Analog & Digital Electronics

Course No: PH-218

Lec-25: Applications of Operational Amplifiers

Course Instructor:

Dr. A. P. VAJPEYI

Department of Physics,
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India 1
Triangular Oscillator using Op-AMP
When the switch is at position, positive voltage Vp is applied at the input of an
integrator and negative linear ramp is developed at the output.

In this case a constant current (I1) flows from Vp to V- and charge the C1 through
R1. Now Vo ramps down linearly. I1 = Vp/R1 ; and ∆Vo = -(Vp / R1 C1)∆t

When the switch is connected at position 3, negative voltage VN is applied at the

input of an integrator and positive linear ramp is developed at the output. In this
case Vo ramps up linearly. I1 = VN/R1 ; and ∆Vo = -(VN / R1 C1)∆t

vp

Ramp Up: ∆Vo / ∆t = - VN / ( C1· R1 )

Ramp Down: ∆Vo / ∆t = - VP / ( C1 · R1 ) 2
Triangular Oscillator using Op-AMP
Here the comparator performs the switching action.

Initially assume that output voltage of comparator ( at point A) is at its maximum

positive level, thus producing negative linear ramp up at integrator output at B.

When the negative linear ramp up voltage reaches lower trigger point (VLTP),
comparator will switches to maximum negative level.

This negative voltage will produce positive linear ramp up at integrator output.

This ramp-up continues until voltage reaches to upper trigger point (VUTP) and
at this point comparator will switch again to maximum positive level.

VUTP= +VCC · R3 / R2
VLTP = - VCC · R3 / R2 3
Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO)
Voltage controlled Oscillator is based on the principle of Varactor. VCO is an
oscillator whose frequency can be changed by a variable dc control voltage.

Voltage controlled saw-tooth oscillator can be built by connecting a switching

device (PUT) in parallel with the feedback capacitor of an op-amp integrator.

PUT is a programmable unijunction

transistor with an anode, a cathode PUT
and a gate terminal.

The gate is always biased positive

with respect to cathode.

When the anode voltage exceeds the

gate voltage by 0.7V, the PUT turns
on and act as forward bias diode.

When the anode voltage falls below

this level, the PUT turns off.
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Operation of Voltage Controlled Oscillator
Application of negative Vin at op-amp integrator produces positive linear ramp
at the output. During the time ramp is increasing, the circuit acts as a
integrator.

The PUT turns on when the output ramp (at anode) exceeds the gate voltage
by 0.7V. The gate is set to the desired sawtooth peak voltage.

When the PUT turns on, capacitor start discharging until PUT’s forward voltage
VF. Discharge continues until the PUT current falls below the holding value. At
this point PUT turns off and capacitor begins to charge again, thus generating
a new output ramp up.

The cycle continually repeats, and the resulting output is a repetitive sawtooth
waveform.

The frequency of oscillation is determined by the R1C time constant of

the integrator and the peak voltage set by the PUT gate voltage.

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Frequency of Voltage Controlled Oscillator

Charging rate of capacitor = Vin / R1C

Time taken to charge the capacitor from VF to Vp = T ( time period)

Here we neglected the rapid discharge time.

(V p − VF ) Vin 1
T= f =
Vin R1C (V p − VF )
R1C

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Sample and Hold Circuit
The sample & hold circuit is used to hold the sampled value of the input signal
for a specified period of time. Thus S/H operation has two different processes:
sampling the input signal and holding the latest sample value

Sampling Mode: In this mode, the switch is in the closed position and the
capacitor charges to the instantaneous input voltage.

Holding Mode: In this mode, the switch is in the open position. The capacitor is
now disconnected from the input. As there is no path for the capacitor to
discharge, it will hold the voltage on it just before opening the switch. The
capacitor will hold this voltage till the next sampling instant.

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Sample and Hold Circuit
All high quality sample-and-hold circuits must meet certain requirements:

1. The holding capacitor must charge up and settle to its final value as quickly
as possible.

2. When holding, the leakage current at the capacitor must be as near zero as
possible to minimize voltage drift with time.

The negative pulse at the gate of p-

channel MOSFET will turn the
switch on and the holding capacitor
will charge with a time constant
RonC to the instantaneous value of
input voltage.

In the absence of –ve pulse, the

switch is off and capacitor is
isolated from output, thus holding
the voltage.
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Characterization Parameters of an Op-Amp
Output Offset Voltage:

In an OPAMP even if the input voltage is zero an output voltage can exist.
There are two main cause of this unwanted offset voltage.
Input offset voltage.
Input offset current.

1.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 .
The smaller the input offset voltage the better the differential amplifier, because
its transistors are more closely matched. Typical value is around 6mV.

2.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.

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 Characterization Parameters of an Op-Amp
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 non-inverting input terminals. For the 741C, the range
of the input common mode voltage is ± 13V maximum.

Gain Bandwidth Product:

The gain bandwidth product is the bandwidth
of the OPAMP when the open loop voltage
gain is reduced to 1. From open loop gain vs
frequency graph, It can be found that for the
741C OPAMP, the gain reduces to 1 at 1
MHz frequency . The mid band voltage gain
is 100, 000 and cut off frequency is 10Hz.

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Characterization Parameters of an Op-Amp
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 / µsecs.

dVo
SR = ( ) max
dt

dV dV i
i=C =
dt dt C
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.

If the slope requirement is greater than the slew rate, then distortion occurs. For
the 741C the slew rate is low 0.5 V / mS. which limits its use in higher frequency
applications.
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