The operation amplifier:

An operational amplifier is a direct coupled high gain amplifier consisting of one or more
differential (OPAMP) amplifiers and followed by a level translator and an output stage. An
operational amplifier is available as a single integrated circuit package.
The block diagram of OPAMP is shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 1
The input stage is a dual input balanced output differential amplifier. This stage provides most of
the voltage gain of the amplifier and also establishes the input resistance of the OPAMP. The
intermediate stage of OPAMP is another differential amplifier which is driven by the output of
the first stage. This is usually dual input unbalanced output.
Because direct coupling is used, the dc voltage level at the output of intermediate stage is well
above ground potential. Therefore level shifting circuit is used to shift the dc level at the output
downward to zero with respect to ground. The output stage is generally a push pull
complementary amplifier. The output stage increases the output voltage swing and raises the
current supplying capability of the OPAMP. It also provides low output resistance.
Level Translator:
Because of the direct coupling the dc level at the emitter
rises from stages to stage. This increase in dc level tends
to shift the operating point of the succeeding stages and
therefore limits the output voltage swing and may even
distort the output signal.
To shift the output dc level to zero, level translator
circuits are used. An emitter follower with voltage
divider is the simplest form of level translator as shown
in fig. 2.
Thus a dc voltage at the base of Q produces 0V dc at the
output. It is decided by R1 and R2. Instead of voltage
divider emitter follower either with diode current bias or
current mirror bias as shown in fig. 3 may be used to get
better results.

Fig. 2

In this case, level shifter, which is common collector amplifier, shifts the level by 0.7V.
If this shift is not sufficient, the output may be taken at the junction of two resistors in
the emitter leg.

Fig. 3
Fig. 4, shows a complete OPAMP circuit having input different amplifiers with balanced output,
intermediate stage with unbalanced output, level shifter and an output amplifier.

Fig.4

Practical Operational Amplifier:

The symbolic diagram of an OPAMP is shown in fig. 1.

741c is most commonly used OPAMP available in IC

package. It is an 8-pin DIP chip.

Parameters of OPAMP:

fig.1

The various important parameters of OPAMP are follows:

1. Input Offset Voltage:
Input offset voltage is defined as the voltage that must be applied between the two
input terminals of an OPAMP to null or zero the output fig. 2, shows that two dc
voltages are applied to input terminals to make the output zero.
Vio = Vdc1 Vdc2
Vdc1 and Vdc2 are dc voltages and RS represents the source resistance. Vio is the
difference of Vdc1 and Vdc2. It may be positive or negative. For a 741C OPAMP the
maximum value of Vio is 6mV. It means a voltage 6 mV is required to one of the
input to reduce the output offset voltage to zero. The smaller the input offset voltage
the better the differential amplifier, because its transistors are more closely matched.

2. Input offset Current:

fig.2

The input offset current Iio is the difference between the currents into inverting and non-inverting
terminals of a balanced amplifier.
Iio = | IB1 IB2 |

The Iio for the 741C is 200nA maximum. As the matching between two input terminals is
improved, the difference between IB1 and IB2 becomes smaller, i.e. the Iio value decreases
further.For a precision OPAMP 741C, Iio is 6 nA
3. Input Bias Current:
The input bias current IB is the average of the current entering the input terminals of a balanced
amplifier i.e.
IB = (IB1 + IB2 ) / 2
For 741C IB(max) = 700 nA and for precision 741C IB = 7 nA
4. Differential Input Resistance: (Ri)
Ri is the equivalent resistance that can be measured at either the inverting or non-inverting input
terminal with the other terminal grounded. For the 741C the input resistance is relatively high 2
M. For some OPAMP it may be up to 1000 G ohm.
5. Input Capacitance: (Ci)
Ci is the equivalent capacitance that can be measured at either the inverting and non-inverting
terminal with the other terminal connected to ground. A typical value of Ci is 1.4 pf for the 741C.
6. Offset Voltage Adjustment Range:
741 OPAMP have offset voltage null capability. Pins 1 and 5 are marked offset null for this
purpose. It can be done by connecting 10 K ohm pot between 1 and 5 as shown in fig. 3.

