Chapter 3

Operational Amplifiers
Introduction to Op-Amps
 The integrated circuit operational amplifier evolved soon after development of the first bipolar
integrated circuit.
 The µA-709 was introduced by Fairchild Semiconductor in 1965 and was one of the first
widely used general-purpose op-amps.
 The 741 op-amp has been produced by Fairchild. since 1966, a vast array of op-amps with
improved characteristics, using both bipolar and MOS technologies, have been designed but the
741 is still a widely used general-purpose op-amp.
 Most op-amps are very inexpensive (less than a dollar) and are available from a wide range of
suppliers
An operational amplifier, in general, is a three-stage circuit, as shown in Figure 3.1, and is
fabricated as an integrated circuit.
The first stage is a differential amplifier, the second stage provides additional voltage gain, and the
third stage provides current gain and low output impedance.

A feedback capacitor is often included in the second stage to provide frequency compensation.

In some cases, in particular with MOSFET op-amp circuits, only the first two stages are used.

Fig 3.1 General block diagram of an operational amplifier

Fig 3.2
Equivalent
circuit, 741
op-amp
 The op-amp requires dc power, as do all transistor circuits, so that the
transistors are biased in the active region.
 Most op-amps are biased with both a positive and a negative voltage
supply, as indicated in Figure 3.3(b). As before, the positive voltage is
indicated by V + and the negative voltage by V-.

Fig 3.3 (a) Small-signal circuit symbol of the op-amp; (b) op-amp with positive
and negative supply voltages

 There are normally 20 to 30 transistors that make up an op-amp circuit as

shown on fig 3.2 for 741 op-amp.
 Ideal op-amp
The ideal op-amp senses the difference between two input signals and amplifies this difference to
produce an output signal.

Fig 3.4 Ideal op-amp

equivalent circuit

 Ideally, the input resistance Ri between terminals 1 and 2 is infinite, which means that the input
current at each terminal is zero. The output terminal of the ideal op-amp acts as the output of an
ideal voltage source, meaning that the small-signal output resistance Ro is zero.
 The parameter Aod shown in the equivalent circuit is the open-loop differential voltage gain of
the op-amp. The output is out of phase with respect to v1 and in phase with respect to v2.
Terminal (1) then is the inverting input terminal, designated by the “-” notation, and terminal
(2) is the noninverting input terminal, designated by the “+” notation. In the ideal op-amp, the
open-loop gain Aod is very large and approaches infinity
Negative and positive feedback
 Negative feedback, which involves the inverting input connection with output of
the op-amp, is used for producing stable circuits.

 Positive feedback, which involves the connection of the non-inverting input

terminal and output terminal of the op-amp, is used for producing oscillators as it
will be seen in the next chapter.

Fig 3.5 Simplified small-signal equivalent circuit of a MOSFET with input and
 Inverting op amp

 Figure 3.5 shows the equivalent circuit including two external circuit resistors RI and
RF. The voltage at the noninverting terminal is set equal to zero, so that the
noninverting terminal is at ground potential. An input voltage vi is applied. Resistor RF
is a feedback resistor that connects the output back to the input of the amplifier. This
circuit is therefore called a feedback circuit. In this example, we use a single device
(transistor) as the basic amplifier of the op-amp circuit.

 Writing a KCL equation at the gate, or inverting, terminal, we obtain

………..3.1(a)
which can be arranged as
………3.1(b)
Since the input impedance to the transistor is infinite, the current into the
device is zero.
A KCL equation at the output node yields
……………….3.2(a)
which can be solved for , as follows:
…………………….3.2(b)
Substituting Equation (3.2(b)) into (3.1(b)) results in the overall voltage gain
of the circuit
………………….3.3
If we let the gain gm of the basic amplifier (i.e., the transistor) go to infinity,
then the overall voltage gain becomes
………………………….3.4
Ideal op-amp circuit

Fig 3.6 Parameters of the ideal op-amp

 The ideal op-amp characteristics resulting from our negative feedback analysis are shown in
Figure 3.6 and summarized below.
1. The internal differential gain is considered to be infinite.
2. The differential input voltage () is assumed to be zero. If is very large and if the output voltage
is finite, then the two input voltages must be nearly equal.
3. The effective input resistance to the op-amp is assumed to be infinite, so the two input
currents, and , are essentially zero.
4. The output resistance is assumed to be zero in the ideal case, so the output voltage is
connected directly to the dependent voltage source, and the output voltage is independent of
any load connected to the output.

