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Thisarticlewaspostedon04/01/2011

Op amps 101
Thefourbasicbuildingblocksofanopamp
BYTAMARASCHMITZ
SeniorPrincipalApplicationsEngineer
Intersil
www.intersil.com(http://www.intersil.com)

Operationalamplifiersarethemainbuildingblockofanalogsystems.Theycanprovidegain,buffering,filtering,mixing
andmultiplemathematicfunctions.Insystemdiagrams,theyarerepresentedbyatrianglewithfiveconnections:
positivesupply,negativesupply,positiveinput,negativeinputandoutput(seeFig.1).Thesupplypinsareusedfor
poweringthedevice.Theymightbeconnectedto5V,forexample,orwithspecialconsideration,beconnectedto10
Vandground.Therelationshipbetweentheoutputsandtheinputsisstraightforward:
VOUT=A(VIN+VIN)
Whichmeansthattheoutputvoltageisequaltothegain(A)oftheamplifiertimesthedifferenceoftheinputvoltages.

Fig.1:Thecommoninputandoutputpinsofanopamp.
Manyengineersneverneedtoknowwhathappensinsidethismagicaltriangle.Haveyoueverbeencurious?There
arefourbasicsections:bias,2:1,gainandbuffer(seeFig.2).Thesefourstagescanbecombinedinsomeopamp
devices,butthefourfunctionsarefundamental.

Fig.2:Thefourinternalblocksofanopamp.
Biassection

Thebiassectionprovidesallofthevoltagesandcurrentsneededbytheotherthreesections.Whenyoudiveintothis
section,youfindcircuitslikebandgapsandcurrentmirrors.Bandgapsaresmallcircuitsthatprovideaconstant
voltage.Althoughthatmayseemlikeaneasytask,thevoltagemustbeconstantevenifthesupplyvoltagechangesor
ifthetemperaturechanges.Theseeffectscanbelargerthanyouexpect,sotheymustbeplannedforandcanceled
out.
Currentmirrorstakeagivencurrentandcreatecopiesofitforothercircuits.Byscalingthesizeofthetransistorsor
placingmultiplemirrorsinparallel,thesecurrentscanbeproperlysizedaswell.Thispowerfultechniqueallowsthe
opampdesignertoscaletheamountofcurrentintoeachstage.Thebiassectionoftenconsumesaverysmall
fractionofthetotalcurrentwhilethebufferstageconsumesthemostondemandcurrenttodriveanoutputload.
2:1section
Giventhatanopamphastwoinputsandoneoutput,therehastobea2:1stagesomewhereinside.Thismaybevery
closetotheinputorlaterinthesignalpath.Inthesimplestform,thecircuitthatperformsthisactioniscalleda
differentialpair.Adifferentialpairistwotransistorshookedtoacommoncurrentsource,asinFig.3.Theoperationof
thiscircuitismuchlikeaseesaw.Onaseesaw,eithersidecanadjustthebalance.IfImononesideandyouareon
theother,Icanraisewhichcausesyoursidetolower.IfinsteadIdropmyside,thenyoursideraises.Ifwecorrelate
heightofeachsideoftheseesawwiththeamountofcurrentthatflowsthrougheachsideofthedifferentialpair,
youvegotit!Inthisway,thenoninvertinginputcontrolsonesideofthecircuitandtheinvertinginputcontrolsthe
othersideofthecircuit.Whicheversidehasalargerinputvoltagewillhavelargercurrent.
Letsthinkaboutwhathappenswhenbothsideshavethesamevoltage.Remembertheseesaw.IfyouandIexertthe
sameamountofpressure(weight)onbothsidesoftheseesaw,whossidewillbehigher?Neither!Theywillbethe
sameheight.Whathappensifwebothapplymorepressure?Ifwebothapplythesameamountofpressure,thenthe
seesawstaysbalanced.Theonlywaytheseesawwillmoveisifoneofusappliesmorepressurethantheother.
Anotherwayoflookingatthisistosaythattheseesawwillonlyrespondtodifferencesinpressure.Thatisexactlythe
waytheinputsofthedifferentialpair(andtheinputsoftheopamp)work.

