Basic Electronics

Prof. T.S. Natarajan

Department of Physics
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Lecture- 28
Characteristics of Operation Amplifier
(Output Resistance, CMMR...)
In our series of lectures on basic electronics learning by doing we move on to the next.
Before we do that let us recapitulate what we discussed during the previous lecture. You
might recall that we started discussing the various characteristics of an operational
amplifier. I listed also the different characteristics which are of importance in using the
operational amplifiers for different applications.
(Refer Slide Time: 1:58)

You can see the input offset voltage, input bias current, input resistance, output
resistance, common mode rejection ratio what is known as CMRR; then there is transfer
characteristics, gain-bandwidth product, slew rate are some of the important
characteristics we have listed. If you recall the previous lecture you might remember that
we discussed what we mean by the input offset voltage, the definition of the
characteristics and how to measure the input offset voltage and then the input bias current
the input bias current offset and also we saw what is the meaning of the input resistance
and how to measure the input resistance for a given configuration.
Now we will move on to the other characteristics. Both the definition and how to measure
them in a typical situation and I will try to show you also demonstration of how to
measure these things in a laboratory. Before I do that I thought I would give you a table
of data corresponding to an ideal operational amplifier and a typical operational amplifier

where I have taken the example of 741 which is the most popular of the operational
amplifiers.
(Refer Slide Time: 3:43)

If you look at for example the input offset voltage, ideally the offset voltage should be
zero. You know by now that the input offset voltage is the voltage which I should provide
at the input to make the output become zero when there are no more signals applied. In
principle ideally the input offset voltage should be zero. But in typical 741 operational
amplifier from the data table given by the manufacturer data sheet this value could be
somewhere of few millivolts. In this case I have listed the typical 1 millivolt value which
is given by the manufacturer data book. Similarly input bias current in principle should
be zero but in real situation it cannot be zero because the input terminals correspond to
the terminals of the base of the two transistors which form the differential amplifier
configuration and the amplifier if you want it to work like an amplifier should have some
minimum, low, finite current flowing through the base terminals of the transistors. It is
impossible to have a zero bias current even though we list it as zero in the ideal case. In
actual case it will be around few nano amperes. In this case in a 741 it is 80 nano
amperes.
Incidentally you can also buy special purpose operational amplifiers which can have this
input bias current a very, very low value of the order of pico amperes or even femto
amperes. Pico ampere corresponds to 10 power -12 of an ampere or femto ampere 10
power -15 ampere. You can choose a very, very low bias current operational amplifier for
special applications. But in a typical 741 case it is around 80 nano amperes. Nano means
10 power -9 of an ampere and it is a very, very small value for all practical purposes.
Then if you look at the input resistance you can see ideally the input resistance of a
voltage amplifier should be infinity; we have seen it several times so that the input source
will not be loaded by the amplifier. The input resistance of good voltage amplifier should
be infinity and that is why the infinity is listed under the ideal op amp situation. But if

you look at the situation corresponding to 741 the input resistance is around 2 megohm;
10 power 6 is megohm. 2 into 10 power 6 ohms is typical value of the input resistance in
the case of operational amplifier 741.
Now output resistance if you look at, it has to be zero because the output of a good
voltage amplifier should be almost like an ideal voltage source. But if you look at the
typical situation corresponding to the 741 it is 75 ohms which is rather low, very low. It
is not zero but still it is a very small value of the order of 75 to 100 ohms. Similarly
CMRR the common mode rejection ratio, about which I will explain to you in detail this
time, should be around infinity whereas typically it is about 90 db. The db corresponds to
decibel. We have also discussed how to look at that. 80 db is about 10,000. So 90 db is
little more than 10,000. Similarly the gain-bandwidth should be infinity. That means the
amplifier should be able to amplify all signals from very low level almost dc zero
frequency to very infinite frequencies. But in principle it is not possible even in an actual
case and in the case of operational amplifier this gain-bandwidth product will be about 10
power 6 or close to that. That is what is shown in the table. Last is the slew rate about
which also we will discuss later. It is about 0.5 volts per microsecond in the case of the
operational amplifier 741. This I want to give you so that you get an idea of the numbers
corresponding to the various parameters and the characteristics that we talked about.
Let us move on to the next characteristic which we want to discuss in detail and that is
the output resistance of the amplifier. What is the output resistance of the amplifier? For
any amplifier we have already also measured this when we discussed transistor amplifier
you might recall.
(Refer Slide Time: 8:56)

