Operational Amplifiers

• An operational amplifier (hereby known as an Op Amp) is an integrated circuit that can

amplify weak electric signals.

• Non-inverting terminal (V+) - An input pin which creates a non-inverted output.

• Inverting terminal (V-)- An input pin which creates an inverted output, so negative
becomes positive and positive becomes negative.
• Positive power supply (+Vsupply)- The pin which provides the higher electrical potential
used to amplify the input.
• Negative power supply (-Vsupply)- The pin which provides the lower electrical potential
used to amplify the input.
• Output supply (Vout)- The pin which provides the output voltage (the amplified voltage).
• There are two possible configurations of an op amp, closed loop and open loop.
o In open loop, there is no ‘feedback,’ i.e. no
connection between the output voltage and an
input.
o In closed loop, there is a ‘feedback,’ a
connection between the output voltage and an
input.

Some Properties of an Op Amp

• The voltage gain (Av) of an op-amp in any
configuration is the ratio between the output voltage
and the difference between the input voltages:
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉
o 𝐴𝑉 = Δ𝑉 = 𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝑖𝑛 + −𝑉
−
o Therefore, to find 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝐴𝑉 (𝑉+ − 𝑉− )
o Note! Realize what you are doing when you
subtract 𝑉+ − 𝑉− : you are finding the input
voltage, the potential difference between the
inputs. The Op Amp simply amplifies the
potential difference across the inputs.
• Open loop gain just refers to this value when there is
no ‘feedback,’ i.e. no connection between the output voltage and an input.
 • The bandwidth of an op amp is the range of frequencies over which the gain is constant
to within an attenuation of 3.
o The graph of voltage gain versus frequency is called a frequency response curve,
and the product of the voltage gain and max frequency at any point is called the
gain bandwidth product, which is constant for any real op amp.
o The frequency response curve is typically plotted on logarithmic axes (meaning
that each unit of the graph increases by factors of 10) because the voltage gains
and frequencies span very wide ranges which would otherwise be difficult to
represent on a graph.

𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑉
In the graph on the left, gain is given in decibels, by the equation 𝐴𝑉 (𝑑𝐵) = 20 log (Δ𝑉 )
𝑖𝑛

This relationship is possible because power is directly proportional to the square of voltage, and
the decibel is a power ratio.
To determine the bandwidth at any gain, simply find the frequency at which a line drawn from
the voltage gain intersects with the slope.

What does it do?

There are three situations for the non-inverting and inverting inputs:

Inputs 𝑉+ > 𝑉− 𝑉+ < 𝑉− 𝑉+ = 𝑉−

So… 𝑉+ − 𝑉− is positive 𝑉+ − 𝑉− is negative 𝑉+ − 𝑉− is zero
Outputs 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 is positive 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 is negative 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 is zero

The Ideal versus the Real Operational Amplifier

Property Ideal Operational Amplifier Real Operational Amplifier
Input Very high, around 1012 Ω so current is
Infinite, so the input current is 0.
Impedance very small
 Output Very low, around 100Ω, leading to
Zero, so power loss is 0.
Impedance small power loss
Open Loop
Infinite Very high, approximately 105
Gain
Finite, limited by Gain-Bandwidth
Bandwidth Infinite
Product (usually around 105 )
Non-zero but very short, the
Propagation
Zero capacitances within the op amp take
Delay
finite times to charge and discharge
Non-zero, due to the high gain and
component mismatches within an op
Offset
Zero amp, the potential difference across
Voltage
the two input pins which will produce
a 0V output is non-zero.

Clipping and Saturation

• There is one thing you must remember about op amps- the output voltage cannot exceed
the supply voltages.
o When the output reaches the supply voltage, this is called saturation, where the
op amp can no longer act as a linear amplifier and the output remains constant
regardless of increases in input voltage.

This graph is called the transfer characteristic, a graph of output voltage versus input voltage.
Above you can see that once ±Vsupply is reached, the voltage output levels out.
• When saturation occurs for a waveform input whose output would be required to exceed
supply voltage, we say that clipping occurs.
o As Vout cannot exceed ±Vsupply, the waveform gets ‘clipped off’ to a straight line
beyond the supply voltages.
 You can imagine this as just drawing a line straight through the positive and negative supply
voltages on the graph; these become the minimum and maximum voltages.

