Introduction:

Thepurposeofthisexperimentwastomeasuretheoutputimpedanceofaninvertingoperational
amplifier.Theoperationalamplifier(oropamp)isawidelyusedcomponentinelectroniccircuits;oneof
themainreasonsforthisisthatithasextremelylowoutputimpedancewhenusedinanegative
feedbackconfiguration.Havinglowoutputimpedanceallowstheopamptoachieveextremelyhigh
gains.However,becausetheoutputimpedanceissosmall,itisalsoverydifficulttomeasure.

Figure1:genericinvertingopampcircuit.
Therearetwomainruleswhichgovernthebehaviorofopamps:theopampcurrentrule(OACR)and
theopampvoltagerule(OAVR).TheOACRsaysthatthecurrentintoeachopampinputterminalis
approximatelyzero(
1
=
2
),andtheOAVRsaysthatthevoltagedifferencebetweenthetwoopamp
inputterminalsisapproximatelyzero(
+

= 0).Usingtheserulesonthecaseoftheinverting
amplifierandassumingthat

1
(
1
+
2
)resultsinthefollowingexpression:

1 +

1

1
+
2

1 +

where

istheopenloopgain,

isthevoltagegain,

isthecharacteristicoutputimpedanceofthe
bareopamp,

isthequantitywearelookingfor(theoutputimpedance),and
1
and
2
areas
definedaboveinFigure1.Thisexpressioncanbefoundinmanytextbooksand generallyacceptedas
theequationfortheoutputimpedanceofaninvertingopamp.However,thisrelationshipcantbeused
tomeasure

since

and

arebothunknownsanddifferentforeachopamp.
Themethodchosenfordeterminingtheoutputimpedanceofanopampinvolvedtakingadvantage
ofthefactthatrealopampsarenotideal(seeFig.2).Theideaisthatbecausetheopampisnonideal
andhasanoutputimpedance,Kirchhoffsvoltagelawrequiresthatiftheloadresistanceischanged,the
voltagedropacross

mustalsochange,therebychangingtheoutputvoltage.Thenbymeasuringthe
outputvoltagesformultiplevaluesof

,theoutputimpedancecanbedetermined.

Figure2:theoreticalrepresentationofarealopampwithidealoutputvoltage

andreal
outputvoltage

Procedure:
Thefirstpartoftheprojectinvolvedthedesignandconstructionofanopampcircuitfromwhichthe
outputimpedanceoftheopampcouldthenbedetermined.Thecircuit(showninFig.3)usedtwoop
amps:thefirstonewithagainofapproximately
1
1000
andthesecondhavingagainofabout1000.The
purposeofthefirstopampwasmerelytodecreasetheinputvoltageforthesecondopamptokeep
theoutputofthesecondopampwithinits12vrange.A100resistorinserieswitha1Mvariable
resistorwasusedfortheloadonthesecondopamp.Theinputvoltageforthefirstopampwassetto
5VDCandmeasurementsweremadeoftheloadresistanceandtheoutputvoltagefromthesecondop
ampacrosstherangeofthe1Mvariableresistor.Thisinitialtestingcircuitwas alsousedwithagainof
100,20,and10.However,thevariationsofthesmallergainopampsoutputvoltageswerenearor
beyondthelimitofthedigitalmultimeterbeingused,soonlytheresultsfromthe100and1000gain
configurationswerekept.
Theequationsfortheinitialtestingcircuitweremanipulatedwiththegoalofmaking

theslope
oftheequationforaline.Thisresultedintheequation

wherethevariablesareasinFig.2with

astheidealoutputvoltageand

astherealoutput
voltage.Usingthisequationasaguide,aplotwasmadeoftheoutputvoltageversusnegativeonetimes
theoutputvoltage/loadresistanceforthetwogains.Thenbyusingtheleastsquaresmethod,the
equationforatrendlinewasobtainedalongwiththevalueoftheoutputimpedance.
Whileusingtheinitialtestingcircuit(Fig.3),itwasnoticedthatthevirtualgroundofthesecondop
ampvarieddependingonthesetupofthecircuitandwasinfactnot0V.Dr.Braunsteinsuggestedtrying
tousethisfacttofindanewmethodtomeasure