Fig.3:Asimple2:1stage.
Achievingthe2:1functioniseasierthanyoumightexpect.InthedifferentialcircuitshowninFig.3,therearetwo
inputsandtwooutputs.A2:1circuitwouldonlyhaveoneoutput.Okay,thenletsignoreoneoftheoutputs.Thatmay
seemcrude,butitsbeendonemanytimes.Thereareextratransistorsyoucanaddtotheunusedsideifyouwantto
foldandsumthecurrentsbacktogether,buttheyarentnecessary.Italldependsonwhatyouareoptimizingfor.For
exampleifyouareoptimizingforspaceorsimplicity,thenthereisnoneedfortheextracircuitry.
Thecriticalparameterofthissectionisoffsetvoltage.Backtotheseesaw,whatifIinstalledacomfortablechaironmy
side?Youwouldhavetoaddpressure/weighttoyourside(withoutthechair)justtobalancetheseesaw.Thesame
canoccurwiththetransistors.Offsetappearsifthetwotransistorscomposingthedifferentialpairarentexactlythe
samesizeorshape.Designersdotheirbesttocreateexactlyduplicatetransistors,buttheireffortscanbelimitedby
availablespaceoreventhestructureoftheequipmentusedtofabricatetheintegratedcircuit.
Gainsection
Gainmeanstheoutputisbiggerthantheinput.Touseabasicfinancialanalogy,ifyourinvestmentsgain,youhave
moremoney.Ifyourinvestmentsgodown,youlosemoney.Sinceanopampsprimaryroleistoprovidegain,thisis
theflagshipsectionofthedevice.Inanidealopamp,thegainisinfinite.Thatmeansthatthesmallestdifferenceinthe
inputvoltagescausestheoutputtoslamuporslamdown.Luckily,thepowersupplieslimithowfartheoutputcan
travel,sotheoutputdoesnthavetoreachthousandsormillionsofvoltsinthepositiveornegativedirection.Inthe

simplestform,thegainfunctioncanbeprovidedbyasingletransistor.Ifasingletransistorcanprovidegain,whydo
weneedtocollectmanyofthemtocreateanopamp?Asingletransistorhasoneinputandoneoutput.Theopamp
needstwobalancedinputsandmoregainthanasingletransistorcanprovide.
Sincethissectionhasthelargestamountofgain,itisalsothesectionwherewewouldincludecompensation.
Compensationinanopampmeanscreatingstability.Letmeofferabitofintuition:
Withlotsofgain,asmallinputsignalwillcauseaverylargeoutputsignal.Similarly,iftheinputvoltagechangesfrom
zerotosmall,theoutputwouldhavetochangefromzerotolarge.Thelargerthegainorthefastertheinputchanges,
thefasterweneedtheoutputtorespond.Fastcircuitsneedmorecontrol.Thinkaboutallthefeedbackandsupport
thatgoesintodrivingaracecarat200mph.Theresanentirepitcrewneeded.Nowthinkaboutwhatisneededto
driveagolfcart.Itsmucheasierandtakesmuchlessskilltodriveagolfcart.Goingbacktothecircuitfromthis
analogy,theracecarwouldneedalotofcompensationtokeepitstable(keepitfromcrashing)whilethegolfcart
wouldneedverylittle,ifanycompensation.Compensationinopampstakestheformofacapacitance,showninFig.
2connectedbetweentheinputandoutputofthegainstage.
Bufferstage
Thebufferstageservestwocriticalfunctions.First,itprotectsthegaincircuitfromanythingthatcanbeconnectedto
theoutput.Secondly,itdrivestheload.Thatmeansitcanprovidethecurrentneededtotaketheloadtothecorrect
outputvoltage.Thisstageprovidesnogain,whichmeansthattheinputvoltageandtheoutputvoltagearethesame
size.Instead,itprovidesmorecurrent,whichtranslatesintomorepower.ThinkofitliketrainingintheU.S.Army.A
colonelcouldgoandfightwithallofhisskills,butifheteachesthoseskillstoanentirebattalion,theforceofthegroup
isfarstronger.Thisisverysimilartotheactionofabuffer.Theoutputtrackstheinputtothebestofitsabilitywiththe
forceofalargercurrent,makingitArmystrong.
Whenexaminingoutputstages,youwillfinddifferentclasses:A,AB,B,C,andmoredownthealphabet.ClassAis
thesimpleststagewiththemostlinearity,butalsoburnsthemostpower.ClassBandCarerelated,eachslicingaway
differentpartsoftheoutputsignaltoadjustforoffsetsneededtoturnontransistors.Therearemanyotheroutput
stagecircuits.Someincludetransformers,someusetransmissionlinesandsomeuseclockedsignals.Allhavebeen
optimizedforspecificapplications.Aplethoraofinformationisavailableifyouwanttolearnmore.
Bringingitalltogether
SowecandefineanopampasaseesawonaracecarfollowedbyanArmybattalionfueledbythenourishmentof
thebiassection.(IwouldntsuggestputtingthatonaTshirtorsharingthiswithoneofyourcompanystechnical
fellows.)Itisauniquedevicethatprovidessomanywonderfulfunctions.Thebalancedinputcreatestheperfect
opportunitytoallowforfeedback.Feedbackwillallowustocontrolgain,totradeitforbandwidthandperformanceand
tostabilizesystems.
Fornow,letuscelebratethefourmainblocksthatmaketheopampapillaroftheanalogcommunity.Whetheryou
usefivetransistorsor500,anappreciationandunderstandingofthoseinternalcircuitsempowersyoutofindnew
waystousethegreatestanalogbuildingblock,theopamp.Tofindausefulparametricsearchtoolfordifferentkindof
opamps,gotowww.intersil.com/amps/(http://www.intersil.com/amps/).
LearnmoreaboutIntersil(/Companies/Intersil.aspx)

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