Home / Operational Amplifiers / Operational Amplifier Basics mentoo Never Operational Amplifier Basics Operational Amplifiers, or Op-amps as they are mare commonly called, are one of the basic building blocks of Analogue Electronic Circuits Operational amplifiers ae inear devices that have allthe properties required for nearly ideal DC amplification and are therefore used extensively in signal concitioning, filtering orto perform mathematical operations such as add, subtract, integration and differentiation, ‘An Operational Amplifier, or op-amp for short. is fundamentally a voltage amplifying device designed tobe used with external feedback components such as resistors and capacitors between ts output and input terminals. These feedback components determine the resulting function or “operation of the amplifier and by virtue ofthe different feecback configurations whether resstve, capacitive or both, the amplifier can perform a variety of different operations ivingrise tots name of Operational Amplifier: ‘An Operational Amplifier is basically athree-terminal device which consists of two high impedance inputs. One of the inputs scaled the Inverting Input, marked with anegativeorminus sign, (~The other inputs called the Non-inverting Input, marked witha postive orlus sign (+). third terminalrepresents the operational amplifer outgut port which can both sink andsource either voagear acurrent.Inalinear operational amplifer the output signals the ampifcation factor, known 3s the ampifers gain( A) multiplied by the value the input signal and dependingon the nature of these input and output signals, there canbe four different classcations of operational ampliser gan Voltage - Voltage''in’and Voltage “out” Current - Current "in’and Current “out” Transconductance - Voltage "in" and Current ‘out” ‘Transresistance - Current "in’ and Voltage “out” ‘Since most ofthe circuits dealing with operational amplifies are voltage amplifiers, we willimit the tutorials inthis section to voltage amplifiers only, (Vin and Vout) The output voltage signal from an Operational Amplifier isthe difference between the signals being applied tits two indvicual inputs. nother words, an op-amps ‘output signal's the difference between the two input signals asthe input stage ofan Operational Amplifier isin facta differential amplifier as shown below. Differential Amplifier “The circuit below shows a generalized form of acfferential amplifier with two inputs marked V1 and V2. The two identical transistors TR: Som. biased at the same operating point with their emitters connected together and retuned tothe common rail Vee byway of resistorRe, fi ‘Theciuitopeatestrom cual supply +*Vecand-Vee which ensuresa constant supp The otage that ppeasatthe output Voutofth 4.5 difference between the two input signals as the two base inauts are in antiphase with eachother, ee‘Sos the forward bias of transistor, TR1 is increases, the forward bias of transistor TR2's reduced and vice versa ‘Thenif the two transistor are perfectly matched, the current flowing through the common emitter resistor, Re will remain constant. Like the input signal, the output signals also balanced and since the collector voltages either swingin opposite directions (anti-phase) or inthe same direction (in-phase) the output voltage signal taken from between the two callectorsis, assuming @ perfectly balanced circuit the zero difference betiveen the two collector voltages. Tnisis known as the Common Made of Operation with the common mode gain of the amplifier being the output gain when the input is zero, (Operational Amplifiers also have one output although there are ones with an additional differential output} of low impedance thats referenced toa common ground terminal andit should ignore any common made signals thats, Differential Amplifer an identical signals applied to both the inverting and non-inverting inputs there should ro change to the output However, in real amplifiers there is always some varation and the ratio ofthe change tothe output voltage with regards to the change inthe common mode input voltage is called the Common Mode Rejection Ratio or CMRR for short. Operational Amplifiers on their own havea very high onen loop DC gain and by applying some form of Negative Feedback we can produce an operational amplifier circuit that has a very precise gain characteristic that is dependant only onthe feedback used, Note that the term “open loop" means that there areno feedback components used around the amplifier so the feedback path or oop is pen ‘Anoperational amplifier only responds to the diference between the voltages on its two input terminals, known commonly asthe "Differential Input Voltage” and not to their common potential Then f the same voltage potential i applied to both terminals the resultant output will be zero. An Operational Amplifiers gain is commonly known as the Open Loop Differential Gain, andis given the symbol (Ag) Equivalent Circuit of an Ideal Operational Amplifier ge “cere t AVeV:) > Output a ° . é Op-amp Parameter and Idealised Characteristic Open Loop Gain, (Avo) Infinite - The main function of an operational amplifier is to amplify the input signal and the more open loop gain it has the better. Open-loop gain is the gain of the op-amp without positive or negative feedback and for such an amplifier the gain will be infinite but typical real values range from about 20,000 to 200,000. Input impedance, (Zjy) Infinite - Input impedance is the ratio of input voltage to input current and is assumed to be infinite to prevent any current flowing from the source supply into the amplifiers input circuitry (y= 0). Real op-amps have input leakage currents from a few pico-amps to a few milli-amps. Output impedance, (Zour) ow Zero - The output impedance of the ideal operational amplifier is assumed to be zero acting as a perfer /""" voltage source with no internal resistance so that it can supply as much current as necessary to the loa 2°" resistance is effectively in series with the load thereby reducing the output voltage available to the loa 10. mw have output impedances in the 100-20k® range.Bandwidth, (BW) Infinite - An ideal operational amplifier has an infinite frequency response and can amplify any frequency signal from DC to the highest AC frequencies so itis therefore assumed to have an infinite bandwidth. With real op-amps, the bandwidth is limited by the Gain-Bandwidth product (GB), which is