By varying the potentiometer, output offset

voltage (with inputs grounded) can be reduced to
zero volts. Thus the offset voltage adjustment
range is the range through which the input offset
voltage can be adjusted by varying 10 K pot. For
the 741C the offset voltage adjustment range is
15 mV.
Fig.3
7. Input Voltage Range :
Input voltage range is the range of a common mode input signal for which a differential amplifier
remains linear. It is used to determine the degree of matching between the inverting and noninverting input terminals. For the 741C, the range of the input common mode voltage is 13V

maximum. This means that the common mode voltage applied at both input terminals can be as
high as +13V or as low as 13V.
8. Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR).
CMRR is defined as the ratio of the differential voltage gain Ad to the common mode voltage
gain ACM
CMRR = Ad / ACM.
For the 741C, CMRR is 90 dB typically. The higher the value of CMRR the better is the
matching between two input terminals and the smaller is the output common mode voltage.
9. Supply voltage Rejection Ratio: (SVRR)
SVRR is the ratio of the change in the input offset voltage to the corresponding change in power
supply voltages. This is expressed in m V / V or in decibels, SVRR can be defined as
SVRR = D Vio / D V
Where D V is the change in the input supply voltage and D Vio is the corresponding change in
the offset voltage.
For the 741C, SVRR = 150 V / V.
For 741C, SVRR is measured for both supply magnitudes increasing or decreasing
simultaneously, with R3 10K. For same OPAMPS, SVRR is separately specified as positive
SVRR and negative SVRR.
10. Large Signal Voltage Gain:
Since the OPAMP amplifies difference voltage between two input terminals, the voltage gain of
the amplifier is defined as

Because output signal amplitude is much larger than the input signal the voltage gain is
commonly called large signal voltage gain. For 741C is voltage gain is 200,000 typically.
11. Output voltage Swing:
The ac output compliance PP is the maximum unclipped peak to peak output voltage that an
OPAMP can produce. Since the quiescent output is ideally zero, the ac output voltage can swing

positive or negative. This also indicates the values of positive and negative saturation voltages of
the OPAMP. The output voltage never exceeds these limits for a given supply voltages +VCC and
VEE. For a 741C it is 13 V.
12. Output Resistance: (RO)
RO is the equivalent resistance that can be measured between the output terminal of the OPAMP
and the ground. It is 75 ohm for the 741C OPAMP.
13. Output Short circuit Current:
In some applications, an OPAMP may drive a load resistance that is approximately zero. Even its
output impedance is 75 ohm but cannot supply large currents. Since OPAMP is low power
device so its output current is limited. The 741C can supply a maximum short circuit output
current of only 25mA.
14. Supply Current:
IS is the current drawn by the OPAMP from the supply. For the 741C OPAMP the supply current
is 2.8 m A.
15. Power Consumption:
Power consumption is the amount of quiescent power (vin= 0V) that must be consumed by the
OPAMP in order to operate properly. The amount of power consumed by the 741C is 85 m W.
16. Gain Bandwidth Product:
The gain bandwidth product is the bandwidth of the OPAMP
when the open loop voltage gain is reduced to 1. From open
loop gain vs frequency graph At 1 MHz shown in. fig. 6, It
can be found 1 MHz for the 741C OPAMP frequency the
gain reduces to 1. The mid band voltage gain is 100, 000 and
cut off frequency is 10Hz.

17. Slew Rate:

Fig. 6

Slew rate is defined as the maximum rate of change of output voltage per unit of time under large
signal conditions and is expressed in volts / m secs.

To understand this, consider a charging current of a capacitor shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 7
If 'i' is more, capacitor charges quickly. If 'i' is limited to Imax, then rate of change is also limited.
Slew rate indicates how rapidly the output of an OPAMP can change in response to changes in
the input frequency with input amplitude constant. The slew rate changes with change in voltage
gain and is normally specified at unity gain.
If the slope requirement is greater than the slew rate, then distortion occurs. For the 741C the
slew rate is low 0.5 V / m S. which limits its use in higher frequency applications.
Example 1: A 100 PF capacitor has a maximum charging current of 150 A. What is the
slew rate?
Solution:
C = 100 PF=100 x 10-12 F
I = 150 A = 150 x 10-6 A

Slew rate is 1.5 V / s.