.Byconsideringtherealopamptobea
combinationofanidealopampwithabuiltinresistor

asdescribedpreviouslyandsolvingthe
resultingequationsgave

+(

1
)

where

isthevoltageoftheinvertinginputoftheopamp.Tomakeuseofthisequation,anewcircuit
wasbuilt(Fig.4).Unlikethecircuitforthepreviousattempt,theinputvoltagewasa44.7kHzsinewave
fromafunctiongeneratorattenuatedbyavoltagedividerandonlyoneopampwasused.Also,this
timetheloadresistancewaskeptataconstant366kandthegainoftheopampcircuitwas2.Forthis
circuit,thefrequencyoftheinputsignal,invertinginputvoltage(

),outputvoltage(

),input
voltage(

intheequationand

inthediagram),andtheloadresistance(

)weremeasured.The
variableforthesemeasurementswastheinputvoltage.
Basedonthelackofclearresultsfromthepreviousattemptsandthehighnoisetosignalratio
involved,Dr.Braunsteinsuggestedusingalockinamplifier.Dr.Braunsteinhadpreviouslydesignedand
constructedacircuitwithadataanalysisLabVIEWprogramwhichheprovidedtoreducesetuptime.The
diagramofthecircuitisFig.5andthelayoutoftheLabVIEWprogramcanbefoundinfigures68.The
circuitusedtwoopamps:oneusedasthecontrolopamp(ofwhichtheoutputimpedancewastobe
measured),andanothertoproduceasinewaveofcontrolledamplitudeandDCoffsettouseasinput
forthecontrolopamp.Thecircuitalsousedaresistornetworkfortheloadofthecontrolopampwhich
wasusedtocalibratetheoutputsignalfromthelockinamplifier.TheinputdatafortheLabVIEW
programwastheoutputsignalfromthelockinamplifierfortwodifferentconfigurations:one
configurationformeasuringtheoutputvoltageofthecontrolopamp(

),andtheotherfor
measuringthecalibrationvoltagefromtheresistornetwork(

).Theseconfigurationshadtobedone
separatelyforeachofthedifferentgains.TheLabVIEWprogramalsorequiredthevaluesofthe
calibrationnetworkresistorsandtheiruncertaintiesasinput.TheoutputfromtheLabVIEWprogram
wasthevalueoftheoutputimpedanceofthecontrolopampandtheuncertaintyoftheoutput
impedance.Theprogramwasrunformultiplecases,witheachcasehavingadifferentgainforthe
controlopampcircuit.Thegainofthecontrolopampcircuitwasadjustedbychangingoutthe
feedbackresistor(

).
Foreachcase,morethan100datapointswerecollectedintheLabVIEWprogramforboththe
opampsignalandthecalibrationsignal.Uponcollectingseveralsetsofdatawiththismethod,Dr.
Braunsteinnoticedthatbycollecting100datapointstheerrorofthemeasurementwasincreaseddue
totemperaturedrift.Hesuggestedtakingonly10datapointspersetalongwithadjustingtheoffset
voltagetozerotheoutputbeforeeachrun.Thismethodwasadoptedandeachcasewasredone.

Figure3:Circuitdiagramforthefirstattempt:

1
=100,
2
=100k,
3
=100,

=1M(variable),

=5VDC.
Figure4:circuitforsecondattempt

1
=22k,
2
=22,
3
=10,
1
and
2
=1M(variable),

=.5VAC,

=100Hz.

=100,

=218

Figure5:diagramoffinalmeasurementcircuit.
Resistorvalues:R1=100,Ra=1M,Rb=1k

Figure6:LabVIEWblockdiagram

Figure7:LabVIEWblockdiagramalternatecases

Figure8:LabVIEWfrontpanel
Results:

Figure9:plotsfromthefirstattempt(DCinput)

=2.10.1withagainof994and

=0.740.07withagainof99.9
y=2.1356x+4.5286
R=0.9553
4.51
4.52
4.53
4.54
4.55
4.56
4.57
4.58
0.021 0.018 0.015 0.012 0.009 0.006 0.003 0
V
o
u
t
Vout/RL
OutputImpedanceofanInvertingOperationalAmplifier
withaGainof994
y=0.7514x+0.4546
R=0.9526
0.4542
0.4545
0.4548
0.4551
0.4554
0.4557
0.456
0.4563
0.4566
0.0021 0.0018 0.0015 0.0012 0.0009 0.0006 0.0003 0
V
o
u
t
Vout/RL
OutputImpedanceofanInvertingOperationalAmplifier
withaGainof99.9
Theuncertaintiesfortheresultsofthefirstattemptarenottrueuncertaintiesbutmerelythe
uncertaintybasedontheR
2
value.Thisisbecauseonlyonemeasurementwasrecordedateachpoint.
Theresultsfromthesecondattemptwerenotkeptsincetheypredictedanegativevaluefor

on
theorderof10
5
.