The output resistance is the resistance as you look from the output terminals into the
amplifier. When you look from the output terminals what would be the resistance
measured; the Thevenins equivalent resistance and that is what is called output

resistance. To measure the output resistance what do we do? What we do is we take one
typical amplifier configuration. You can see on the screen it is a non-inverting amplifier.
You have the Rf and the Ri and the Ri is grounded here and the input is applied at the
non-inverting input and the output V output is equal to Vin into Rf by R1 plus 1; 1 plus Rf
by R1. This is the gain factor. This is a very simple non-inverting amplifier about which
we have already discussed. What I do is I connect a resistance between the output
terminal and the ground. That is what I call R and the arrow shows that it is a variable
resistance. That means the value of this resistance can be varied from zero value to some
maximum value.
Now what I do is initially I disconnect this resistance. That means I make this R infinite.
When I disconnect this it becomes infinite resistance and now I measure what is the
output voltage? Then what I do is I introduce this resistance and vary the value of the
resistance by using the potentiometer till I get a voltage which is half of what I measure
with no resistance present here; that means with infinite resistance. If I get half of that
value then the value of the R that I measured here now is the output resistance of the
amplifier. This similar situation we have already discussed with reference to the input
resistance in the last lecture. I would perhaps try to explain to you in simple terms why is
it so. If you go on to the equivalent resistance of an operational amplifier between the two
input terminals you have the resistance which is called the input resistance which we
measured last time.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:29)

On the output side what you have is a voltage source which is actually having a value of
A into Vin where Vin is the voltage that is impressed between the two input terminals. A is
the voltage gain. In this case if no feedback is there it becomes Aol, the gain with open
loop condition. If you have a specific configuration corresponding to non-inverting or
inverting then you can have a finite value of the gain depending upon the choice of

resistances in the circuit. Whatever it is the output can be given as a voltage source A
times Vin in series with an output resistance Ro.
Now look at the circuit with the external resistance connected. Without this resistance if
you measure the voltage using the multimeter m you will get V0. After measuring that
V0 I introduce this resistance and I start varying this till I get V0 exactly half of the
previous value without altering any of the other input voltage or resistance, etc. When
that happens, you can see from the equivalent circuit, the voltage source is now
connected in series to two resistors Ro and R which is connected outside. If this R is not
present I get Vo which is the actual value of the AVin, the total voltage of the voltage
source. The moment I connect the R here I do get a potential divider Ro and R form a
potential divider and this voltage will have to be now divided between the two resistors
Ro and R. What I measure in the multimeter will be the voltage that is obtained across the
variable resistor R. When will this voltage become half of the applied voltage? It will
become half only when Ro is equal to R. That is the principle of this measurement. I keep
on varying this till I get half the value of the voltage that I measure previously and at that
time I disconnect. That is very important. I disconnect this resistance and I measure its
value using a good multimeter and that value will be the output resistance of the
operational amplifier. This is the principle of measurement of output resistance.
Here you should also remember, I should caution, I have assumed that this voltmeter
which measures the output voltage has got infinite resistance or R is very large resistance
compared to the resistance that I have in the circuit. In this case the output resistance in
general will be a very small value. I already mentioned to you that in the table the typical
value for 741 is 75 ohms and this multimeter generally if it is digital multimeter for
example it will have a very high input resistance of the order of several megohms and 75
ohms when it is in parallel to a large value of resistance this is as good as 75 ohms. That
value will not be affected by the resistance of the multimeter. But if use any cheap
multimeter which is not very well designed you have to take care that it will have its own
resistance and that will come in parallel with R and it can lead to erroneous value and you
have to be careful and use a high impedance voltmeter whenever you do these
experiments. R0 is equal to R when the output voltage is half of the previous value that I
measured is the principle of the output resistance measurements.
I will quickly show you a simulation of the same where you can see I have the
operational amplifier IC 741 at the center. I hope you are able to see that and there is a
simple configuration. I have a dual power supply and I also have a voltage source and I
have two multimeters to measure the input and output voltage. I press on the auto setup.
Then various components will go and sit on their own and the circuit will be completed.
What do you have here? You have an op amp; this is around 10K and this is also 10K. I
have Rf 10K, Ri also 10K and that is connected to the ground and the voltage from the
voltage source is connected to the non-inverting input here and it is a non-inverting
amplifier with a gain 1 plus Rf by Ri and the Rf by Ri is equal to 1 here. It is a gain of 2;
1+1 = 2 is the gain of this amplifier. I always have large resistance here. This is a
potentiometer and this is having very large resistance.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:50)