Example 2: An operational amplifier has a slew rate of 2 V / s. If the peak output is 12 V,
what is the power bandwidth?
Solution:
The slew rate of an operational amplifier is

As for output free of distribution, the slews determines the maximum frequency of operation
fmax for a desired output swing.
so
So bandwidth = 26.5 kHz.

Example 3: For the given circuit in fig.1, Iin (off) = 20 nA. If Vin(off) = 0, what is the
differential input voltage?. If A = 105, what does the output offset voltage equal?

Fig. 1
Solution:
Iin(off) = 20 nA
Vin(off) = 0
(i) The differential input voltage = Iin(off) x 1k = 20 nA x 1 k = 20 V
(ii) If A = 105 then the output offset voltage Vin(off) = 20 V x 105 = 2 volt
Output offset voltage = 2 volts.
Example 4: R1 = 100, Rf = 8.2 k, RC = 10 k. Assume that the amplifier is nulled at 25C. If
Vin is 20 mV peak sine wave at 100 Hz. Calculate Er, and Vo values at 45C for the circuit
shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 2

Solution:

The change in temperature T = 45 - 25 = 20C.

Error voltage = 51.44 mV

Output voltage is 1640 mV peak ac signal which rides either on a +51.44 mV or -51.44 mV dc
level.
Example 5: Design an input offset voltage compensating network for the operational
amplifier A 715 for the circuit shown in fig. 3. Draw the complete circuit diagram.

Fig. 3

Solution:
From data sheet we get vin = 5 mV for the operational amplifier A 715.
V = | VCC | = | - VEE | = 15 V
Now,

If we select RC = 10, the value of Rb should be

Rb = (3000) RC = 30000 = 304
Since R > Rmax, let RS = 10 Rmax where Rmax = Ra / 4. Therefore,

If a 124 potentiometer is not available, we may prefer to use to the next lower value avilable,
such as 104, so that the value of Ra will be larger than Rb by a factor of 10. If we select a 10 k
potentiometer a s the Ra value, Rb is 12 times larger than Ra, Thus
Ra = 10 k potentiometer Rb = 30 k Rc = 10.
The final circuit, which also includes the pin connections for the A 715, shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 4

The ideal OPAMP:

An ideal OPAMP would exhibit the following electrical characteristic.
1. Infinite voltage gain Ad
2. Infinite input resistance Ri, so that almost any signal source can drive it and there
is no loading of the input source.
3. Zero output resistance RO, so that output can drive an infinite number of other
devices.
4. Zero output voltage when input voltage is zero.
5. Infinite bandwidth so that any frequency signal from 0 to infinite Hz can be
amplified without attenuation.
6. Infinite common mode rejection ratio so that the output common mode noise
voltage is zero.
7. Infinite slew rate, so that output voltage changes occur simultaneously with input
voltage changes.
There are practical OPAMPs that can be made to approximate some of these characters using a
negative feedback arrangement.
Equivalent Circuit of an OPAMP:
Fig. 5, shows an equivalent circuit of an OPAMP. v1 and v2are the two input voltage voltages. Ri
is the input impedance of OPAMP. Ad Vd is an equivalent Thevenin voltage source and RO is the
Thevenin equivalent impedance looking back into the terminal of an OPAMP.

Fig. 5
This equivalent circuit is useful in analyzing the basic operating principles of OPAMP and in
observing the effects of standard feedback arrangements
vO = Ad (v1 v2) = Ad vd.

This equation indicates that the output voltage vO is directly proportional to the algebraic
difference between the two input voltages. In other words the OPAMP amplifies the difference
between the two input voltages. It does not amplify the input voltages themselves. The polarity
of the output voltage depends on the polarity of the difference voltage vd.
Ideal Voltage Transfer Curve:
The graphic representation of the output equation is shown in fig. 6 in which the output voltage
vO is plotted against differential input voltage vd, keeping gain Ad constant.

