Aksum University

Aksum Institute of Technology

Faculty of Electrical & Computer

•
Engineering
•
Applied Applied Electronics II
Electronics
II Chapter-III
(ECEG3072
Operational Amplifiers
)
Lecture -II
By
Yonatan G.
Department of Electronic Communication
Engineering

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3) Unity Follower (Buffer):
 Has unity gain with no phase reversal (no polarity).
 The circuit operates like an emitter (source) follower.
 Used to isolate circuits or devices from one another and
prevents undesired interaction.

Fig: (a) unity follower (b) in it’s virtual ground

equivalence
 This is a special case of the non-inverting amplifier.
 In case of non-inverting amplifier, gain

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 If we set (unity gain)
 This is called voltage follower because the o/p voltage is
locked to the i/p voltage (both are same)
 Advantage: op amp has very high i/p impedance so it can
measure without drawing any current.
Characteristics of Voltage Follower
 This is a special case of the non-inverting amplifier.
 Gain
 The o/p voltage “follows” the i/p voltage
 Op amp has very high i/p impedance and very low o/p impedance

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4) Summing Amplifier (Adder):
 The summing amplifier is a handy circuit enabling you to add several signals
together
 On a precision amplifier, you may need to add a small voltage to cancel the
offset error of the op amp itself.
 Let us take a three input summing amplifier as shown below.
 Also called inverting adder
 Algebraically summing (adding) three voltages, each multiplied by a
constant-gain factor.

Fig: (b) Virtual ground representation

Fig: (a) Three input summing amplifier Fig: (b) Virtual ground
representation
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 To drive the formula for :
 find the total current = + + , N.B. = 0 V.
 Find
 Equate with ( = ).
 Finally solve for
 we can express the output voltage in terms of the inputs as

 As the number of inputs increases, the gain of the amplifier decreases

 In other words, each input adds a voltage to the output multiplied by
its separate constant-gain multiplier
 Summing amplifier is a good example of analog circuits serving as
analog computing amplifiers (analog computers)!
 Note: analog circuits can add, subtract, multiply/divide (using
logarithmic components, differentiate and integrate – in real time and
continuously.
Example: find the output voltage of a summing amplifier for the
following sets of input parameters. Use = ,
 =
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5) Integrator:
This occurs when the feedback component used is a capacitor.

Fig: (a) integrator circuit b) virtual ground connection

 If the input voltage is exactly 0 volts, there will be no current through the
resistor, therefore no charging of the capacitor, and therefore the output
voltage will not change. We cannot guarantee what voltage will be at the
output with respect to ground in this condition, but we can say that the
output voltage will be constant.
 The voltage at the junction of and to be ground (since 0 V) but that no
current goes into ground at that point.
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 The capacitive impedance can be expressed as:
, Where is the Laplace notation.

Solving for
Rewriting the above equation in time domain:

 It shows hat the output is the integral of the input, with an

inversion and scale multiplier of
 The integration operation is summing the area under a given
waveform over a given period of time.

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 If the input signal has fixed value, then the output voltage is a
ramp voltage with opposite polarity then the input and scaled by
a factor of
Example: For the following integrator circuit, draw the output
waveform.

, O/p is a negative ramp voltage

If the scale factor is changed by making R =100, as


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and the output is then a steeper ramp voltage is given as follows
respectively

a) b)
 The output voltage for is more steeper than .
 More than one input can be applied to an integrator with the
resulting output voltage in the form of the following.

Fig. Summing - integrator circuit

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Example:
 An example of a summing integrator as used in an analog
computer is given in Fig. below
 The actual circuit is shown with input resistors and feedback
capacitor, whereas the analog computer representation indicates
only the scale factor for each input.

Fig: (a) summing integrator circuit (b) analog-computer, integrator-circuit

representation component values;

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6)Differentiator:
The resulting output is the differential of the input with a scale factor
of RC

Fig: differentiator
 The resulting output voltage is given by:

 The scale factor is

 High frequency noise can produce a derivative whose magnitude
is comparable to that of the signal.
 Most of the time high pass filter is used to eliminate the
noise.
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Op-amp specifications – DC offset parameters:
 Ideally, when input voltage is zero, output voltage has to be zero as well. But
in practice there is some offset voltage at the output.
 This is because during manufacturing, the differential input transistors of real
op-amps may not be exactly matched.
 Thus even though the external input sources are the same, there is an
output offset(error) voltage due to this input offset voltage.

This is the same as a voltage source connected

to the amplifier’s non-inverting input.

