Operational Amplifiers -Introduction

An op amp can perform a number of mathematical operations (e.g., sum

signals, amplify a signal, integrate it, or differentiate it), thus obtain its name
Internally, an op amp is quite complicated, but externally, an op amp
behaves like a voltage-controlled voltage source
It can be modeled as shown, the input-output
relationship is given by vo=Avd =A(v2-v1)
An op amp has the following characteristics:
Very high gain A (105 to 108)
High input resistance Ri (105 to 1013)
Low output resistance Ro (10 to 100)
Notice that a practical limitation of the op amp is that the magnitude of its
output voltage cannot exceed |VCC|, where VCC is the power supply voltage
(usually 12 to 15V)

Due to the very high gain of op amp, the linear region of the output voltage
is very very narrow, e.g., if VCC=15 and A=105, vd 0.15mV in order to
operate in linear region
Due to the above reason, the concept of negative feedback is very important
in op amp circuit
Example: Assume A=2105 , Ri =2M, Ro =50 and the op amp is
connected as shown in Fig. a). Find vo/vs. Also, determine i when vs=2V.
Using the simplified input-output model of op amp shown
in previous slide, we obtain the equivalent circuit of Fig. b)
We use nodal analysis to find vo
At node 1, KCL gives
vs v1 v1 v v
1 o
10 103 2000 103 20 103
Simplifying the equation gives
200vs 301v1 100vo (1)
At node O,
v1 vo v Avd
o
20 103 50
2
 But vd=-v1, and A=200,000, put these into the above equation gives
401
v1 vo (2)
80, 000, 000
Put (2) into (1) gives
401 v
200vs 301 vo 100vo => o 1.999969825
80, 000, 000 vs
This is so called the closed loop gain
When vs=2V, vo=-3.99993965V. Also, v1=20.0496975V. Thus
v v
i 1 o 0.19999799 A
20 103
It is evident that working with a non-ideal op amp is tedious, as we are dealing
with very large number

Ideal op amp
To facilitate the understanding of op amp circuit, ideal op amp is used
An ideal op amp has the following characteristics:
Infinite open-loop gain, A=
Infinite input resistance, Ri=
Zero output resistance, Ro=0
Although the analysis using an ideal op amp is only an approximation, the
result is accurate enough for design purpose
The ideal op amp model is shown in the right
Two additional important characteristics of the
ideal op amp are:
i1=0, i2=0 (due to the infinite input resistance)
v1=v2 (due to the infinite open-loop gain and assuming the op amp is not
saturated)

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 Inverting amplifier
With the ideal op amp model, we rework the previous example
Here, we consider a more general case as shown in the figure below
This configuration has a special name: inverting amplifier
Apply KCL at node 1, we have i1=i2 or equivalently
vi v1 v1 vo

R1 Rf
v
i o v
But v1=v2=0 for ideal op amp, we have
R1 Rf
or the closed loop gain is vo Rf

vi R1
For the previous example, R1=10k, Rf=20k. This gives vo/vi =-2
Obviously, the use of ideal op amp greatly simply the analysis
The gain of the amplifier depends on the external resistors
An inverting amplifier reverses the polarity of the input signal while
amplifying it
The equivalent model is shown at the right 5

Example: Determine vo in the op amp circuit shown

Note that this circuit look like the inverting amplifier,
but it is not. The closed loop gain equation cannot be
applied directly
v v 6 va
Apply KCL at node a, we have a o
40k 20k
This implies vo 3va 12
But va=vb=2V for an ideal op amp
Hence, vo=6-12=-6V
Notice that if the 2V source is removed, i.e., vb=0= va, then vo=-12 and can be
computed from the closed loop gain expression in the previous slide

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 Noniverting amplifier
Noninverting amplifier is another important configuration of op amp and is
shown below
The input voltage vi is applied directly at the
noninverting input
Applying KCL at the inverting terminal gives
0 - v1 v1 vo
i1 i2 =>
R1 Rf
vo Rf
1
But v1=v2= vi , put this into the above equation, we obtain vi R1
Again we notice that the gain depends only on external resistors
Special case: if Rf=0 or R1= or both, the gain become 1.
The resulting configuration is called voltage follower
It is used as buffer amplifier to isolate one circuit from another as shown
below

Example on voltage follower

Example: Determine vL for both circuits:

