Lab 5 Report

Operational Amplifiers Part 3

Kevin Bradshaw & Yuan Tian
ECEN 325-503
Instructor: Sebastian Hoyos
October 7, 2015
Items
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Pre-lab
Title Page
Intro /Theory / Procedure
Summary
Experimental Results /
Analysis / Discussion
Problems Encountered
Conclusion
Questions
Total

Grade Assigned
20%
5%
10%
40%
5%
5%
15%
100%

Student's Grade

Objectives

Understand the advanced ways to manipulate the use of an

operational amplifier.
Evaluate the outputs of a lossy integrator, a pseudo-differentiator, a
non-inverting amplifier, and a unity gain buffer.
Analyze some complex configurations of operational amplifiers in order
to understand the finite Gain Bandwidth product and the Slew Rate
limitations.

Procedure
Part A: Lossy Integrator
In the first part of this lab, the lossy integrator from the pre-lab was
constructed with the values listed in Table 1. The input and output
waveforms for this circuit can be seen in Figure 1. The first input waveform
was a sinusoidal wave at 1 kHz. This frequency was then varied from 10 Hz
to 10 kHz in order to obtain the bode plots. These can be seen in Figure 2.
Afterwards, the input signal was changed to a square wave. The output wave
changed to show that over time, the voltage for each pulse in the wave
decays until the following pulse. This creates sort of a triangular wave that
can be seen in Figure 3. Lastly, the second resistor from this circuit was
removed and a sinusoidal input was reapplied to the circuit. Since there was
no output to be seen, the frequency was dropped to about 20 Hz to see if the
configuration would allow a signal through. A signal was observed at this
frequency and can also be seen in Figure 4. This shows that by removing the
second resistor, the lossy integrator becomes a low-pass filter.
Figure 1: Lossy Integrator
Input and Output Waveforms
(Sinusoidal)

Figure 2: Lossy Integrator

Magnitude and Phase Bode
Plots

Figure 3: Lossy Integrator

Input and Output Waveforms
(Triangular)

Figure 4: Lossy Integrator

Input and Output Waveforms
(R2 Removed)

Part B: First Order High-Pass Filter

In the second part of this lab, the first order high-pass filter from the pre-lab
was constructed with the values listed in Table 2. The input and output
waveforms for this circuit can be seen in Figure 5. The first input waveform
was a sinusoidal wave at 1 kHz. This frequency was then varied from 100 Hz
to 20 kHz in order to obtain the bode plots. A typical high pass filter has a
magnitude response with an upward slope, which was observed in these
plots and can be seen in Figure 6. Afterwards, the input signal was changed
to a triangular wave. The output wave changed to show that over time, the
voltage for each pulse in the wave shoots up as the input hits its upper peak
and shoots down as the input hits its lower peak. This creates sort of a
square wave that can be seen in Figure 7.
Figure 5: First Order High Pass-Filter Input and Output
Waveforms (Sinusoidal)

Figure 6: First Order High-Pass Filter Magnitude and

Phase Bode Plots

Figure 7: First Order High Pass-Filter Input and Output

Waveforms (Triangular)

Part C: Finite Gain Bandwidth Limitations in Op-amps

In the third part of this lab, the non-inverting amplifier with an AC coupled
input and an offset compensation potentiometer was constructed with the
values listed in Table 3. This configuration was built so that an offset
calibration technique can be used to calibrate the large op-amp offsets. After
the sinusoidal input was applied, the potentiometer was adjusted until both
the input and output signals could be seen on the same domain. This
calibration can be seen in Figure 8. Lastly, bode plots were obtained to
analyze the magnitude and phase responses of the amplifier. The frequency
for the bode plots ranged from 100 Hz to 35 kHz. This can be seen in Figure 9
along with its corresponding 3 dB bandwidth noted on the plot. Lastly, the
bode plots of the same circuit but with different values for the second
resistor were found. These values are listed in Table 3 and the plots can be
seen in Figures 10 and 11. Comparing the figures, it can be seen that the
higher the gain, the smaller the cutoff frequency and vice versa.
Figure 8: Non-Inverting Amplifier Input and Output
Waveforms

Figure 9: Non-Inverting Amplifier Bode Plots, Gain =

101

Figure 10: Non-Inverting

Amplifier Bode Plots, Gain = 51

Figure 11: Non-Inverting

Amplifier Bode Plots, Gain = 201

Part D: Slew Rate Limitations in Op-amps

In the final part of this lab, the unity gain buffer from the pre-lab was
constructed with a load resistor and capacitor at its output node. These
values are listed in Table 4. A 1kHz square wave was applied to this circuit
and then increased until the output waveform became triangular. The slope
is recorded in Table 4 and this waveform can be seen in Figure 12. This was
done in order to find the op-amp slew rate for the load at the output node.
Then a 1kHz sinusoidal wave was applied to this circuit and then increased
until the output waveform became triangular. The frequency at which the
output started to become distorted is also recorded in Table 4 and can be
seen in Figure 13. ThisFigure
was done
in order to find the slew rate limitation of
12: Slew Rate using a Square
the op-amp.
Wave Input