Fig. 6
The output voltage cannot exceed the positive and negative saturation voltages. These saturation
voltages are specified for given values of supply voltages. This means that the output voltage is
directly proportional to the input difference voltage only until it reaches the saturation voltages
and thereafter the output voltage remains constant.
Thus curve is called an ideal voltage transfer curve, ideal because output offset voltage is
assumed to be zero. If the curve is drawn to scale, the curve would be almost vertical because of
very large values of Ad.
Open loop OPAMP Configuration:
In the case of amplifiers the term open loop indicates that no connection, exists between input
and output terminals of any type. That is, the output signal is not feedback in any form as part of
the input signal. In open loop configuration, The OPAMP functions as a high gain amplifier.
There are three open loop OPAMP configurations.
The Differential Amplifier:
Fig. 1, shows the open loop differential amplifier in which input signals vin1 and vin2 are applied
to the positive and negative input terminals.

Since the OPAMP amplifies the

difference the between the two input
signals, this configuration is called the
differential amplifier. The OPAMP
amplifies both ac and dc input signals.
The source resistance Rin1 and Rin2 are
normally negligible compared to the
input resistance Ri. Therefore voltage
drop across these resistances can be assumed to be zero.

Fig.6

Therefore
v1 = vin1 and v2 = vin2.
vo = Ad (vin1 vin2 )
where, Ad is the open loop gain.
The Inverting Amplifier:
If the input is applied to only inverting terminal and noninverting terminal is grounded then it is called inverting
amplifier. This configuration is shown in fig. 2.
v1= 0, v2 = vin.
vo = -Ad vin

Fig. 2

The negative sign indicates that the output voltage is out of phase with respect to input 180 or
is of opposite polarity. Thus the input signal is amplified and inverted also.
The non-inverting amplifier:
In this configuration, the input voltage is applied to noninverting terminals and inverting terminal is ground as
shown in fig. 3.
v1 = +vin
vo = +Ad vin

v2 = 0
Fig. 3

This means that the input voltage is amplified by Ad and there is no phase reversal at the output.
In all there configurations any input signal slightly greater than zero drive the output to
saturation level. This is because of very high gain. Thus when operated in open-loop, the output
of the OPAMP is either negative or positive saturation or switches between positive and negative
saturation levels. Therefore open loop op-amp is not used in linear applications.

Closed Loop Amplifier:

The gain of the OPAMP can be controlled if feedback is introduced in the circuit. That is, an
output signal is feedback to the input either directly or via another network. If the signal
feedback is of opposite or out phase by 180 with respect to the input signal, the feedback is
called negative feedback.
An amplifier with negative feedback has a self-correcting ability of change in output voltage
caused by changes in environmental conditions. It is also known as degenerative feedback
because it reduces the output voltage and, in term, reduces the voltage gain.
If the signal is feedback in phase with the input signal, the feedback is called positive feedback.
In positive feedback the feedback signal aids the input signal. It is also known as regenerative
feedback. Positive feedback is necessary in oscillator circuits.
The negative feedback stabilizes the gain, increases the bandwidth and changes, the input and
output resistances. Other benefits are reduced distortion and reduced offset output voltage. It also
reduces the effect of temperature and supply voltage variation on the output of an op-amp.
A closed loop amplifier can be represented by two blocks one for an OPAMP and other for a
feedback circuits. There are four following ways to connect these blocks. These connections are
shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 4

These connections are classified according to whether the voltage or current is feedback to the
input in series or in parallel:

Voltage series feedback

Voltage shunt feedback
Current series feedback
Current shunt feedback

In all these circuits of fig. 4, the signal direction is from input to output for OPAMP and output
to input for feedback circuit. Only first two, feedback in circuits are important.

Voltage series feedback:

It is also called non-inverting voltage feedback circuit. With this type of feedback, the input
signal drives the non-inverting input of an amplifier; a fraction of the output voltage is then fed
back to the inverting input. The op-amp is represented by its symbol including its large signal
voltage gain Ad or A, and the feedback circuit is composed of two resistors R1 and Rf. as shown
in fig. 5

Fig. 5

The feedback voltage always opposes the input voltage, (or is out of phase by 180 with respect
to input voltage), hence the feedback is said to be negative.