Let me switch on the power supply dual power supply, the voltage source, the
multimeters and I will apply about 1 volt. I have applied 1 volt from the voltage source at
the input and the output is around 1 volt. Now what I am going to do is I am going to
vary this variable potentiometer slowly and you see what happens to the output voltage
which is measured here. You find the output voltage is now 0.5.
(Refer Slide Time: 17:25)

Previously the measured voltage was 1 volt and now it is 0.5 volt. That means it has
become V0/2. The output voltage is half of the input voltage and at that time I should
know what the resistance is that I have included in the circuit in the variable resistor. For

that I have to disconnect this resistor and I should make the voltmeter into a resistance
meter, ohmmeter and measure at the terminals of this after disconnecting from the circuit.
That is what I am going to do by pressing measure resistance. All the other things have
been removed from the screen. Only the potentiometer is there and the two terminals of
the potentiometer are connected to the voltmeter which is now measuring the ohms and
you see a reading of 80 ohms.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:13)

That gives us the output resistance of the operational amplifier. Having shown the
simulation I would like to show you an actual measurement done on the laboratory table.
Here you can see the circuit diagram shown on the top and there is a bread board at the
bottom. In the circuit diagram we have used 10 kilo ohm as Ri and 100 kilo ohm as Rf
and there is a gain of 1 plus 100 by 10; approximately 11 and the input voltage is given at
the non-inverting input because it is a non-inverting amplifier and I have connected a
potentiometer I will measure. I have not connected the potentiometer it is still here.

(Refer Slide Time: 19:08)

I will switch on the multimeter. I have given 200 millivolt from the voltage source. This
is the voltage source you are now familiar with. We have seen it several times. This 200
millivolts input is given at the pin number 3 corresponding to the non-inverting input and
the output is measured using the multimeter at pin number 6 and if you look at the
multimeter it shows the value of 2.18.
(Refer Slide Time: 19:37)

200 millivolt multiplied approximately by 10 is 2 volts. 2.18 is what I get. Without

disturbing any of the voltages I should now connect the variable resistor which is here.
This is the variable resistor. It is actually a 10 turn potentiometer. Usually in a normal

potentiometer if you just rotate by nearly 360 degrees all the resistance variation would
have been made. In this case you have to rotate 10 times the spindle to make the variation
possible for the whole range and you can do it in much smaller increments of resistance.
That is why I am using it. Now I am going to connect this quickly into the output
terminal. I have now connected the potentiometer and if I vary that the output voltage in
the voltmeter is changing. You observe the output as I keep changing. You can see the
voltage is increasing; now it is decreasing.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:52)

It is 1.85 and it is still decreasing. I keep on increasing the voltage slowly and when it
comes to about 1 volt I will stop. It is now 1.34; it is 1.1. It is about 1.02. Now I will stop.
Previously it is about 2.18. So may be I can make it 1.09 or 1.07; 1.08. Now it is half the
value that I measured previously 1.08.

(Refer Slide Time: 21:28)

At this stage I should disconnect this resistance. I will connect it to a different area in the
bread board and I also change the meter to measure resistance. I have converted the
voltmeter into a resistance meter. There is 200 ohms range and I am now measuring the
resistance by disconnecting from the circuit putting into an independent area and then I
measure the value of the resistance is 49.8 nearly 50 ohms.
(Refer Slide Time: 22:07)

That 50 ohms is the output resistance of this 741 that I have used in the circuit. In a
typical table you saw the value should be around 75 ohms and 50 is actually a good
value.

