Abstract:
The term "operational amplifier" was originally intended to denote an amplifier circuit that performed various mathematical operations such as integration, differentiation, summation, and subtraction. The application of the operational amplifier, however, has been so vastly extended that, today, this term suggests a device that finds the widest use in such applications as signal amplification and wave shaping, servo and process controls, analog instrumentation and system design, impedance transformation, and many other routine functions. This versatile circuit may also be used in many non-linear applications such as voltage comparators, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, logarithmic amplifiers, and non-linear function generators.The great versatility and many advantages of operational amplifiers stem from the use of negative feedback to control response characteristics If the amplifier circuit provides sufficient gain, the closed-loop amplifier characteristics become a function of only the feedback components. The versatility in the application of the operational amplifier, therefore, is limited primarily by only the ingenuity of the circuit designer or user in the selection and arrangement of feedback components.The purpose of this paper is to gain adequate knowledge of operational amplifiers by understanding just what they are, how they function and how they may be applied to take advantage of this versatility.