instructables

A Precision Rectification Experiment

by Pansy2323

I have recently done an experiment on a precision
rectification circuit and got some rough conclusions.
Considering that the precision rectifier circuit is a
common circuit, the results of this experiment can
provide some reference information.
amplifier is AD8048, the main parameters are: large
signal bandwidth of 160MHz, slew rate of 1000V / us.
The diode is an SD101, Schottky diode with a reverse
recovery time of 1ns. All resistor values are
determined by reference to the AD8048 data sheet.

The experimental circuit is as follows. The operational

Step 1:

The first step of the experiment: disconnect D2 in the
above circuit, short circuit D1, and detect the large
signal frequency response of the operational amplifier
itself. The input signal peak is kept at around 1V, the
frequency is changed from 1MHz to 100MHz, the
input and output amplitudes are measured with an
oscilloscope, and the voltage gain is calculated. The
results are as follows:
The gain changes are as follows: 1M-1.02, 10M-1.02,
35M-1.06, 50M-1.06, 70M-1.04, 100M-0.79.
It can be seen that the large signal closed-loop 3 dB
cutoff frequency of this op amp is about a little more
than 100 MHz. This result is basically in line with the
large signal frequency response curve given in the
AD8048 manual.

In the frequency range of 1M to 100M, the waveform

has no observable significant distortion.

A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 1

Step 2:
In the second step of the experiment, two diodes SD1
01A were added. The input signal amplitude remains
at around 1V peak while measuring the input and
output. After observing the output waveform, the
oscilloscope's measurement function is also used to
measure the effective value of the input signal and
the period average of the output signal, and calculate
their ratio. The results are as follows (data is
frequency, output mean mV, input rms mV, and their
ratio: output average / input rms):
100kHz, 306, 673, 0.45
1MHz, 305, 686, 0.44
5MHz, 301, 679, 0.44
10MHz, 285, 682, 0.42
20MHz, 253, 694, 0.36
30MHz, 221, 692, 0.32
50MHz, 159, 690, 0.23
80MHz, 123, 702, 0.18
A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 2
100MHz, 80, 710, 0.11
It can be seen that the circuit can achieve good
rectification at low frequencies, but as the frequency
increases, the rectification accuracy gradually
decreases. If the output is based on 100 kHz, the
output has dropped by 3 dB at approximately 30
MHz.
The large-signal unity gain bandwidth of the AD8048
op amp is 160MHz. The noise gain of this circuit is 2,
so the closed-loop bandwidth is about 80MHz
(described earlier, the actual experimental result is
slightly larger than 100MHz). The average output of
the rectified output drops by 3 dB, which is
approximately 30 MHz, less than one-third of the
closed-loop bandwidth of the circuit under test. In
other words, if we want to make a precision rectifier
circuit with a flatness of less than 3dB, the closed-
loop bandwidth of the circuit should be at least three
times higher than the highest frequency of the signal.
Below is the test waveform. The yellow waveform is
the waveform of the input terminal vi, and the blue
waveform is the waveform of the output terminal vo.
Step 3:

As the frequency increases, the signal period becomes smaller and smaller, and the gap accounts for an
increasing proportion.

Step 4:

Observing the output of the op amp at this time (note that it is not vo) waveform, it can be found that the output
waveform of the op amp has severe distortion before and after the output zero crossing. Below are the waveforms
at the output of the op amp at 1MHz and 10MHz.