equal to the frequency where the amplifiers gain becomes unity. Offset Voltage, (Vio) Zero - The amplifiers output will be zero when the voltage difference between the inverting and the non-inverting inputs is zero, the same or when both inputs are grounded. Real op-amps have some amount of output offset voltage. From these idealized” characteristics above, we can see thatthe input resistance's infinite, so ne current flows into either input terminal (the “current rule’) and ‘that the differential input offset voltages zero the" age rule). Itisimportant to remember these two properties as they will help us understand the workings of the Operational Amplifier with regards to the analysis and design of op-amp circuits However, real Operational Amplifiers such as the commonly avallable uA74, for example do net have infinite gain or bandwidth But havea typical“Ogen Loop Gai" whichis defined asthe amplifiers output amplification without any external feedback signals connected to it and for atypical operational amplifier is about 410048 at DC (zero He). Tis output gain decreases linearly with frequency down to Unity Gan’ or 1, about 1MHz and this is shown in te following open loop sain response curve, Open-loop Frequency Response Curve A 0 ets St aa a tL ‘Operational Ampiiier Boo Open ioop Gan “0 Votage Gai 2 Frequency in Hertz From this frequency response curve we can se he unity gin (048) frequency also determines the galn of te amplifier at any point along the curve. This constant is generally known as the Gain Bandwidth Product or GBP. ‘Therefore: he product ofthe gain against frequency is constant at any point along the curve. Also GBP = Gain x Bandwidth = Ax BW For example, from the graph above the gain ofthe amplifier at 100kHz is gven 2s 20dB or 10, then the gain bandwidth producti calculated as: GBP = Ax BW = 10x 100,000H: = 1,000,000. Similarly, the operational amplifiers gain at kHz = 6048 or 1000, therefore the GBP is given as: GBP = Ax BW = 1,000 x 1,000Hz = 1,000,000. The same! “The Voltage Gain (Ay) ofthe operational amplifier can be found using the following formula: Vout Voltage Gain, (A) = in Google andin Decibels o (Bis given as: Now note 20log(A) or 20log wa ingB‘An Operational Amplifiers Bandwidth The operational amplifers bandwidth is the frequency range over which the voltage gain of the amplifier is above 70.7% or -348 (where OdB isthe maximum) ofits ‘maximum output value as shown below. i porecoan Voltage Gann in 8 Cr a Frequency in Hertz wa 0 Here we have used the 4048 line as an example. The -2d8 or 70.7% of Vmax down pont from the frequency response curve s given as 37AB. Takinga line across until it intersects with the main GBP curve gives usa frequency point just above the 10kHzline at about 12 to 15kHz, We can naw caleulate thismore accurately as ‘we already know the GBP ofthe amplifier, inthis particular case 1MH2. Operational Amplifier Example Not. Using the formula 20 log (A), we can calculate the bandwidth of the amplifier as 37 10 log (A) therefore, A GBP +A = Bandwidth, therefore, 1,000,000 + 70.8 = 14,124Hz, or 14kHz “Then the bandwidth ofthe amplifier ata gain of 4048 is given as 14kH2z as previously predicted from the graph Operational Amplifier Example No2. If the gain ofthe operational amplifier was reduced by half to say 20dB inthe above frequency response curve the -3d8 point would now be at 178, This would then give the operational amplifier an overall gain of 7.08, therefore A = 7.08 Ife use the same formula as above this new gain would give usa bandwidth of approximately 144.2kHz, ten times more than the frequency given atthe 4048 point. Itcan therefore be seen that by reducing the overall’open loop gainof an operational amplifier its bandwidth is increased and visa versa Inother words, an operational amplifiers bandwidth s inversely proportional to its gan, (A 1/-» BW). Also this -34B corner frequency points generally known 2s the ‘half power point’ as the output power of the amplifiers at halts maximum value a shown: Power, P f [ier : ] Aeite nt - TAT Ser eae Ie R=t and Vort = 0:707imax a ee rien: = [OOM] fo zartsayet P= 0.5V or 0.51 (half power) ‘We know now that an Operational amplifiers is a very high gain DC differential amplifier that uses one or more external feedback network (0 Operational Amplifiers Summary and characteristics. We can connect external resistors or capacitors tothe op-amp in a number of cfferent ways to form basic “bullding Ble Invert, Non-Irverting, Voltage Follower, Summing, Differential, Integrator and Differentator type amplifier.‘An ideal or perfect operational amplifier is a device with certain special characteristis suchas infinite open-loop gain Ap, finite input resistance Ryy,2er0 output resistance Roy. infinite bandwidth Oto and zero offset (the output i exactly zero when the inputs zero “There area ery large number of operation amplifier IC's availabe to suit every possible application fram standard bipolar, precision, high-speed, low-noise, high-voltage, ete, neither standard configuration or with internal Junetion FET transistors. Operational amplifiers are available in IC packages of ether single, dal or quad op-amps within one single device, The most commonly avalable anc used of all operational amplifiers in basic electronic kits and projects is the industry standard wA-741, ‘op-amp Symbol Inthe next tutorial about Operational Amplifiers, we will use negative feedback connected around the op-amyp to produce a standard closed-loop amplifier circuit called an Inverting Amplifier circuit that produces an output signal which is 180°"out-of-phase" with the input 211 Comments Join the conversation Your Name Email Address Write our comment here Notify me of follow-up comments by email. ttt 10 ochers bectosNope Not very helpful need more explanation Sarikonda Samhita Droleined sowell Posten uy 30020191229 6 Ninad ‘The gainis very high when the input vltage is very low, why in practicalonampnt able to produce high amount of wokage Poctedan uy 242019 [22m John ‘types Op-amos. Pstedon uvosth2019| 20:24am Varikallu aswani Super explain Paton ne 252019 [450 Natnael Yushoul include some problems ithe solution if you are int Md Azhar t (What suse snitch and what sts equation Sih fie tick fieRimsha Ines ost simple and advance solution o information on operational am Zafeer Ahmed besr tutorials Deepika Inclosed Posted uy 34h 20171135 Wayne Storr ional amplier in open loop tick