CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO
OPERATIONAL
AMPLIFIERS
 Objectives
Describe basic op-amp characteristics.
Discuss op-amp modes and
parameters.
Explain negative feedback.
Analyze inverting, non-inverting,
voltage follower and inverting op-amp
configurations.
BASIC OP-AMP
 Symbol and Terminals

Figure 1a: Symbol Figure 1b: Symbol with dc supply

connections
A standard operational amplifier (op-amp) has;
Vout is the output voltage,
V+ is the non-inverting input voltage,
V- is the inverting input voltage.

Typical op-amp operates with 2 dc supply voltages,

+ve supply.
ve supply.

741 general purpose op-amp made by
Fairchild Semiconductor
An op amp is an active
circuit element designed
to perform mathematical
Operations of addition,
subtraction,
multiplication, division,
differentiation, and
integration.
 Operational Amplifiers
The op amp is built using VLSI techniques. The circuit
diagram of an LM 741 from National Semiconductor is
shown below. V+

Vin(-)

Vo
Taken from National
Vin(+) Semiconductor
data sheet as shown on the web.

Internal circuitry of LM741. V-

 The Ideal Op-Amp
_

Vin
AvVin
Zin=

Zout=0
The ideal op-amp has; Av=

Infinite voltage gain. +

Infinite bandwidth.
Figure 2a: Ideal op-amp
Infinite input impedance representation
zero output impedance.
The input voltage, Vin appears between the two input
terminal.
The output voltage is AvVin as indicated by the internal
voltage source symbol.
 The Practical Op-Amp
Characteristic of a practical op-amp are;
Very high voltage gain.
Very high input impedance.
Very low output impedance.
Wide bandwidth.
_

Zin

Vin
AvVin

Zout

Figure 2b: Practical op-amp

representation
OP-AMP INPUT MODES AND
PARAMETERS
 Input Signal Modes
A) Single-Ended differential mode
Operation mode;
One input is grounded.
The signal voltage is applied only to the other input.
When the signal voltage is applied to the inverting input,
an inverted amplified signal voltage appears at the
output. (figure 3a)
Vin .

Vout

+
.

Figure 3a
 When the signal voltage is applied to the noninverting
input with the inverting input grounded,
a noninverted amplified signal voltage appears at the
output. (figure 3b)

Vout
Vin
+
.

Figure 3b
B) Double-ended differential mode
Operation mode;
Two opposite-polarity (out-of-phase) signals are
applied to the inputs
This type of operation is also referred to as double-ended.
The amplified difference between the two inputs appears
on the output.

Vin1 .
_

Vout
Vin2
+
.

Figure 3c
C) Common-Mode Input
Operation mode
Two signal voltages of the same phase, frequency and
amplitude are applied to the two inputs. (figure 3d)
When equal input signals are applied to both inputs, they
cancel, resulting in a zero output voltage.
This action is called common-mode rejection.
Means that this unwanted signal will not appear on the
output and distort the desired signal.
Vin .

Vout
Vin
+
.

Figure 3d
Common-Mode Rejection Ratio
Desired signals can appear on only
one input or
with opposite polarities on both input lines.
These desired signals are
amplified and appear on the output.
Unwanted signals (noise) appearing with the same polarity
on both input lines are
essentially cancelled by the op-amp and do not appear
on the output.
The measure of an amplifiers ability to reject common-
mode signal is called
CMRR (common-mode rejection ratio).
Ideally, op-amp provides
a very high gain for desired signal (single-ended or
differential)
zero gain for common-mode signal.
 The higher the open-loop gain with respect to the
common-mode gain,
the better the performance of the op-amp in terms of
rejection of common-mode signals.
Therefore; A
CMRR ol

Acm
where Aol = open-loop voltage gain
Acm = common-mode gain
The higher the CMRR, the better.
A very high value of CMRR means that
the open-loop gain, Aol is high and
the common-mode gain, Acm is low.
The CMRR expressed in decibels (dB) is
Aol
CMRR 20log
cm
A
 Open-Loop Voltage Gain
Open-loop voltage gain, Aol of an op-amp
is the internal voltage gain of the device
represents the ration of output voltage to input
voltage when there are no external
components.
The open-loop voltage gain is set entirely by the
internal design.
Open-loop voltage gain can range up to
200,000 and is not a well-controlled parameter.
Data sheet often refer to the open-loop voltage
gain as
the large-signal voltage gain.
 Example 1
A certain op-amp has an open-loop voltage gain of 100,000
and a common-mode gain of 0.2.
Determine the CMRR and express it in decibels.

Answer: a) 500,000 b) 114dB

 Common-Mode Input
Voltage Range
All op-amp have limitation on the range of voltages over
which they will operate.
The common-mode input voltage range is
the range of input voltages which when applied to both
inputs will cause clipping or other output distortion.
Many op-amp have common-mode input ranges of
10V with dc supply voltages of 15V.
 Input Bias Current
I1

V1 _

I2 Vout
+
V2

Figure 4a: Input bias current is the average of the two op-amp input currents.

The input bias current is

the dc current required by the inputs of the amplifier
to properly operate the first stage.
By definition, the input bias current is
the average of both input currents and is calculated
as; I1 I 2
I BIAS
2
 Input Impedance
Two basic ways of specifying the input impedance of an
op-amp are
Differential.
Common-mode.
Differential input impedance is
the total resistance between the inverting and the
noninverting input.
Measured by determining the change in bias current
for a given change in differential input voltage.
_

ZIN(d) .

+
Figure 4b: Differential input impedance
 Common-mode input impedance is
the resistance between each input and ground.
Measured by determining the change in bias current
for a given change in common-mode input voltage.

ZIN(cm)
.

