Introduction:

Operational amplifiers are linear devices that have all the properties required for nearly
ideal DC amplification and are therefore used extensively in signal conditioning, filtering or to
perform mathematical operations such as add, subtract, integration and differentiation.

An Operational Amplifier is fundamentally a voltage amplifying device designed to be

used with external feedback components such as resistors and capacitors between its output and
input terminals. These feedback components determine the resulting function or operation of
the amplifier and by virtue of the different feedback configurations whether resistive, capacitive
or both, the amplifier can perform a variety of different operations, giving rise to its name of
Operational Amplifier.

An Operational Amplifier is basically a three-terminal device which consists of two high

impedance inputs, one called the Inverting Input, marked with a negative or minus sign, ( )
and the other one called the Non-inverting Input, marked with a positive or plus sign ( + ).The
third terminal represents the operational amplifiers output port which can both sink and source
either a voltage or a current.

In a linear operational amplifier, the output signal is the amplification factor, known as
the amplifiers gain ( A ) multiplied by the value of the input signal and depending on the nature
of these input and output signals, there can be four different classifications of operational
amplifier gain. They are voltage gain, current gain, transconductance gain and transresistance
gain.

The input offset voltage is a parameter defining the differential DC voltage required
between the inputs of an amplifier, especially an operational amplifier (op amp), to make the
output zero. Input bias current and input offset current also affect the net offset voltage seen for a
given amplifier

The Slew Rate of an op amp describes how fast the output voltage can change in response
to an immediate change in voltage at the input. The higher the value (in V/s) of slew rate, the
faster the output can change and the more easily it can reproduce high frequency signals.
Objective:

To determine the amplifier offset parameters Vio, IB1, IB2, and Iio.
To compensate for the offset voltage by using the IC Offset Voltage Null Capability.
To determine the amplifier rise time, slew rate and 3-dB bandwidth.

Equipment:
1 Digital Multimeter
1 Dual Output Regulated DC Power Supply
1 Arbitrary Function Generator SFG-830
1 Oscilloscope
1 Breadboard
Patching Wires
1 Op-Amp A741C
Capacitors: 2 0.01 F
Resistors: 2 100 k, 2 1 M, 2 10 k, 1 51
Potentiometer: 1 10 k
Procedures:
A. Measurement Of Offset Parameters:
1. The DC Power Supply was set up to supply 15 V.
2. The circuit was connected as shown in Figure 1.
3. Both switches S1 and S2 were closed. The output voltage vO was measured and the readings
were recorded in the table provided.
4. Switch S1 was opened and switch S2 was closed. The output voltage vO was measured. The IB2
was calculated.
5. Switch S1 was closed and switch S2 was opened. The output voltage vO was measured. The
biasing current IB1 was calculated.
6. Both switches S1 and S2 were both opened. The output voltage vO was measured. The input
offset current Iio was calculated.
7. Steps 4 to 7 were repeated using R1 = RF = R = 1 M.
8. The manufacturer of the op-amp was noted down. The results were compared with the
manufacturers specifications.

B. Using Offset Voltage Null:

1. The circuit was connected as shown in Figure 2.
2. The range of dc voltage was observed as the potentiometer is varied.
3. The results were recorded in the table provided.

C. Measurement Of Rise Time, Slew Rate And 3 dB Bandwidth

1. A 15 V DC supply was set up for the op-amp experiments as shown in Figure 3.
2. The circuit was patch up as shown in Figure 3.
3. Square wave was selected from the Function Generator.
4. The peak to peak voltage level of the function generator was set to 120 mV.
5. Using the oscilloscope, the peak to peak voltage level was measured and recorded.
6. The frequency of the function generator was set to 300 kHz.
7. The rise time, tr was measured and the bandwidth was calculated.
8. The amplitude was increased in steps of 0.100 Vp.
9. The change in exponential rise and fall was observed and described.
10. The signal amplitude was increased until 2.02 V peak. The slew rate was measured in V/ s.
The quantity along the rising and falling edges was determined.
11. The signal amplitude was set back to 0.1200 V peak and sine wave was selected.
12. The frequencies were set as in Table 3, and then the peak amplitude was recorded in the table
provided. The magnitude versus frequency was plotted and the 3 dB bandwidth was
determined.
13. The sine signal was set to 1 kHz and 1.00 V peak.
14. The frequency was increased gradually. The waveform was observed as the sine wave
frequency increases beyond approximately 100 kHz. Observation was described
15. fs(max) was determined. The waveform from Channel 1 and Channel 2 was sketched.
16. The slew rate was calculated.
17. The results and observations were compared and discussed.
Circuit Diagrams:

Two 15 supply in SERIES connection

Figure 1: Measuring offset parameters of an op-amp

DVM

Figure 2: Offset voltage null capability

Figure 3: Measuring rise time, slew rate and 3 dB bandwidth of an op-amp

Results:
Part a:
Measured vO (mV) Calculated Current (nA)
Step
R1 = RF = R1 = RF = 1 Equation R1 = RF = R1 = RF = 1
No.
100 k M 100 k M
4 -1.2 -1.2 Vio VO - -
v O vio
5 2.4 36.6 I B2 36 37.8
RF

vO vio
6 -5.5 -39.9 I B1 43 38.7
R1

vO vio
I io
7 -1.3 -2.0 R1 RF 1 0.8

Table 1: results for experiment part a

Manufacturer: Texas instrument

Discussion for step 9: the biasing current, input offset voltage and the input offset current obtain
form the experiment is lower than the typical value found in the datasheet.

Part b:

mV NULL (0 mV) + mV
-10.6 8.0

Table 2: results for experiment part b

Part c:

Vpp from the oscilloscope = 128mV

t r 0.52 s
Rise time,
0.35 0.35
f 673077
tr 0.52 10 6
Bandwidth, Hz

Observation for step 10: The output voltage increase and the square wave become triangle wave
as the input voltage increase.