Having seeing how to measure the output resistance of an operational amplifier by

actually performing an experiment let us move on to the next characteristics in the table
and that is what is known as common mode rejection ratio or CMRR. It is called CMRR.
This common mode rejection ratio is actually an important characteristics of differential
amplifier. In any differential amplifier this parameter becomes an important one. Before
we go into the actual definition of CMRR it will be good to know how a differential
amplifier can be considered in two different modes corresponding to differential mode
and common mode. If I now apply a signal between the two input terminals then this
becomes the differential signal which is being applied to the operational amplifier. This is
called a differential mode of connection.
(Refer Slide Time: 23:34)

Instead if I connect the two inputs together shorting them and then apply a voltage
between the ground and the point then this signal becomes common to both the input
terminal and it is called common mode. This is the differential mode of connection this is
the common mode of connection. In the differential mode of connection Vod that is the
differential output voltage is equal to Ad which is called the differential gain into Vd the
input differential voltage you apply at the differential mode. Vod is equal to Ad into Vd is
corresponding to this configuration. Similarly for the common mode Voc the voltage
output corresponding to the common mode configuration is equal to Ac the common
mode gain multiplied by Vc the common mode voltage applied at the input. We now talk
of two different gains. One is called Ad the differential gain and the other is called Ac the
common mode gain. In principle a differential amplifier can be associated with two
different gains corresponding to Ad and Ac.
But in actual practice you would be giving to the two input terminals of an operational
amplifier typically one voltage source corresponding to Vi1 and another voltage source
corresponding to Vi2 independently without either connecting them together or
connecting the voltage source between them.

(Refer Slide Time: 25:09)

In that case how do we obtain the Vd and the Vc, the differential input voltage and the
common mode input voltage. If Vi1 and Vi2 are the two input voltages Vd is nothing but
the difference between the two; Vi1 difference Vi2. Depending upon which is larger you
will get either a positive or a negative value here. This can be the way which is the most
practical way of looking at Vd and similarly for Vc for the same situation where I have
applied Vi1 for one terminal Vi2 for other terminal Vc common mode will be given by the
average of these two which is common for both the input; half of Vi1 plus Vi2.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:54)

Now that we know there are two different modes, there are two different gains that one
can talk of and how to obtain from the two independent voltages that you connect at the
input terminals of an operational amplifier the Vc and the Vd?
(Refer Slide Time: 26:10)

Having got that now you can see what is the total output in principle? This whenever you
connect at the input Vi1 and Vi2 output will be Vo but that output voltage will have
contributions from the common mode voltage as well as the differential voltage. V output
in principle is the combination of Ad into Vd, where Vd is the differential voltage and Ac
into Vc where Vc is the common mode voltage and Ad and Ac are the differential and
common mode gains. This is the general expression for the output of a differential
amplifier and Ad and Ac are the differential and common mode gains.
Having explained about all these things it will very easy to define now the common mode
rejection ratio which is actually defined by the differential voltage gain divided by the
common mode voltage gain. What does it say, CMRR? It tells you how much is the
differential voltage gain larger than the common mode gain? The value of the CMRR is
normally expressed in decibels using logarithmic. As definition CMRR log is equal to 20
log to base 10 Ad by Ac in decibels. For example typically for 741 this CMRR is 90 db. I
already mentioned to you and also showed you in the table at the beginning of the lecture.
That 90 db corresponds to nearly 10,000; little more than 10,000 and that means what?
The differential gain will be 10,000 times the common mode gain.

(Refer Slide Time: 27:57)

The ratio is 10,000. That means the operational amplifier has got some special preference
for differential gains than the common mode gain. It does not give importance to the
common signal but it gives importance only to the differential. This a very, very
important characteristic as I already mentioned to you because most of the time for every
amplifier whenever I use in any situation there is always enormous sources of noise
voltages all around us.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:28)

For example the 50 Hertz voltage, the radio frequency from the different television
stations. All around us there are lot of electromagnetic waves present from different

sources radio stations, television stations and communication lines, etc and all of them
will be very, very small in magnitude. Even then the amplifier will not be able to
distinguish them in principle it will also be amplified. All these noise voltages also will
be amplified along with the signal which is the only thing that you want to concentrate on
and the output will have enormous voltages coming from these noise voltages. Some
times the noise voltages can completely swamp the signal that you wanted to observe.
Then the signal will get buried in noise and you will not be able to see the signal very
clearly. If I have a good CMRR, if I use a differential amplifier as the first stage and if
that differential amplifier has got this characteristics which is called common mode
rejection ratio CMRR very, very high then the amplifier will reject all the signals which
are common to both the inputs very well, efficiently and all the signals which are
common to the two input terminals or basically the noise voltages all around us and it
will be very good noise rejection characteristics and what you get at the output will only
be corresponding to the signal on which you are more interested. That is the reason why
CMRR is the very very important characteristics of any differential amplifier and in
particular operational amplifier.
I have given a typical example on the screen. If the op amp CMRR is about 100 db then it
corresponds to 10 power 5. For every 20 db there will be a decade and so 100 db will
have 5 decades and it will be 10 power 5.
(Refer Slide Time: 30:41)