Figure 4c: Common-mode impedance

 Output Impedance
The output impedance is
the resistance viewed from the output terminal of the
op-amp as indicated in figure 4d

Zout
.

Figure 4d: Op-amp output impedance

 Slew Rate
What is slew rate?
The maximum rate of change of the output voltage in
response to a step input voltage.
Is dependent upon the high-frequency response of the
amplifier stages within the op-amp.
Is measured with an op-amp connected as shown in
figure 4e

_
Vout

+
Vin

Figure 4e: Test circuit

 A pulse is applied to the input,
the output voltage is
measured as indicated in Vin
figure 4f. 0

The width of the input pulse

must be sufficient
to allow the output to slew +Vmax
from its lower limit to its
upper limit.
A certain time interval t, is Vout
required for the output voltage
to go from its lower limit -Vmax

Vmax to its upper limit t

+Vmax, once the input step
is applied.
Figure 4f: Step input voltage and
the resulting output voltage
 The slew rate is expressed as
Vout
t
Where Vout = +Vmax-(-Vmax).
The unit is volts per microsecond (V/s).
 Example 2
The output voltage of a certain op-amp appears as shown
in figure below in response to a step input.
Determine the slew rate.
Vout(V)

10

0
t

-9
-10

2s
12s

Answer: 1.8 V/us

OP-AMPS WITH NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

Negative feedback is a
process whereby a portion of
the output voltage returned to
the input with a phase angle
opposed the input signal
Advantages:
Higher input impedance
More stable gain
Improved frequency response
Lower output impedance
More linear operation
Closed-Loop Voltage Gain, Acl
The closed-loop voltage gain is
the voltage gain of an op-amp with external
feedback.
The amplifier configuration consists of
the op-amp
an external negative feedback circuit that
connects the output to the inverting input.
The closed-loop voltage gain is determined by
the external component values and can be
precisely controlled by them.
 Noninverting Amplifier
+
Vout
_
Figure 5: Noninverting Vin Rf
amplifier . Feedback
network
Vf
Ri

Noninverting amplifier is
an op-amp connected in a closed-loop with a controlled
amount of voltage gain is shown in figure 5.
The input signal is applied to
the noninverting (+) input.
The output is applied back to
the inverting (-) input through the feedback circuit
(closed loop) formed by the input resistor Ri and the
feedback resistor Rf.
 This creates negative feedback as follows.
Resistor Ri and Rf form a voltage divider circuit, which
reduces Vout and connects the reduced voltage Vf to the
inverting input.

The feedback voltage is expressed as V Ri V
f R R out
i f

The closed-loop gain of the noninverting (NI) amplifier is

Vout 1 Ri R f
Acl ( NI )
Vin B Ri
Where Ri
B
Ri R f
Therefore; Rf
Acl ( NI ) 1
Ri
 Example 3
Determine the gain of the amplifier in figure below. The
open-loop voltage gain of the op-amp is 100,000.

Vin +
Vout
_
Rf
100k

Ri
4.7k

Answer: 22.3
 Voltage-Follower
_

Vout Figure 6: Op-amp

+ voltage-follower
Vin

The voltage-follower configuration is a special case of the

noninverting amplifier
where all the output voltage is fed back to the inverting
(-) input by a straight connection. (figure 6)
The straight feedback connection has a voltage gain of 1
(no gain).
The closed-loop voltage gain of a noninverting amplifier is
1/B.
 Since B=1, for a voltage-follower,
the closed-loop voltage gain of the voltage follower is

Acl(VF)=1

The most important features of the voltage-follower

configuration are
very high input impedance
very low output impedance.
These features make it a nearly ideal buffer amplifier for
the
interfacing high-impedance sources
low-impedance loads.
 Inverting Amplifier
Rf

Ri
_
Vout
Vin Aol
Figure 7: Inverting
+
Amplifier

Inverting amplifier
An op-amp connected with a controlled amount of
voltage gain. (figure 7)
The input signal is applied through a series input resistor
Ri to the inverting (-) input.
The output is fed back through Rf to the same input.
The noninverting (+) input is grounded.
 For inverting amplifier
Vout Rf

Vin Ri

The closed-loop voltage gain is the ratio of the

feedback resistance (Rf) to the input resistance (Ri).
Rf
Acl ( I )
Ri
This gain is independent of the op-amps internal open-
loop gain.
Thus, the negative feedback stabilizes the voltage gain.
The negative sign indicates inversion. Therefore;
Rf
Acl ( I )
Ri
 Example 4
Given the op-amp configuration in figure below, determine
the value of Rf required to produce a closed-loop voltage
gain of -100.

Rf

Ri
_
2.2k Vout
Vin
Aol
+

Answer: 220 k
 Op-amp Impedances

Noninverting amplifier: Where Zin is the open-loop

Zin(NI) 1 Aol B Zin input impedance (internal) of
Zout the op-amp (without feedback
Zout (NI) connection)
1 Aol B
Inverting amplifier:
Z in (I) Ri Generally, assumed to be Ri
Z out
Z out (I) Generally, assumed to be 0
1 Aol B
Note that the output impedance has the same form for both amplifiers.
 Example 5
(a) Determine the input and output impedances of the amplifier in Figure below.
The op-amp datasheet gives Zin = 2M, Zout = 75, and Aol = 200,000.
(b) Find the closed-loop voltage gain.

Answer: (a) Zin(NI)=17.5G, Zout(NI)=8.6m, (b) Acl(NI) = 23.0

 Example 6
Find the values of the input and output impedances in Figure below. Also,
determine the closed-loop voltage gain. The op-amp has the following
parameters: Aol = 50,000; Zin = 4M; and Zout = 50

Answer: Zin(I)=1.0k, Zout(I)=980m, Acl(I)=-100

~End of Chapter 1~