2.12 0.9 2.12 0.1

Rising edge 0.6784 V s
2. 5
2.12 0.9 2.12 0.1
Falling edge 0.7067 V s
2.50
Slew rate 0.6926 V s

10 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Frequency 1 kHz
kHz kHz kHz kHz kHz kHz kHz kHz
vO (mV) 138 136 136 132 124 116 108 100 92
Norm Vo 1 0.99 0.99 0.96 0.90 0.84 0.78 0.72 0.67

800 900 1 1.2 1.5 2 2.4 3 4

Frequency
kHz kHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz
vO (mV) 84 76 72 60 46 34 30 22 16
Norm Vo 0.61 0.55 0.52 0.43 0.33 0.25 0.22 0.16 0.12

Table 3: results for experiment part c

 10
Norm V O

0.1
1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000
Frequency

Figure 4: log-log graph of normalize Vo against frequency

-3 dB bandwidth = 660000 Hz

Observation for step 15: The sine wave change into triangle wave as the frequency increase.

fs(max) = 250 KHz

waveform:
 figure 5: waveform of source 1 and source 2

SR 2f s max Vm 2 (250000)(1) 1.571 V s

Slew rate,

Observation for step 18: The slew rate obtained from the square wave is different from the slew
rate obtained from the sine wave. As the waves exceed the slew rate limitation, the waveform of
both wave changed into triangle wave.
Discussion:

For part a, the biasing current, IB was found to be average of 38 nA, the input offset
voltage, Vio was found to be -1.2 mV and the input offset current, I io was found to be average of
0.9 nA . when compared to the manufacturers datasheet, the biasing current, input offset current
and the input offset voltage obtained from the experiment is smaller when compared to the
specification in the datasheet. This may be due to both the input offset current and input offset
voltage are affected by changes in temperature, and tend to drift higher as temperature increases.
The different between the value obtained from the experiment and the datasheet can be also
cause by the different in resistance value of the resistors used and the resistance from the
connecting wires.

For part b, the offset null capability is used to reduce small DC offsets that can be
amplified. These can be important in DC amplifiers where these small voltages can then become
significant where large gains are required. The range of dc voltage as the potentiometer was
varied was found to be from -10.6 mV to 8.0 mV.

For part c, when the function generator was connected directly to the digital
oscilloscope, the output voltage obtained was 260 mV however when the function generator was
connected to the circuit, the output voltage of function generator obtained was 128 mV. This is
because there is a 50 internal resistor in the function generator whereas there no internal
resistor in the digital oscilloscope. When the function generator was connected to the circuit the
51 in the circuit was used in impedance matching for the digital oscilloscope. From the
experiment, the rise time obtain was 520 ns and the bandwidth of the op-amp obtained from
calculation was 673077 Hz.

From the experiment, the rising edge obtained was 0.6784 V/s, the falling edge
obtained was 0.7067 V/s and the slew rate obtained was 0.6926 V/s. When the amplitude of
output voltage of the function generator increase, the waveform of the square waveform changed
into triangle waveform. This is due to the op amp operated above its slew limit. The slew rate
obtained from the datasheet was 0.5V/s whereas the op amp is operating under the slew rate of
0.6926 V/s.

As the frequency increase, the output voltage decrease. From the log-log graph, the
-3 dB bandwidth obtained was 660000 Hz which is close to the value obtained from calculation.
When frequency of the function generator increase, the waveform of the sine waveform changed
into a triangle waveform. The frequency at which distortion due to slew rate limitation was 250
kHz. The slew rate obtained with this frequency was 1.571 V/ s which is higher than the slew
rate obtained from the datasheet which was 0.5 V/ s. From the experiment, the slew rate is
observed to be affected by the peak voltage and the frequency. When the slew rate exceeds the
slew rate limitation, it will cause a distortion of the waveform. The values obtained from the
experiment was correct.
Conclusion:

For part a, the amplifier offset parameters was successfully determined. The input offset
voltage obtained was 1.2 mV, the biasing current obtained was average of 38 nA and the input
offset current obtained was average of 0.9 nA. The input offset voltage, biasing current and the
input offset current was lower when compared to the specification obtained from the datasheet.
The difference is due to the testing environment of the op amp.

For part b, the offset voltage was successfully compensated by using the IC Offset
Voltage Null Capability. The range of dc voltage as the potentiometer is varied was found to be
from -10.6 mV to 8mV.

For part c, the amplifier rise time, slew rate and 3-dB bandwidth were successfully
determined. the rise time obtained is 520 ns and the calculated bandwidth obtained is 673077 Hz.
When the amplitude of output voltage of function generator increase, the square waveform
changed into triangle waveform. The slew rate obtained was 0.6926 V/ s. The -3 dB bandwidth
obtained from the graph was 660000 Hz which is close to the calculated bandwidth. When the
frequency of the function generator increase, the sine waveform changed into a triangle
waveform. The frequency at which distortion due to slew rate limitation was 250 kHz. The slew
rate obtained with this frequency was 1.571 V/ s. When the slew rate is higher than the slew
rate limitation, it will cause a distortion in the waveform.
References:

1. Ian, P. (no date) Op Amp Slew Rate: Tutorial; Formula; Calculator. Available online at:
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/circuits/opamp_basics/operational-amplifier-slew-
rate.php (Accessed: 4 March 2017).
2. Barde, R. (2013) Operational amplifier basics - op-amp tutorial. Available online at:
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/opamp/opamp_1.html (Accessed: 4 March 2017).
3. Op amp characteristics (2007) Available online at: http://www.learnabout-
electronics.org/Amplifiers/amplifiers64.php (Accessed: 4 March 2017).