The differential voltages will be amplified nearly 10 power-? times more than the
common mode signals that is what it says. The CMRR of 741 is 90 db which is about
more than 10,000. There are some amplifiers which are called instrumentation amplifiers
which are meant for applying to very low level signals. When you are trying to amplify
very low level signals in the microvolts and the nano volts range the noise voltages also
can be of the same magnitude and they can really harm the signal at the output. If I use a
good instrumentation amplifier which is a high gain differential amplifier exclusively

made with very large value of CMRR then the rejection of the noise will be very
efficient. For example there is one op amp called 725 and the value of CMRR for 725 is
120 db because it is an instrumentation amplifier and that means the differential gain is
about one million times more than the common mode signal. How do we get in principle
the Ad and the Ac?
(Refer Slide Time: 32:00)

To measure Ad I can now set Vi1 is equal to Vi2 and that is equal to 0.5 volts. So I keep
Vi1 is equal to Vi2 except for the opposite polarity. It is 0.5 volts plus and 0.5 volts minus
and what will be Vd? Vd is Vi1 minus Vi2; 0.5 volts (- 0.5 volt). That is equal to 1 volt
and what is Vc? Vc is half of Vi1 plus Vi2; average of the two inputs. Half of 0.5 + -(0.5)
and this becomes zero and therefore Vc is zero. What I have is Vd is equal to 1 volt Vc is
equal to 0. V output V0 now is equal to Ad Vd + Ac Vc.

(Refer Slide Time: 32:50)

Ad into 1 volt + Ac into zero volts; anything into zero is zero and Ad into 1 volt is Ad. If
now I measure what is the output voltage that in magnitude gives me the differential gain
straight away. That is one way quickly to measure Ad. Similarly if I want to measure the
Ac then I set Vi1 is equal to Vi2 is equal to 1 volt.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:16)

Then Vd is equal to Vi1 - Vi2; 1 volt - 1 volt will give me zero. Therefore there is no Vd
and Vc is average of half of Vi1 + Vi2. That is equal to 1 volt and the output voltage is Ad
into zero because now Vd is zero plus Ac into 1 volt. Therefore it is Ac.

(Refer Slide Time: 33:37)

If I give 0.5 and -0.5 for the two inputs I get the output voltage in magnitude the Ad. If I
give 1 volt and 1 volt at the input I get Ac as the voltage at the output. This is one simple
way to measure Ac and Ad. Once you measure Ac and Ad you can get CMRR which is
equal to Ad by Ac dividing the two. But unfortunately in practical situations it is a very
difficult to set very precisely 0.5 volts and 0.5 volts because the 0.5 volts should be very
precisely 0.5 volts up to 3 or 4 decimals because the gain could be very high and the
output voltage can be very different even if there is a very slight difference between the
two inputs. Only when I make both the inputs exactly equal using two sources I will be
able to do this type of a measurement. In principle in practice it is going to be very
difficult. We will use other techniques to measure the output voltage.
Now I want to try to impress up on you the concept of the CMRR in a much clear manner
by giving another simple illustration. Let us assume that I have an amplifier with a gain
10. It is not a very large gain but it is only 10 and I have Vi1 Vi2. I give 0 for Vi1 and I
give 100 millivolt for Vi2. What I expect 10 into the difference between these two is 100
millivolt. If it is a good differential amplifier it should only worry about the difference
between the two inputs. If I have 0 and 100 millivolts for the two inputs the difference is
100 millivolts; that multiplied by 10, the gain is 1000 millivolt which is nothing but 1
volt.