Offset Currents and Voltages:

 The output offset voltage is determined by the input offset voltage and the
gain of the amplifier.
 This output offset voltage is due to:
an input offset voltage and
an input offset current due to the difference in currents resulting at the plus (+)
and minus inputs.
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Input offset Voltage ():

Ideally, for a zero input voltage output should be zero (when the two
input terminals are grounded). But practically it is not so. This is due
to unavoidable unbalances inside the OPAMP.
Thus, taking the commonly used practical circuit , we drive the formula for (offset)

Fig: Operation showing effect of input offset voltage,

Solving we get
,

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 The output offset voltage due to this input offset voltage is given
by:
(offset)=
 This shows how the output offset voltage results from a specified
input offset voltage for a typical amplifier connection of the op-
amp.
Example:
 Calculate the output offset voltage of the circuit in Fig. below .
The op-amp spec lists

(offset)=

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Output offset voltage due to input offset current, :
Output offset voltage also results due to any difference in DC bias
currents at both inputs still due to transistor mismatch, each will
operate at a slightly different current.

Fig: (a) Op-amp connection showing input bias currents (b) redraw
of fig (a)
 Using superposition, the output voltage due to input bias current ,
denoted by , is:⇒Non-inverting

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Total offset due to and :
 The total output offset voltage due to the factors of the input
offset voltage and current.
 The absolute magnitude is used. can be expressed as

 The absolute magnitude is used ;the offset polarity may be either

positive or negative.
Example: Calculate the total offset voltage for the following circuit.
The op-amp specification lists = , = . (offset)=

(offset )=
(offset due to )

=
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Op-amp specifications – frequency parameters
 An op-amp is designed to have a high gain, wide bandwidth
amplifier.
 This operation tends to be unstable (oscillate) due to positive
feedback.
 To insure stable operation op-amps are designed with internal
compensating circuitry, which also causes the very high open
loop gain to diminish (decrease) with increasing frequency.
 This gain reduction is called roll-off.
 In most op-amps, roll-off occurs at a rate of () or
Gain–Bandwidth:
 As the frequency of the input signal increases the open-loop gain
drops off until it finally reaches the value of .
 The frequency at this gain value is specified by the manufacturer
as the unity-gain bandwidth.
 This value is a frequency, at which the gain becomes , can be
considered as band-width, so the frequency band from to the is
the band-width of the op-amp.
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Example: the following figure illustrates the plot of gain vs frequency for a typical op-
amp

Fig: Gain versus frequency plot.

 At low frequency down to DC operation, the value of the gain is the one listed on
the manufacturers specification, which is typically very large.
 As frequency of the input signal increases, the open loop gain drops off until it
finally reaches unity.
 N.B. is the DC gain
 The frequency at this gain value is specified by the manufacturer as a unity gain
bandwidth which is the frequency at which the gain is .
 The frequency value at which gain value drops by (to ) is called cut-off frequency, .
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 Unity-gain frequency and cutoff frequency are related by
when
Example: Determine the cutoff frequency of an op-amp having specified values = 1
MHz and . 
Slew Rate (SR)
reflecting the op-amp’s ability to handle varying signals
 Slew rate = maximum rate at which amplifier output can change
in volts per microsecond ()

Example: For an op-amp having a slew rate of SR = 2 V/s, what is

the maximum closed-loop voltage gain that can be used when the
input signal varies by 0.5 V in 10 s? .   =

 Any closed-loop voltage gain of magnitude greater than 40 would

drive the output at a rate greater than the slew rate allows, so
the maximum closed-loop gain is 40

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Linear versus non-linear circuits
a. Linear circuit: a circuit in which circuit parameters ( resistance,
capacitance, inductance, waveform, frequency e.tc.) are
constant i.e. a circuit whose parameters are not changed with
respect to current and/or voltage.

Fig: (a) Linear circuit

b. Non-linear circuit: a circuit whose parameters vary (not
constant) with respect to current and voltage.

Fig: (b) Non-linear circuit

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 Active versus passive circuit elements
a. Active elements: elements that generate(produce) energy in
the form of voltage or current.
Example: Op-amps, transistor, batteries, generators etc.
- They supply energy to the circuit.
b. Passive elements: components that store or drop energy in
the form of current or voltage.
Example: Capacitor, inductor, resistor.

-They take energy from the circuit.

Op-amp Applications
 As an active filter:
 Low pass filter
 High pass filter
 Band pass filter
 Band stop filter

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Application of OP amps
 As a function generator( oscillators)
 Wien bridge oscillator
 RC phase shift oscillator
 LC oscillator
 As a comparator( Schmitt trigger):
 Square wave generator, example, in timers or clock.
 Triangular wave generator
 As voltage controlled oscillator(VCO):
Non linear op amp applications:
 Active half wave rectifier
 Active peak detector
 Active clipper
 Active clamper
 Logarithmic amplifier

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Constant gain Amplifier
Inverting Amplifier
 One of the most common op-amp circuits is the inverting constant-gain multiplier, which
provides a precise gain or amplification.