Figure 13: Slew Rate Limitation using a

Sinusoidal Input

Data Tables
Table1: Lossy Integrator
Configuration

Gain
51
101
201

Component
Resistor 1
Resistor 2
Capacitor

Value
10 k
20 k
0.2 uF

Table 2: First Order High-pass Filter

Configuration
Component
Resistor 1
Resistor 2
Capacitor

Value
1 k
20 k
33 nF

Table 3: Finite Gain Bandwidth Op-amps Circuit

Configuration
Resistor 1
Resistor 2
Capacitor
1 k
50 k
10 nF
1 k
100 k
10 nF
1 k
200 k
10 nF

Table 4: Unity Gain Buffer

Configuration

Component
Resistor 1
Capacitor 1
Slew Rate
Slew Rate Limitation

Applicable Calculations

Value
2 k
100 pF
0.42 V/s
25 kHz

General Equations:
Frequency Dependent Gain of Non Inverting Amplifier:

V out
=
V

G0
S
(1+ )
w0

G0=1+ R2 / R1
Transfer Functions:
Inverting integrator:

V out =

1
V
s R1 C

Lossy Integrator Circuit:

V out =

R2 / R 1
V
1+s R 2 C

Inverting Differentiator Circuit:

V out =sC R1 V
First Order High Pass Filter Circuit:

V out =(

R2 sC R1
)
V
R1 1+ sC R 1

Discussion
1. Data Observations:
See the Procedure section for the data observations in this lab.
2. Lossy Integrator, Resistor Observation:
In part A, when the second resistor was removed from the circuit, we
noticed that the output characteristics were similar to a first order lowpass filter with a slope of 1. To check this, we lowered the frequency
down to 21.6 Hz and observed that there was an output wave
appearing when previously at higher frequencies there was no output.
This means that the second resistor acts as a path for the current to be
dissipated in when the capacitor releases its energy. This creates
integration because of the changing state of current in a capacitor.

3. Magnitude Response Comparison:

The bode plots in the lab were much more accurate because of the
physical measurements taken but not as precise because of the small
deviation from the component values in the simulated plot. The shape
of each graph is identical but the cutoff frequency varies by a little bit.
Both plots in Part A are similar to the plots of a first order low-pass
filter and both plots in Part B are similar to the plots of a first order
high-pass filter.
4. Gain Bandwidth Product Comparison:
In the lab, we measured a cutoff frequency of 7,079.54 Hz for the gain
of 101. This comes out to a gain bandwidth product (GBP) of 714,979
Hz. This is low compared to the finite 741 op-amp's GBP of 1,200,000
Hz.
5. Slew Rate Performance Comparison:
In the lab, we found that the distortion of the output waveform
happened near 25 kHz which is a little higher than the calculated
frequency of 22 kHz. This could be more exact by close observations
when varying the input frequency. This distortion is caused by the
amplifier because it can't catch up to the input frequency. At about 22
kHz, both slew rates of the different inputs obtained from Part D are
about 0.4 V/s. This is very similar to the calculated value of slew rate
in the pre-lab.
Problems Encountered
In part D, the wrong value of capacitor was initially used and this was
observed when the bode plot was analyzed. This was fixed by using the
Digital Multi-Meter to obtain the actual measurements of each component.
Also, there were a lot of connections made to the NI Elvis board to use the
software measurement tools and so the circuit had to be properly organized
in order to avoid confusion. At first, our wires were placed all over the board
but this was fixed by using smaller wires that didn't interfere with any other
component.
Conclusion
The purpose of this lab was to understand different types of complex
configurations of operational amplifiers. In this lab we learned about four
very important op-amp circuits which included a lossy integrator, a pseudo-

differentiator, a non-inverting amplifier, and a unity gain buffer. Secondly, we

learned that we can use op-amps to create active low-pass and high-pass
filters. This is very important because of the different applications compared
to passive low-pass and high-pass filters. By observing how the inputs of
these amplifiers effect the outputs, we learned how op-amps can be used in
more dense arithmetic. We also learned about the slew rate of an amplifier
and how it can affect the output. By calculating the slew rate before a circuit
is even built, this information can give the designer a limit to the input
frequency. Lastly, the GBP constant showed us how to limit the bandwidth of
closed loop amplifiers.