(Refer Slide Time: 35:32)

I must get only 1 volt at the output and the common mode signal is 0 here; here also it is
0 and the average value is around 50. That will be 50 into 10; 500 millivolt. That is what
I will get. In a typical situation I give 0 volts here 100 millivolts I get 1 volt and then
what I do is I modify. I give 1 volt at the input V1 and 1.1 volt at the input V2.
(Refer Slide Time: 36:10)

What do you mean by 1.1? It is 1 volt + 100 millivolt. This is 1 volt. One input is 1 volt
the other input is 1 volt + 100 millivolt. The difference is still 100 millivolt. If the
amplifier is a very good difference amplifier then it will now worry only about that 100
millivolt which is only the difference between the two inputs and that multiplied by 10

volt if I get 1 volt that means this type of amplifier is not at all worried about the signals
which are common to both the inputs. Whether it is 0 and 100 millivolts or whether it is 1
volt and 1.1 or it is 5 volts and 5.1, the output voltage is 1 volt which is nothing but the
difference in voltage multiplied by the gain 100 by 10 is 1 volt and that is constant
irrespective of the common voltage that I have at the two inputs. If an amplifier can show
such characteristics we call that amplifier an excellent amplifier, an ideal amplifier and
the CMRR in this case can be infinity. It is completely able to reject all the common
voltages.
(Refer Slide Time: 37:28)

It is only amplifying the difference in the two signals. But I already mentioned to you in
reality it is very difficult to get such high value CMRR. You can with great difficulty get
a 90 db or 100 db etc. Let us now look at some small modification algebraic variation of
the output voltage. Output voltage is equal to Ad Vd + Ac Vc.

(Refer Slide Time: 37:59)

If I take this Ad Vd common outside it becomes 1 plus 1 by CMRR into Vc by Vd because

Ad by Ac is CMRR. It is coming in the denominator. 1 by CMRR Vc by Vd. This formula
is useful in doing some simple problems. I have also given an example here.
(Refer Slide Time: 38:22)

Determine the output voltage of an op amp for input voltages Vi1 is equal to 150
microvolt Vi2 is equal to 140 microvolt. The amplitude has a differential gain of Ad 4000
and the value of CMRR is 100. Assume it is 100 and then b assume it is 10 power 5.
What happens let us see? The two inputs are 150 and 140. So Vd is 150-140 microvolt
and what I get is 10 microvolt and the common voltage is half of the two inputs. 150 +

140 by 2; that will be 145 microvolt and output voltages is Ad Vd into 1 plus 1 by CMRR
Vc by Vd.
(Refer Slide Time: 39:11)

So 4000 multiplied by 10 microvolt which is the differential voltage 1 plus 1 by 100 for
the first case the CMRR is 100 and 145 by 10 microvolt if you calculate it is 45.8
millivolts.
(Refer Slide Time: 39:28)

If you take the second case where it is 10 power 5, 4000 into 10 microvolt is the actual
voltage you should get; 40 millivolts but you are getting 45.8 millivolt in one case

because the CMRR there is smaller, only 100. When you have CMRR 10 power 5 this
value becomes 40.006. That means if the CMRR is a very large value then the output
voltage is almost equal to the 4000 multiplied by 10 microvolt. That means Ad into Vd the
contribution from the second term will almost be very, very small. That is what we try to
understand from this example. When the CMRR is high it becomes a very good
differential amplifier which is always concerned only between the difference in the two
inputs and it not so much worried about the common signals.
How do we actually measure CMRR in the laboratory? That is our next problem. For that
we have to measure Ad and we have to measure Ac.
(Refer Slide Time: 40:38)

Let us see how we can practically do this in the laboratory by measuring the Ad and Ac. I
have given you two circuits on the screen. This is a differential amplifier. I have used
10K and 100K in the feedback and again 10K and 100K. This is a differential amplifier
configuration. We have not discussed this yet but we will discuss it shortly in one of the
lectures later. But for the present you can assume this to be a differential amplifier and
the Vd here is Vi1 minus Vi2 and I will measure what is the output voltage? I will give one
voltage here I will give another voltage to the other input. I will find out what is the
difference and I will measure the output. Output divided by the difference in the two
inputs will give me the gain corresponding to the differential amplifier Ad. It is a very
simple measurement. Then if you want to measure common mode gain then what you do
is you connect the two input terminals together and connect a voltage source together.
This is the common mode configuration which we already discussed. Now measure the
output for the same amplifier and divide the output by the common mode input signal and
that will give the Ac, the common mode gain. This is a simple practical way of measuring
the Ad and the Ac. Once you measure Ad and Ac you can divide one by the other and you
can obtain the common mode rejection ratio.