Fig 3.7 Inverting op-amp

equivalent circuit
 The open-loop gain Aod is very large and the two inputs v1 and v2 must be nearly
equal. v1 is at virtual ground. Taking v1 node, the current will be

………..3.5

And

……..3.6

The two current is equal,

…………3.6

is called the closed loop voltage gain. The minus(-) sign indicates input connection to
the inverting terminal.
• Example 3.1 Design the circuit such that the voltage gain is Av = -5. Assume the op-
amp is driven by an ideal sinusoidal source, vs = 0.1 sin ωt (V), that can supply a
maximum current of 5 µA. Assume that frequency ω is low so that any frequency effects
can be neglected.
Exercise 3.1 Design an ideal inverting op-amp circuit such that the voltage gain is Av = -25. The
maximum current in any resistor is to be limited to 10 µA with the input voltage in the range -25
≤ vI ≤ +25 mV. (a) What are the values of R1 and R2? (b) What is the range of output voltage vO?
(Ans. (a) R1 = 2.5k, R2 = 62.5 k; (b) -0.625 ≤ vO ≤ 0.625 V)

SUMMING AMPLIFIER

Fig 3.8 Summing op-amp

amplifier circuit

The total output voltage is the algebraic sum of the individual output
voltages, or

……..3.7
e.g.3.2 Calculate the output voltage for the circuit of Fig. 3.9. The inputs are V1 =50
mV sin(1000t) and V2 =10 mV sin(3000t).

Fig 3.9 circuit for e.g.2

Exercise 3.2 (a) Design an inverting summing amplifier that will produce
an output voltage of ). The maximum resistance is to be limited to 400 k.
(b) Using the results of part (a), determine for (Ans. (a) Let R3 = 400k,
RF = 360 k, R1 = 120k, R2 = 60 k, R4 = 30 k; (b) (i) = +1.2 V, (ii) = -
1.35 V)
NONINVERTING AMPLIFIER

Fig 3.9 Noninverting op-amp circuit

 The input signalis applied directly to the noninverting terminal, while one

side of resistor R1 is connected to the inverting terminal and the other side is at
ground.
The negative feedback connection forces the terminal voltages v 1 and v2 to be

essentially equal. Such a condition is referred to as a virtual short.

This condition exists since a change in v2 will cause the output voltage vo to

change in such a way that v1 is forced to track v2.

The virtual short means that the voltage difference between v 1 and v2 is, for

all practical purposes, zero. However, unlike a true short circuit, there is no
current flow directly from one terminal to the other.
• We use the virtual short concept, i.e. v1 = v2, as an ideal op-amp characteristic and
use this property in our circuit analysis
The analysis of the noninverting amplifier is essentially the same as for the
inverting amplifier. We assume that no current enters the input terminals. Since v 1

= v2, then v1 = vI , and current i1 is given by:

………………….(3.8)

Current is given by

………………………(3.9)
 As before, i1 = i2, so that

 Solving for the closed-loop voltage gain, we find

………….(3.10)

From this equation, we see that the output is in phase with the input, as expected.
Also note that the gain is always greater than unity.

Fig 3.10 Equivalent circuit of ideal noninverting

 If then, the closed-loop gain then becomes

…………………………………….(3.11)

 Since the output voltage follows the input, this op-amp circuit is
called a voltage follower.

 The closed-loop gain is independent of resistor (except when ), so we can set to

create a short circuit.
 Fig 3.11 Voltage follower op-amp

It might seem that this circuit, with unity voltage gain, would be of little
value.
However, other terms used for the voltage follower are
impedance transformer or buffer.
The input impedance is essentially infinite, and the output
impedance is essentially zero.
• If, for example, the output impedance of a signal source is large,
a voltage follower inserted between the source and a load will
prevent loading effects, that is, it will act as a buffer between the
source and the load.

 Consider the case of a voltage source with a 100 k output impedance driving a 1 k
load impedance, as shown in Figure 3.12(a). This situation may occur if the source is
a transducer. The ratio of output voltage to input voltage is

 This equation indicates that, for this case, there is a severe loading effect, or
attenuation, in the signal voltage.
 Figure 3.12(b) shows a voltage follower inserted between the source and the load.
Since the input impedance to the noninverting terminal is usually much greater
than 100 k, then and the loading effect is eliminated.

 Since there is no flow of current from the non inverting terminal to the amplifier,
the voltage at the amplifier terminal after is equal to .

Fig 3.12 (a) Source with a 100 k output resistance driving a 1 k load and (b)
source with a 100 k output resistance, voltage follower, and 1 k load
 Application of op amps
Voltage subtraction

Two signals can be subtracted from one another in a number of ways. Figure 3.13
shows two op-amp stages used to provide subtraction of input signals. The resulting
output is given by:

Fig 3.13 Circuit for subtracting two signals.

E.g.3.3. Determine the output for the circuit of Fig. 3.13 with components
Rf = 1 MV, R1 = 100 kV, R2 = 50 kV, and R3 = 500 kV.
Voltage buffer

• A voltage buffer circuit provides a means of isolating an input signal from a load by
using a stage having unity voltage gain, with no phase or polarity inversion, and
acting as an ideal circuit with very high input impedance and low output impedance.
Figure 13 shows an op amp connected to provide this buffer amplifier operation.
The output voltage is determined by:
 Fig 3.14 unity-gain (buffer) amplifier.