Figure10:plotfromthethirdattempt,inputsignalfrequency=13.10.2Hz

Theuncertaintiesinthisplotwerefoundusingthestandardmethodforpropagationofuncertainty
andtheequationsforthegainandoutputimpedanceofanopamp.
y=3E05x+0.0067
R=0.9992
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Z
o
u
t
(

)
Gain
OutputImpedanceofanInvertingOperationalAmplifier
vs.Gain
Analysis:
Measuringtheoutputimpedanceofaninvertingopampwasmoredifficultthanoriginally
anticipated.Thefirsttwoattemptstogetavalueforoutputimpedanceresultedinvaluesthatweretoo
largeinmagnitudeandofthewrongsigncomparedtothetheoreticalvalue,howeverthefirstattempt
wasmuchclosertotheexpectedvalue.Theuseofthelockinamplifiergreatlyimprovedtheaccuracyof
themeasurementsandtheuseoftheLabVIEWdatacollectionandanalysisprogrammademaking
measurementsquickandpainlessaftertheoffsetvoltageontheopampwasadjusted.Also,thelow
uncertaintiesintheresultsfromthethirdattemptarereassuringintheaccuracyofthemeasurements.
Theproblemwiththesecondattemptislikelytobeaninvalidassumptionorerrorinthederivation
oftheequationusedtocalculatethevaluefortheoutputimpedance.Theresultsfromthiscaseare
likelynotmeaningfulforthepurposeofthisexperiment.However,theresultsfromthefirstcasearea
bitmoreconcerning,sincethemethodusedtodeterminetheoutputimpedanceinthiscasewasvery
similartothemethodusedinthethirdcase.Iftheequationusedtofindthevalueofoutputimpedance
issolvedfor

,theresultingequationis

1).
Notethattheonlytimethat

isnegativeiswhentheidealoutputvoltage(

)islessthanthereal
outputvoltage(

),andthisiswhattheplotsshow.Theidealoutputvoltageisthelastterminthe
equationforthetrendline,andtakingalookatthevalueforeachofthefirstattemptplotsshowsthat
themeasuredvoltageswerehigherthantheideal.Thisdoesnothelpresolvetheproblem,butitdoes
appeartheequationisworking.Unfortunately,theinputvoltagetothesecondopampcircuitofthe
firstattemptwasnotrecorded,sotheactualidealoutputvoltagecannotbecalculatedtoverifythe
valuesfromtheplots.Itwouldbeworthrepeatingtheexperimenttoseeiftheactualidealoutput
voltageandthevaluefromtheplotsagree.
Anothermethodofverifyingtheresultswouldbetocheckthecharacteristicoutputimpedanceofthe
bareopamparecomparethistothevaluearrivedatbyusingtheequation

ThisequationwasusedonthedataforthethirdattemptandtheresultingplotcanisFig.11.

Figure11:bare(nofeedback)opampcharacteristicoutputimpedance
Overall,thegoaloftheexperiment,tomeasuretheoutputimpedanceofaninvertingopamp,was
accomplished.However,therearestillmanyvariables,suchasthefrequencyoftheinputsignal,whose
connectiontotheoutputimpedancewasnotinvestigated.Muchexperimentationremainstobedone
onthistopic.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
B
a
r
e

O
p

A
m
p

I
m
p
e
d
a
n
c
e

)
Gain
CharacteristicOutputImpedanceofanInverting
OperationalAmplifiervs.GainAssuminganOpenLoop
Gainof210^5
References
Floyd, Thomas L. "Ch. 12: Operational Amplifiers." Electronic Devices. 5th ed.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. N. pag. Print.
Simpson, Robert E. Introductory Electronics for Scientists and Engineers. 2nd
ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1987. Print.
Tocci, Ronald J. "Ch. 5: The Operational Amplifier." Fundamentals of Pulse and
Digital Circuits. 3rd ed. Columbus, OH: Merrill, 1983. N. pag. Print.