Fig : Fixed-gain (inverting) amplifier

Example: Determine the output voltage for the circuit of Fig. below with a sinusoidal input of .

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NonInverting Amplifier
 One of the most common op-amp circuits is the inverting constant-gain multiplier,
which provides a precise gain or amplification.

Fig : Fixed-gain (noninverting ) amplifier

Example: Calculate the output voltage from the circuit of Fig. below for an input of

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Multiple-Stage Gains
 When a number of stages are connected in series, the overall gain is the product
of the individual stage gains. Figure below shows a connection of three stages.
 The first stage is connected to provide non-inverting gain. The next two provide
an inverting gain.

Fig: Constant-gain connection with multiple stages.

 The overall circuit gain is then non inverting and calculated by

, Where

,,

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Example: Fig below Shows the connection of an quad op-amp as a
three-stage amplifier with gains of , and . Use a feedback resistor
for all three circuits. What output voltage will result for an input of ?

For the gain of ,  =

For the gain of , 
For the gain of , 
an input of = ,the output voltage is

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Voltage Summing
Another popular use of an op-amp is as a summing amplifier.

Fig: Summing amplifier.

Example: Calculate the output voltage for the circuit of Fig. below . The
inputs are ) and

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Voltage Subtraction
 Two signals can be subtracted, one from the other, in a number of ways.
 Fig below shows two op-amp stages used to provide subtraction of input
signals.

Fig: Circuit to subtract two signals

The resulting output is given by

, the negative sign is due to inverting amplifier

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 Another connection to provide subtraction of two signals uses only one
op-amp stage to provide subtracting two input signals.

Fig: Subtraction circuit.

 Using superposition the output can be shown to be

Example: Determine the output voltage for the circuit of Fig below

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Voltage Buffer:
A voltage buffer circuit provides a means of isolating an input signal
from a load by using a stage having unity voltage gain, with no
phase or polarity inversion, and acting as an ideal circuit with very
high input impedance and low output impedance.

Fig: Unity-gain (buffer) amplifier

.
The output voltage is determined by:
 The advantage of this connection is that the load connected
across one output has no (or little) effect on the other output. In
effect, the outputs are buffered or isolated from each other.
Fig: Use of buffer amplifier
to provide output signals.

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Instrumentation Amplifier:
 A circuit providing an output based on the difference between two
inputs (times a scale factor)
 A potentiometer is provided to permit adjusting the scale factor
of the circuit. While three op-amps are used, a single-quad op-
amp IC is all that is necessary (other than the resistor
components).

Fig: Instrumentation Amplifier

The O/p voltage can be shown

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As an active filters:
 Are formed with RC – circuits and op amps.
 Active filters are preferred to passive filters because:
• The inductors which are bulky and expensive at low critical
frequencies are estimated.
• They offer voltage gain.
• The signal never attenuates as it passes the filter.
• They provide different response characteristics.
 Before going to the active filters, let us look at RC circuit low
frequency response.

LPF HPF
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a. Active low pass filter

I. First order(single pole) low pass filter
using single resistor and single capacitor.

Fig: Low pass Filter

 Has a practical slope of -20dB.

 Voltage gain below cutoff frequency is constant ,
 Cutoff frequency,

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Two pole( Sallen key) Low pass filter:
 Also called second order active filter.
 Formed by cascading two RC elements.
 Has -40dB/decade roll-off closer to ideal characteristics.
 Voltage gain and cutoff frequency are the same as first order
active LPF.
 But the response drops at a faster rate for second order filter.

Fig: order LP active filter (b) Low pass filter response

(Practical)
N.B. N-Pole filter- contains N RC circuits.
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Active high pass filters:

Fig: High pass filter (practical)

Fig: order LP active filter order HP active filter

 Cutoff frequency , for order, for order

 Voltage gain above cutoff frequency,

High pass
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filter response (Practical) 35
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Active band pass filter:

Fig: Band pass filter (practical)

 By cascading HPF and LPF.

 Two cutoff frequencies, namely, lower and upper cutoff frequencies.
• The combined operation being the desired band pass response.
and

Fig: (a) Active band pass filter

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Fig: (a) Active band pass filter response (practical) (b) Band pass
filter (practical)
Assignment: (5%)
 Non linear op amp applications:
 Active half wave rectifier
 Active peak detector
 Active clipper
 Active clamper
 Logarithmic amplifier
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 END OF CHAPTER THREE

THANK YOU!

December 1, 2024 By: Yonas D. (M.Sc) 38