Open Loop Circuits Applications

The Op Amp as a Comparator
• The Op Amp can be used to compare the voltage at one of its inputs to that of the other,
and give a signal accordingly.

• The cases are the same as we said before:

Inputs 𝑉1 > 𝑉2 𝑉1 < 𝑉2 𝑉1 = 𝑉2

Outputs 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 is positive 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 is negative 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 is zero

• The polarity of the output voltage will inform us as to the relative sizes of the input
voltages.
The Op Amp as a Sine-to-Square Wave Converter
• An Op Amp can convert a sine wave AC input to a square
wave. When it does this, it acts as a zero-crossing voltage
detector.
• A potential divider is used to reduce the high voltage
entering the op amp, which could damage it.
• The voltage to the inverting input acts as the reference
voltage, 0V.
 • The voltage gain is very high, so saturation is reached instantly in either
direction, generating a square wave.
• If the reference voltage is greater or less than 0V, then the marks and
spaces in the square wave will have different widths.

Closed Loop Amplifiers

When an amplifier is in a closed loop mode, that means that one of its inputs is connected to the
voltage output through a feedback resistor.
It is called negative feedback when the output voltage is fed back to the inverting input.
• This leads to a lower, more precise and stable output gain.
• Gain will also be more predictable with negative feedback.
• Gain will not vary with frequency as it would with open loop configuration.
• The output impedance decreases
• The bandwidth increases

• There are two possible arrangements for closed loop amplifiers:

o Inverting Amplifier- the signal is connected to the inverting input while the non-
inverting is connected to feedback or ground.
o Non-Inverting Amplifier- the signal is connected to the non-inverting input
while the inverting is connected to feedback or ground.
Virtual Earth (What is It?)
• This is a property of an inverting amplifier.
𝑉 𝑉
• Consider this- we know that 𝐴𝑉 = 𝑉 𝑜𝑢𝑡 , and so 𝑉+ − 𝑉− = 𝐴𝑜𝑢𝑡 .
+−𝑉 − 𝑉
o So, if we had an output voltage of 1V from an op amp of voltage gain 10000, the
difference between V+ and V- would be:
1𝑉
o 𝑉+ − 𝑉− = 10000 = 100𝜇𝑉 ≈ 0 (A very small input voltage)
o As such, the point highlighted below is considered to have an electrical potential
so small that it is approximately zero.
▪ This point is called virtual earth.
▪ Although this point is virtually earth, it cannot be connected directly to
ground as this would cause current to flow directly to ground rather than
through the feedback resistor.

Gain of the Closed Loop Amplifiers

𝑅
• The gain of the inverting op amp is found as 𝐴𝑉 = − 𝑅 𝑓
𝑖𝑛
𝑅
• The gain of the non-inverting op amp is found as 𝐴𝑉 = 1 + 𝑅 𝑓
𝑖𝑛

Cascaded Amplifiers
• When negative feedback introduced into an amplifier, it causes the gain to fall.
• To compensate for this, multiple op amps are connected or cascaded to increase the gain.
 • The total gain is the multiple of the gains of each op amp in the cascade.
• 𝐴𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝐴1 ∗ 𝐴2 ∗ 𝐴3

Close Loop Circuit Applications

The Summing Amplifier
• Here, the op amp is used with multiple inputs to an inverting amplifier.

𝑉 𝑉 𝑉
• 𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = −𝑅𝑓 (𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3 + ⋯ )
1 2 3
• This is often used as a digital analogue converter.
Voltage Follower/Unity Gain Buffer
• This is a non-inverting amplifier with no feedback resistor.
 0
𝐴=1+
𝑅𝑖
• The gain of the voltage follower is one.
• As such, the voltage follower is used as a voltage buffer.
• It allows us to separate an input signal from the load while maintaining the magnitude
and polarity of the input voltage.
• This is often used in effect pedals for guitarists.

Logic Gates
Meet the Logic Gates
Gate Truth Table
Symbol Description
Name Input Output
The output is 1 0
NOT opposite of the
input. 0 1

1 1 1

The output is 1 if 1 0 1
OR
either input is 1 0 1 1
0 0 0
1 1 0

The output is 1 if 1 0 0
NOR
NO input is 1 0 1 0
0 0 1
1 1 1

The output is 1 if 1 0 0
AND
BOTH inputs are 1 0 1 0
0 0 0
1 1 0
The output is 1 if 1 0 1
NAND both inputs are NOT
1 0 1 1
0 0 1