Figure 3.15 shows how an input signal can be provided to two separate outputs.
The advantage of this connection is that the load connected across one output
has no (or little) effect on the other output. In effect, the outputs are buffered or
isolated from each other.
Fig 3.15 Use of buffer amplifier to provide output signals
E.g.3.4.Show the connection of a 741 as a unity-gain circuit.

Solution: The connection is shown in Fig. 3.16.

Fig 3.16 Connection for Example 9

voltage-Controlled voltage source
• An ideal form of a voltage source whose output Vo is controlled by an input voltage
V1 is shown in Fig. 3.17. The output voltage is seen to be dependent on the input
voltage (times a scale factor k). This type of circuit can be built using an op-amp as
shown in Fig. 3.18. Two versions of the circuit are shown, one using the inverting
input, the other the noninverting input.

Fig 3.17 Ideal voltage-controlled voltage source

Fig 3.18 Practical voltage-controlled voltage source circuits.
For the connection of Fig. 3.18a, the output voltage is

whereas that of Fig. 3.18b results in

 voltage-Controlled Current source
• An ideal form of circuit providing an output current controlled by an input voltage
is that of Fig. 3.19. The output current is dependent on the input voltage. A
practical circuit can be built, as in Fig. 3.20, with the output current through load
resistor RL controlled by the input voltage V1.

Fig 3.19 Ideal voltage-controlled current source.

The current through load resistor RL can be seen to be:

Fig 3.20 Practical voltage-controlled current source.

Instrumentation Amplifier
 On the difference amplifier, it is impossible to maximize input resistance(Ri) to get maximum

output. This problem can be solved by using instrumentation amplifier as shown below.
The current in resistor R1 is
………………..(3.12)

The current in resistors R2 is also i1, as shown in the figure, and the output
voltages
of op-amps A1 and A2 are, respectively,
………..(3.13a)
and
……..(3.13b)

From previous results, the output of the difference amplifier is given as

;…………..(3.14)

Substituting Equations (3.13a) and (3.13b) into Equation (3.14), we find the
output voltage, as follows:
…………..(3.15)
 Since the input signal voltages are applied directly to the noninverting terminals of
A1 and A2, the input impedance is very large, ideally infinite, which is one desirable
characteristic of the instrumentation amplifier.

 The differential gain is a function of resistor R1, which can easily be varied by using

a potentiometer, thus providing a variable amplifier gain with the adjustment of only
one resistance.

• E.g.3.5.Determine the range required for resistor R1, to realize a differential gain
adjustable from 5 to 500. The instrumentation amplifier circuit is shown in Figure
3.22. Assume that R4 = 2R3, so that the difference amplifier gain is 2.
 Fig 3.22. for example 3.5

Solution: Assume that resistance R1 is a combination of a fixed resistance

R1f and a variable resistance R1v, as shown in Figure 3.18. The fixed
resistance ensures that the gain is limited to a maximum value, even if the
variable resistance is set equal to zero. Assume the variable resistance is a
100 k potentiometer.
 From Equation (3.15), the maximum differential gain is

 And the minimum differential gain is

Integrator and Differentiator

Fig 3.23 a) Op-amp integrator

b) Op-amp differentiator

Example 3.5. Determine the time constant required in an integrator. Consider the integrator
shown in Figure 3.19a. Assume that voltage VC across the capacitor is zero at t = 0. A step input
voltage of vI = -1V is applied at t = 0. Determine the time constant required such that the output
Solution
The output of op-amp integrator is given by :
 Nonlinear Circuit Applications
i. Precision Half-Wave Rectifier
 For vI > 0, the circuit behaves as a voltage follower.

 The output voltage is vO = vI , the load current iL is positive, and a positive diode

current is induced such that iD = iL.

Fig 3.24 Precision half-wave rectifier circuit(left) and

Voltage transfer characteristics of precision half-wave rectifier(right)
The feedback loop is closed through the forward-biased diode. The output voltage of

the op-amp, vO1, adjusts itself to exactly absorb the forward voltage drop of the diode.

For vI < 0, the output voltage tends to go negative, which tends to produce negative
load and diode currents. However, a negative diode current cannot exist, so the diode
cuts off, the feedback loop is broken, and vO = 0.
ii. Log amplifier

Fig 3.21 a. Simple log amplifier b)A simple antilog, or exponential,

For fig 3.21a, The diode current is

………………….(3.16)

If the diode is sufficiently forward biased the (-) term is negligible, and

……………….(3.17)

If we take the natural log of both sides of this equation, we obtain

…………………………………(3.18)

Or
……………….......……….(3.19)

iii. Antilog or Exponential Amplifier (fig 3.21b above)

……………..…..(3.20)
THE END