The closed loop voltage gain is given by

The product A and B is called loop gain. The gain loop gain is very large such that AB >> 1

This shows that overall voltage gain of the circuit equals the reciprocal of B, the feedback gain.
It means that closed loop gain is no longer dependent on the gain of the op-amp, but depends on
the feedback of the voltage divider. The feedback gain B can be precisely controlled and it is
independent of the amplifier.
Physically, what is happening in the circuit? The gain is approximately constant, even though
differential voltage gain may change. Suppose A increases for some reasons (temperature
change). Then the output voltage will try to increase. This means that more voltage is fedback to
the inverting input, causing vd voltage to decrease. This almost completely offset the attempted
increases in output voltage.
Similarly, if A decreases, The output voltage decreases. It reduces the feedback voltage v f and
hence, vd voltage increases. Thus the output voltage increases almost to same level.
Different Input voltage is ideally zero.
Again considering the voltage equation,
vO = Ad vd or

vd = vO / Ad

Since Ad is very large (ideally infinite)

vd 0. and v1 = v2 (ideal).

This says, that the voltage at non-inverting input terminal of an op-amp is approximately equal to
that at the inverting input terminal provided that Ad is very large. This concept is useful in the
analysis of closed loop OPAMP circuits. For example, ideal closed loop voltage again can be
obtained using the results

Input Resistance with Feedback:

fig. 1, shows a voltage series feedback with the OPAMP equivalent circuit.

Fig. 1
In this circuit Ri is the input resistance (open loop) of the OPAMP and Rif is the input resistance of the
feedback amplifier. The input resistance with feedback is defined as

Since AB is much larger than 1, which means that Rif is much larger that Ri. Thus Rif approaches
infinity and therefore, this amplifier approximates an ideal voltage amplifier.

Output Resistance with Feedback:

Output resistance is the resistance determined looking back into the feedback amplifier from the
output terminal. To find output resistance with feedback Rf, input vin is reduced to zero, an
external voltage Vo is applied as shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 2
This shows that the output resistance of the voltage series feedback amplifier is ( 1 / 1+AB )
times the output resistance Ro of the op-amp. It is very small because (1+AB) is very large. It
approaches to zero for an ideal voltage amplifier.
Reduced Non-linear Distortion:
The final stage of an OPAMP has non-linear distortion when the signal swings over most of the
ac load line. Large swings in current cause the r'e of a transistor to change during the cycle. In
other words, the open loop gain varies throughout the cycle of when a large signal is being
applied. It is this changing voltage gain that is a source of the non-linear distortion.
Non-inverting voltage feedback reduces non-linear distortion because the feedback stabilizes the
closed loop voltage gain, making it almost independent of the changes in open loop voltage gain.

As long as loop gain, is much greater than 1, the output voltage equals 1/B times the input
voltage. This implies that output will be a more faithful reproduction of the input.
Consider, under large signal conditions, the open loop OPAMP circuit produces a distortion
voltage, designated vdist. It can be represented by connecting a source v dist in series with Avd.
Without negative feedback all the distortion voltage vdist appears at the output. But with negative
feedback, a fraction of vdist is feedback to inverting input. This is amplified and arrives at the
output with inverted phase almost completely canceling the original distortion produced by the
output stage.

The first term is the amplified output voltage. The second term in the distortion that appears at
the final output. The distortion voltage is very much, reduced because AB>>1
Bandwidth with Feedback:
The bandwidth of an amplifier is defined as the band of frequencies for which the gain remains
constant. Fig. 3, shows the open loop gain vs frequency curve of 741C OPAMP. From this curve
for a gain of 2 x 105 the bandwidth is approximately 5Hz. On the other hand, the bandwidth is
approximately 1MHz when the gain is unity.

Fig. 3
The frequency at which gain equals to 1 is known as the unity gain bandwidth. It is the
maximum frequency the OPAMP can be used for. Furthermore, the gain bandwidth product
obtained from the open loop gain vs frequency curve is equal to the unity gain bandwidth of the
OPAMP.

Since the gain bandwidth product is constant obviously the higher the gain the smaller the
bandwidth and vice versa. If negative feedback is used then gain decrease from A to A / (1+AB).
Therefore the closed loop bandwidth increases by (1+AB).
Bandwidth with feedback = (1+ A B) x (B.W. without feedback)
ff= fo (1+A B)
Output Offset Voltage:
In an OPAMP even if the input voltage is zero
an output voltage can exist. There are three
cause of this unwanted offset voltage.
1. Input offset voltage.
2. Input bias voltage.
3. Input offset current.

