OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER

What is an Op-Amp?
• 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.
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OP-AMP
 1. INPUT STAGE
• 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.
Differential Amplifiers:
• Differential amplifier is a
basic building block of an
op-amp.
• The function of a differential
amplifier is to amplify the
difference between two
input signals.
• Ideally, the output voltage
is zero when the two inputs
are equal.
• When v1 is greater then
v2 the output voltage with
the polarity shown appears.
• When v1 is less than v2, the
output voltage has the
opposite polarity.
Differential Amplifier Configurations

The four differential amplifier configurations are following:

• Dual input, balanced output differential amplifier.

• Dual input, unbalanced output differential amplifier.

• Single input balanced output differential amplifier.

• Single input unbalanced output differential amplifier.

• A multistage amplifier with a desired gain can be obtained using
direct connection between successive stages of differential
amplifiers.

• The advantage of direct coupling is that it removes the lower cut off
frequency imposed by the coupling capacitors, and they are
therefore, capable of amplifying dc as well as ac input signals.

• A good amplifier should take less current (high input impedance) and
give more current(low output impedance).
 2. INTERMEDIATE STAGE
• 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.
 3. LEVEL TRANSLATOR
• 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.
• 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
4. OUTPUT STAGE
• 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.
SYMBOLIC DIAGRAM /PIN DIAGRAM OF OP-AMP

741c is most commonly used OPAMP available in IC package. It is an 8-pin DIP chip.
Op Amp ICs
• LM324
• LM339
• LM258
• CA 3130 Op Amp
• CA 3140 Op Amp
• TL071 Op Amp
• TL082 Op Amp
• LM 311 Op Amp
• IC 747
 Parameters of OPAMP:
• 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.
Vio = Vdc1 – Vdc2

• 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.
Input offset Current:
• 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
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

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 MΩ.

For some OPAMP it may be up to 1000 G ohm.
Input Capacitance: (Ci)

• Ci is the equivalent capacitance that can be measured at either the

inverting and noninverting terminal with the other terminal
connected to ground.

A typical value of Ci is 1.4 pf for the 741C.

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.
• 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.
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.
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 large than the input signal
the voltage gain is commonly called large signal voltage gain.
For 741C is voltage gain is 200,000 typically.
 Common Mode Configuration

• When the same input voltage is applied to both input

terminal of an op-amp, the op-amp is said to be operating in
an common mode configuration.

• Common mode component : Vcm = (V1+V2)/2

• Common Mode Gain : Acm=VO/ Vcm

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
Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) is a figure of merit used to
describe differential amplifier.

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. For a perfect
differential amplifier, the CMRR is equal to ∞, as Acm is zero.
Date sheet always specify CMRR in decibels CMRR = 20 log(Ad / ACM )
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 µ 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.
Output voltage Swing:

• 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.
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

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 and so its output current is limited.

The 741C can supply a maximum short circuit output current of only 25mA.
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.

Power Consumption:

• Pc is the amount of quiescent power (vin=0) that must be consumed

by the op amp in order to operate properly.
For 741C it is 85mW.
 Transient Response
Two types:
• Transient response: portion of the response before the output attains
some fixed value.
• Steady state response: response of the network after it attains a fixed
value.
Rise time: the time required by the output to go from 10% to 90% of its
final value.
Overshoot: maximum amount by which the output deviates from the
steady state response.
For 741C rise time is 0.3 μsec and overshoot is 5 %.
Gain Bandwidth Product:
• The gain bandwidth product is
the bandwidth of the OPAMP
when the open loop voltage
gain is reduced to 1.
• It can be found at 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.
Slew Rate:
• 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.

• 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.
For the 741C the slew rate is low 0.5 V / mS. which limits its use in higher frequency applications.
Input Offset Voltage Drift and Current Drift

• Input Offset Voltage Drift: The input offset voltage drift is the ratio of
the change in input offset voltage to change in temperature and
expressed in m V /° C.
Input offset voltage drift = ( Δ Vio / Δ T)
• Input Offset Current Drift: The input offset current drift is the ratio of
the change in input offset current to the change in temperature.
Input offset current drift = ( Δ Iio / Δ T)
For 741C,
Δ Vio / Δ T = 0.5 m V / C.
Δ Iio/ Δ T = 12 pA / C.
 The ideal OP AMP Characteristics:
• Infinite voltage gain Ad
• Infinite input resistance Ri, so that almost any signal source can drive it and
there is no loading of the input source.
• Zero output resistance RO, so that output can drive an infinite number of other
devices.
• Zero output voltage when input voltage is zero.
• Infinite bandwidth so that any frequency signal from 0 to infinite Hz can be
amplified without attenuation.
• Infinite common mode rejection ratio so that the output common mode noise
voltage is zero.
• 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:
• 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

• Ri is the input impedance of OPAMP.

• AdVd is an equivalent Thevenin voltage
source.
• RO is the Thevenin equivalent impedance
looking back into the terminal of an
OPAMP.
Ideal Voltage Transfer Curve:
• The graphic representation of the output
equation in which the output voltage vO is
plotted against differential input voltage
vd, keeping gain Ad constant.
• 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.
• This 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 fedback 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

➢The Inverting Amplifier
➢The Non-inverting Amplifier