Now I will take a typical numerical example here which is similar to what I would be
doing later on in an actual demonstration.
(Refer Slide Time: 42:15)

What I have done is I have applied Vi1 to be 0.5 volts and Vi2 is slightly different that is
0.48 volts. What is the differential voltage? 0.5 0.48 and that is 0.02 volts or in
principle it is 20 millivolts. The differential voltage at the input terminal of a differential
amplifier is 20 millivolts and the gain is 10 here 100K and 10K. The output voltage if I
multiply by 10 it will be 200 millivolts. Ad into 20 millivolts is 200 millivolts. I can find
out the Ad; Ad is 200 by 20 is 10. By measuring the output voltage which is 200 millivolt
and measuring the input difference which is 20 millivolt, 200 by 20 is 10 and I know Ad.
We know from the value of resistors that I have used it is also 10 in this case. But in
principle even if you dont know by measuring the output voltage and the difference in
the input voltage I can directly divide and obtain the value of the differential gain.
In the second case I have connected the two input terminals and applied 0.5 volts
constant. Now what is the output voltage I measure? I measure 0.002 volts or close to
that. What is the gain? Voltage output divided by the voltage input; 0.002 divided by 0.5
and it is 0.004 volts. The gain is 0.004. I have now got the Ad which is 10 and Ac which is
0.004. That means it is very, very small value. The common mode gain is a small value.
It is not amplifier at all. It is actually attenuator it has reduced the output voltage. CMRR
is Ad by Ac and that is 10 by 0.004 and that is around 2500 or so and if I convert it into db
by multiplying 20 log 2500 to the base 10 its around 68 db. The actual typical value for
741 is around 90 db. Its about 70 db what we measure here typically. It is possible in a
laboratory to actually perform this experiment and measure the CMRR for the operational
amplifier which is what I am going to do now.

I am going to show you a demonstration. Here you can see I have got the two circuits
which I just discussed. This is in the differential mode so that there is a separate Vi1 and a
separate Vi2 in the circuit and here is the common mode signal. I have connected the two
input terminals together and applying the voltage here. I am going to do these two and
measure the output in each case and measure the output by the difference in voltage in
this case that will be the Ad; measure the output and corresponding input here that will be
the Ac. Then I will divide one by the other to obtain the CMRR.
(Refer Slide Time: 45:21)

I have used one of the voltage source Vi1 0.5 here. This is actually 500 millivolt
corresponding to 0.5 volts that is connected to one of the input terminals and I have used
one of the power supplies which is not being used here, a variable power supply. That
output voltage it is actually 0.49 and that is what is given here. I can first use the
multimeter which is here. I will connect the multimeter to the two inputs and measure the
voltage here. Concentrate on the voltmeter while I connect to the two inputs. I take the
multimeter and connect to the input terminal one. It is 0.5 volts. That is V1.

(Refer Slide Time: 46:12)

I take it out and connect to the second input and it is 0.479 or 0.48.
(Refer Slide Time: 46:31)

The difference is 0.5 - 0.48. It is 20 millivolts and now I take it out and connect it at the
output terminal. The value at the voltmeter is 200. 20 millivolts is the difference
multiplied by the 10 which is the gain of the amplifier is 200. That is what we got at the
output.

(Refer Slide Time: 47:12)

This differential gain is 20. I am going to remove these two input voltages and connect
the two input terminals together and connect one of the 0.5 volts alone. There is a red
wire which has come in the circuit which is actually connecting the two input terminals
V1 and V2 and there is only one source, this source which is connected at the input and
this is already 0.5. I have not changed anything here.
(Refer Slide Time: 47:46)

0.5 volts is given at the input and what is the output voltage? The output voltage is 0.456.

(Refer Slide Time: 47:59)

This is 0.456. The gain is nearly less than 1. This is 0.5 and this is 0.456. The output
voltage is nearly 0.008 or 0.009.
(Refer Slide Time: 48:15)

It is a very, very low value and 0.5 divided by 0.009 is the Ac and it is going to be very,
very small and then we already saw the differential gain is 10. This voltage 0.009 divided
by 0.5 is about 0.002 and you will get around 5000 as the CMRR. 5000 will be the
CMRR and if you look at the db this will be nearly 80 db; close to 80 db, 75 db or so. We
saw how we can measure in the laboratory the CMRR and now we will move on to the
next characteristic which is the basically the transfer characteristics of an operational

amplifier. This is also a very important characteristics and what we mean by that here is
if I have an input and an output what will be the graph between the input and the output.
(Refer Slide Time: 49:18)