Fig. 4, shows a feedback amplifier with an

output offset voltage source in series with the
open loop output AVd. The actual output offset
voltage with negative feedback is smaller. The
reasoning is similar to that given for distortion.
Some of the output offset voltage is fed back
to the inverting input. After amplification an
out of phase voltage arrives at the output
canceling most of the original output offset
voltage.

Fig.4

When loop gain AB is much greater than 1, the

closed loop output offset voltage is much
smaller than the open loop output offset
voltage.
Voltage Follower:
The lowest gain that can be obtained from a non-inverting amplifier with feedback is 1. When
the non-inverting amplifier gives unity gain, it is called voltage follower because the output
voltage is equal to the input voltage and in phase with the input voltage. In other words the
output voltage follows the input voltage.

To obtain voltage follower, R1 is open circuited and Rf is shorted in a negative feedback

amplifier of fig. 4. The resultant circuit is shown in fig. 5.
vout = Avd= A (v1 v2)
v1 = vin
v2 =vout
v1 = v2 if A >> 1
vout = vin.
The gain of the feedback circuit (B) is 1. Therefore
Fig. 5

Af = 1 / B = 1

Voltage shunt Feedback:

Fig. 1, shows the voltage shunt feedback amplifier using OPAMP.

Fig. 1
The input voltage drives the inverting terminal, and the amplified as well as inverted output
signal is also applied to the inverting input via the feedback resistor Rf. This arrangement forms a
negative feedback because any increase in the output signal results in a feedback signal into the
inverting input signal causing a decrease in the output signal. The non-inverting terminal is
grounded. Resistor R1 is connected in series with the source.
The closed loop voltage gain can be obtained by, writing Kirchhoffs current equation at the
input node V2.

The negative sign in equation indicates that the input and output signals are out of phase by 180.
Therefore it is called inverting amplifier. The gain can be selected by selecting Rf and R1 .
Inverting Input at Virtual Ground:
In the fig. 1, shown earlier, the non-inverting terminal is grounded and the- input signal is
applied to the inverting terminal via resistor R1. The difference input voltage vd is ideally zero,
(vd= vO/ A) is the voltage at the inverting terminals (v2) is approximately equal to that of the noninverting terminal (v1). In other words, the inverting terminal voltage (v1) is approximately at
ground potential. Therefore, it is said to be at virtual ground.

Input Resistance with Feedback:

To find the input resistance Miller
equivalent of the feedback resistor
Rf, is obtained, i.e. Rf is splitted
into its two Miller components as
shown in fig. 2. Therefore, input
resistance with feedback Rif is then

Fig. 2
Output Resistance with Feedback: The
output resistance with feedback Rof is the
resistance measured at the output terminal of
the feedback amplifier. The output resistance
can be obtained using Thevenin's equivalent
circuit, shown in fig. 3.
iO = ia + ib
Since RO is very small as compared to Rf +(R1
|| R2 )
Therefore,i.e. iO= ia
vO = RO iO + A vd.
vd= vi v2 = 0 - B vO

Similarly, the bandwidth increases by (1+ AB) and total output offset voltage reduces by (1+AB).

Example - 1
(a)An inverting amplifier is implemented with R1 = 1K and Rf = 100 K. Find the % change in
the closed loop gain A is the open loop gain a changes from 2 x 105 V / V to 5 x 104 V/V.
(b) Repeat, but for a non-inverting amplifier with R1 = 1K at Rf = 99 K.
Solution: (a) Inverting amplifier

Here

Rf = 100 K
R1 = 1K

When,

(b) Non-inverting amplifier

Here

Rf = 99 K
R1 = 1K

Example - 2
An inverting amplifier shown in fig. 4 with R1 = 10 and R2 = 1M is driven by a source v1 =
0.1 V. Find the closed loop gain A, the percentage division of A from the ideal value - R2 / R1,
and the inverting input voltage VN for the cases A = 100 V/V, 105 and 105 V/V.
Solution:

we have
when A = 103,

Fig. 4

Example - 3
Find VN, V1 and VO for the circuit shown in fig. 5.
Solution:
Applying KCL at N

or

2VN + VN = VO.

Now
VO - Vi = 6 as point A and N are virtually
shorted.
VO - VN = 6 V
Therefore, VO = VN + 6 V
Fig. 5

Therefore, VN = Vi = 3 V.