C +

R1 R2 vO VZ

vO

R3

VZ

Real Op Amps

Error Function
Linear op-amp circuits use negative feedback and thus can be described by the theory of feedback systems. A general negative-feedback system can be represented by the following block diagram:

wS

wi wF

wO

LOAD

Since O = A (S O ) we can solve for Af =

O S

to get Af = A 1 + A A 1 = 1 T 1+ T 1 1+
1 T

= Aideal

where Aideal = lim Af =

A

A T

Since the loop gain T is equal to A, Aideal = and Af = The quantity 1 1+

1 T

1 1 1+

1 T

is known as the error function and gives a direct indication of how much the system departs from the ideal. Equivalently, the loop gain T can also be used to quantify the dierence between real and ideal op amp behavior. A full feedback analysis for the non-inverting and inverting amplier congurations give the results that are summarized in the following table; non-inverting T
R22 R1 a rd ro +R22 rd +R11 R1 +R2

inverting a R1 ||R2 ||rd ro +R2

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