The transfer characteristic is a graph plotted between the input and output of the op amp.
Since basically its a difference amplifier Vi is equal to V1-V2 the difference of the two
and V output is AOL the open loop gain multiplied by the difference. But AOL the open
loop gain of an operational amplifier is typically 10 power 5; 100,000.
(Refer Slide Time: 49:44)

If we give Vi to be 1 volt then what will be the output without any feedback. AOL means
what? Open loop gain; open loop gain means there is no feedback. If I have that the
output should be 10 to the power of 5 volts. Can I get 10 power 5 volts at the output by
giving 1 volt? You can never get because the output voltage can never be greater than the
power supply voltage and the power supply voltage is only + 12 volts or -12 volts
because it is a dual supply and the output voltage whenever it exceeds by a simple
formula Vo is equal to AOL by Vi. When it exceeds 12 volt it will saturate at 12 volts. For
all higher values of voltages at the input, the output voltage will remain constant at +12
volts and it will not increase beyond there; similarly for the negative side. There is a limit
to the output voltage corresponding to + or - 12 volts or + or - Vcc as we call it. That
shows what will be the limit of the input voltage? The limit at the input voltage should be
+ or -12 volt which is the limit for the output voltage divided by the gain gives me the
input voltage. + or -12 volt by 10 power 5 gives me + or -120 microvolts. I multiplied
numerator and denominator by 10; so it is about 120 microvolts. That means what? An
operational amplifier will obey the equation V output is equal to AOL into Vi only when
the input ranges are between the two input terminals; the voltages are + or -120
microvolts or less. Whenever it exceeds 120 microvolts or more the output voltage will
saturate either at the + or - depending upon which polarity of the voltage is higher. This is
what we call the transfer characteristics of the operational amplifier. I have shown a
graph here.
(Refer Slide Time: 51:52)

This is the V input and this is the V output the vertical line and till 120 microvolt there is
a linear relationship passing through the origin which corresponds to the amplifier
behavior and beyond that 120 microvolt the output voltage remains constant at +12 volts
on the positive side and on the negative side it remains constant at -12 volts. We are using
operational amplifier in all the applications that we are going to discuss as an amplifier
confined to this small range where the difference between the two input terminals at the
op amp is + or - 120 microvolts. This graph that you get is what is known as the transfer

characteristics and it is a very, very important characteristics. If you look at the slope of
this line, the slope of the line will be the gain, open loop gain of the operational amplifier
10 power 5 in this case. If you look at the point going through zero if it is perfectly going
through zero that means it has got no offset voltage. When the input voltage is zero the
output voltage is also zero
But in principle we already saw for a typical real operational amplifier this is not the
case. You will have a small offset voltage and this will not exactly pass through the
center. Only in an ideal case it will pass through the center. This + or -120 microvolts
limit is very, very important to remember. Because this is a very small value in all
practical operational amplifier if it is working as an amplifier if you measure the voltage
between the two input terminals it should be almost the same. For example if I measure at
one input terminal 1 volt the other input terminal if it is an amplifier configuration cannot
be other than 1 volt + or - 120 microvolts and both the terminal voltages should be same
if the operational amplifier is performing as an amplifier and this is very important
especially when you are doing trouble shooting. When an operational amplifier is not
working; it is configured as an amplifier and it is not working. You want to know the
problem with the circuit. All that you have to do is see whether all the voltages are
coming properly at the Vcc, +Vcc and -Vcc at the pins of the operational amplifier and then
you should find out whether at the two input terminals the voltages at V1 and V2 are very
close to each other; almost same + or -120 microvolt and if that happens that means the
operational amplifier is in good condition. If you find the two voltages are different by
more than 1 volt or 0.5 volt then you immediately can conclude there is something wrong
with either the operational amplifier or any of the connections around it. You can analyze
them in much more detail and find out what is wrong in the circuit.
In the next lecture I will briefly touch upon this transfer characteristic and then I will also
show you a demonstration of how to measure the transfer characteristics. I already
mentioned to you the transfer characteristics will be very, very useful in several
applications like the comparator. There are lots of applications related to the comparator.
I will also show you the transfer characteristics using an oscilloscope and then we will
discuss the other parameters and the characteristics of the operational amplifier. Thank
you!