A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 3

Step 5:
The previous waveform can be compared to the
crossover distortion in the push-pull output circuit. An
intuitive explanation is given below:
When the output voltage is high, the diode is fully
turned on, at which point it has a substantially fixed
tube voltage drop, and the output of the op amp is
always one diode higher than the output voltage. At
this point, the op amp works in a linear amplification
state, so the output waveform is a good header wave.
At the moment the output signal crosses zero, one of
the two diodes begins to pass from the conduction to
the cutoff, while the other transitions from the off to
the on. During this transition, the impedance of the
diode is extremely large and can be approximated as
an open circuit, so the op amp at this time does not
work in a linear state, but close to the open loop.
Under the input voltage, the op amp will change the
output voltage at the maximum possible rate to bring
the diode into conduction. However, the slew rate of
the op amp is limited, and it is impossible to raise the
output voltage to make the diode turn on in an instant.
A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 4
In addition, the diode has a transition time from on to
off or from off to on. So there is a gap in the output
voltage. From the waveform of the output of the op
amp above, it can be seen how the operation of the
zero-crossing of the output is "struggling" in an
attempt to change the output voltage. Some
materials, including textbooks, say that due to the
deep negative feedback of the op amp, the
nonlinearity of the diode is reduced to the original
1/AF. However, in fact, near the zero crossing of the
output signal, since the op amp is close to the open
loop, all the formulas for the negative feedback of the
op amp are invalid, and the nonlinearity of the diode
cannot be analyzed by the negative feedback
principle.
If the signal frequency is further increased, not only is
the slew rate problem, but the frequency response of
the op amp itself is also degraded, so the output
waveform becomes quite bad. The figure below
shows the output waveform at a signal frequency of
50MHz.
Step 6:
The previous experiment was based on the op amp
AD8048 and diode SD101. For comparison, I did an
experiment to replace the device.
The results are as follows:
1. Replace the op amp with AD8047. The op amp's
large signal bandwidth (130MHz) is slightly lower
than the AD8048 (160MHz), the slew rate is also
lower (750V/us, 8048 is 1000V/us), and the open-
loop gain is about 1300, which is also lower than the
30M, 152, 715, 0.21
It can be seen that its 3dB attenuation is less than a
little at 20MHz. The closed-loop bandwidth of this
circuit is about 65MHz, so the output average drop of
3dB is also less than one-third of the closed-loop
bandwidth of the circuit.
Step 7:
The important difference between it and the circuit
using two diodes (hereinafter referred to as the
double-tube circuit) is that in the double-tube circuit,
the operational amplifier is only in an approximately
open-loop state near the zero crossing of the signal,
and this circuit (hereinafter referred to as a single-
tube circuit) The operation in the middle is in a
completely open loop state for half of the signal
period. So its nonlinearity is definitely much more
serious than the double-tube circuit.
A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 5
8048's 2400. .
The experimental results (frequency, output average,
input rms, and the ratio of the two) are as follows:
1M, 320, 711, 0.45
10M, 280, 722, 0.39
20M, 210, 712, 0.29
2. Replace SD101 with 2AP9, 1N4148, etc., but the
final results are similar, there is no substantial
difference, so I will not repeat them here.
There is also a circuit that opens the D2 in the circuit
as shown below.
Below is the output waveform of this circuit:
100kHz, similar to a dual-tube circuit, also has a gap
when the diode is turned on. There should be some
bumps in the original place. The input signal is
directly transmitted through two 200 ohm resistors. It
can be avoided by slightly improving the circuit. It has
nothing to do with the problems we will discuss
below. It is 1MHz.
Step 8:
This waveform is clearly different from the dual tube
circuit. The dual-tube circuit has a delay of about 40
ns at this frequency, and the delay of this single-tube
circuit is 80 ns, and there is ringing. The reason is
that the op amp is completely open-loop before the
diode is turned on, and its output is close to the
negative supply voltage, so some of its internal
transistors must be in deep saturation or deep-off
state. When the input crosses zero, the transistors
that are in the "deep sleep" state are first "wake up",
and then the output voltage is raised to the diode at
A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 6
the slew rate.
At lower frequencies, the rate of rise of the input
signal is not high, so the effects of these processes
are not shown (as is the case with 100k above), and
after the frequency is high, the signal rate at the input
is large, thus "waking up" the transistor. The
excitation voltage or current will increase, which
causes ringing.
Step 9:

5MHz. There is basically no rectification at this frequency.

Step 10: Conclusion

Based on the above experiments, the following precision rectification of the high frequency signal
conclusions can be drawn: requires a very high GBW op amp.

This is also a requirement for an output flatness of 3

1. When the frequency is very low, the nonlinearity of dB. If higher output flatness is required in the input
the diode is eliminated by the negative feedback of signal band, the frequency response of the op amp
the op amp depth, and any circuit can get a good will be higher.
rectification effect.
The above results were obtained only under the
2. if you want to achieve higher frequency precision specific conditions of this experiment, and the slew
rectification, single-tube circuit is not acceptable. rate of the op amp was not considered, and the slew
rate is obviously a very important factor here.
3. even with dual-tube circuits, the slew rate and Therefore, whether this relationship is applicable
bandwidth of the op amp will seriously affect the under other conditions, the author does not dare to
rectification accuracy at higher frequencies. This judge. How to consider the slew rate is also the next
experiment yields an empirical relationship under question to be discussed.
certain conditions: if the flatness of the output is
required to be 3 dB, the closed-loop bandwidth of the However, in the precision rectification circuit, the
circuit (not the GBW of the op amp) is at least three bandwidth of the op amp should be much larger than
times greater than the highest signal frequency. Since the highest frequency of the signal.
the closed-loop bandwidth of the circuit is always less
than or equal to the GBW of the op amp, the

A Precision Rectification Experiment: Page 7

Step 11:

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