In Fig a), vL=10/(10+90)vs=0.1vs

In Fig b), no current flows in the signal source because the very large op amp
input resistance
So, there is a zero voltage drop across the source internal resistance
And the entire source voltage appears at the noniverting input terminal
The output of the op amp is then equals vs
Due to the very low output resistance of an op amp, vL=vs
The insertion of the voltage follower results in an increase in the load voltage
from 0.1vs to vs

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 Summing amplifier
Op amp can also perform summation
Consider the circuit shown below
Careful examination reveals that this is a
variation of the inverting amplifier
Apply KCL at node a gives
va vo v1 va v2 va v3 va
i i1 i2 i3 =>
Rf R1 R2 R3

But note that va=0, the above equation becomes

Rf Rf Rf
vo v1 v2 v3
R1 R2 R3

Therefore, the output is the weighted sum of the inputs

The summer can be extended to have more than three inputs

Example: Calculate vo and io in the op amp shown below

This is a summer with two inputs
Using the summer expression in the last slide,
10 10
vo (2) (1) (4 4) 8V
5 2.5
The current io is the sum of the currents through
the 10k and 2k resistors. Both of these resistors have voltage vo=-8V across
them since va=vb=0. Hence,
v 0 vo 0
io o (0.8 4)mA 4.8mA
10000 2000

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 Differential amplifier
Consider the op amp circuit shown at the right
Apply KCL to node a,
v1 va va vo R R
=> vo 2 1 va 2 v1 (1)
R1 R2 1
R R1

Apply KCL to node b,

v2 vb vb 0 R4
=> vb v2 (2)
R3 R4 R3 R4

But since va=vb, substituting (2) into (1) yields

R (1 R1 / R2 ) R
vo 2 v2 2 v1
R1 (1 R3 / R4 ) R1
Therefore, the circuit performs weighted subtraction
If we want the circuit to perform simple subtraction, we require that vo=0
when v1=v2. This property exists when R1 R3
R2 R4
R2
The input-output relationship becomes vo (v2 v1 )
R1 11

Example: Design an op amp circuit with input v1 and v2 such that vo=-5v1
+3v2
Approach 1. If we desire to use only one op amp, we have to use the
expression R2 (1 R1 / R2 ) R2
vo v2 v1
R1 (1 R3 / R4 ) R1
-- Comparing the expression with vo =3v2 -5v1 , we have
R2
R 5 R2 5 R1
1
=>
R2 (1 R1 / R2 ) 3 R3 R4
R1 (1 R3 / R4 )

-- If we choose R1=10k, R3=20k, then R2=50k and R4=20k

Approach 2. If we desire to use more than one op amp, we may cascade an
inverting op amp with a two-input inverting summer as shown below
-- For the summer, vo=-va-5v1
-- For the inverter, va=-3v2
-- Combining the equations gives vo=3v2 -5v1
-- We may select R1=R3=10k
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 Example: Find the input-output voltage relationship for the figure shown
Recognize that the op amp A3 is a differential
amplifier, from the previous discussions,
R
vo 2 (vo 2 vo1 ) (1)
R1
Since the op amp A1 and A2 draw no current,
hence vo1 vo 2 i ( R3 R4 R3 ) (2)
But i can also be expressed as i=(va-vb)/R4 and
va=v1, vb=v2
Therefore, i (v1 v2 ) / R4 (3)
Put (2) and (3) into (1), we get
R 2R
vo 2 1 3 (v2 v1 )
R1 R4

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Cascaded op amp circuits

Op amp circuits can be cascaded to give a large overall gain

Op amp circuits have the advantage that they can be cascaded without
changing their input-output relationships
This is due to the fact that each (ideal) op amp circuit has infinite input
resistance and zero output resistance
For the three-stage cascade circuit shown above, A=A1A2A3
Example: Find vo and io in the circuit shown at the right
Recognize that this is a cascade of two noninverting
amplifiers
12 10
va 1 (20) 100mV, vo 1 va 350mV
3 4
v v v v 250 103
io o b o a 25 A
10000 10000 10000
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 Example: If v1=1V and v2=2V, find vo
Notice that A and B are inverting amp,
so 6
va v1 3v1
2
8
vb v2 2v2
4
C part is a summation circuit, so
10 10 2
vo va vb 2(3v1 ) (2v2 ) 6v1 (4 / 3)v2
5 15 3
Put v1=1V and v2=2V, we get vo=8.667V

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