University of California at Santa Cruz

Baskin School of Engineering

EE-70L: Introduction to Circuits Lab
Laboratory 3

Introduction:
In this lab of the course, you will explore the properties of operational amplifiers, one of
the most important circuit elements in analog electronics. Make sure you read the section
on op amps in the introductory notes. First, you will use the op-amp in a DC circuit and
learn how to use it as an amplifier and determine its input and output impedance. In the
second part of the lab, you will see how you can do math on sinusoidal AC signals using
a simple op-amp circuit. At the end of the lab, you should be able to
 Understand DC and AC op-amp operation
 Determine input and output resistance/impedance
 Measure the frequency response of an amplifier
 Design an op-amp circuit that carries out a desired mathematical operation

Topics from the lecture you need to be familiar with:

 Op-amp circuit model
 Ideal op-amp technique
 Input and output impedance
 Basic op-amp circuits
 Differentiators and integrators

Pre-lab questions (hand before you leave the lab):

1. What is the approximate practical and theoretical values of the open loop gain ( gain
without negative feedback) of the amplifier that you have been given?
2. You have designed an amplifier of gain 10. The power supply to the amplifier is
between +15v and –15v. The input is 2sin(t) volts, where t is the time index. Draw the
output waveform.
3. Why do you need infinite input impedance and zero output impedance for an ideal
amplifier?
4. The input of an amplifier is 0 volts. But the output is not 0 volts in the non-ideal case.
Mention the reasons why this happens. ( Hambley Section 14.7)
1. DC amplification
a) Build the circuit shown below using a 741 op amp:

R2

VCC
I1
- R1=10k
R1
+ +
+ V2 R2=22k
V1
-
- V CC =15V
VEE
V EE =-15V

b) Apply a DC voltage V1 using the power supply. Vary V1 between –5V and +5V in 1V
steps and record the output V2.
c) Draw a graph of V2 versus V1 and find the relation between V2 and V1 from your
graph. Does this result agree with your expectations?
d) Now vary V1 between -VCC and VCC in 1V steps. Measure V2 and plot V2 versus V1.i
What behavior does the circuit exhibit now? Explain.
e) Connect a Rpot of 0-10k value instead of R2. Set V1 to 3volts and vary Rpot.
Measure V2 for each Rpot value and plot the amplification V2/V1 as a function of Rpot.
Explain your graph.
f) The amplifier used in the lab is far from ideal. If the input is 0 volts, the output need
not necessarily be 0 volts. There is some residual voltage caused by the biasing
circuitry within the amplifier. Set v1 to 0volts. Redesign the amplifier to give a gain
of 100. Measure the output voltage. This residual output voltage would offset all
your measurements. Read through the LM741 manual or tutorial from the web and
mention (you need NOT perform the experiment) how you can cancel the effect of
this offset voltage.

2. Input and output resistance

a) Put the circuit back in its original state (R1=10k, R2=22k)
b) What is the input resistance of the above circuit? ( Make the distinction between
the input impedance of an op-amp and the input impedance of the amplifier
circuit which has the opamp in it.) Measure the input resistance experimentally.
For this set V1 = 3V. Measure the current I1. ( Make sure you are NOT
connecting the ammeter in parallel with R1.)
c) Determine the output impedance Zout from the load line you get by measuring the
open circuit voltage and voltage and current with a load resistor (e.g. 10 k). Do
NOT short circuit the output! Can you justify your result for Zout with the ideal op
amp laws? Given this result for Zout, what load resistor would draw the most
power from this op amp circuit?
 d) Reconnect the amplifier in the non inverting mode. ( Section 14.3 of Hambley).
Use the same values of resistances R1 and R2. Verify if Vo for V1=3V is as
expected. Measure the input impedance of this circuit.

3. AC amplification
a) Use the same circuit as in (1). Now use the function generator as input. Use a
sinusoidal signal with amplitude 1V and frequency 100Hz. Set the oscilloscope to
the appropriate time scale to observe a few periods and display both input V1 and
output signal V2. Does the output signal agree with your expectations? Can you
measure a phase difference between V1 and V2?
b) Drive the amplifier into the nonlinear regime found in part 1d) by increasing the
amplitude of V1. Observe V2 on the scope and describe what you see.
c) Set V1 back to 1volt. Vary the frequency in the signal generator between 1hz and
100khz. (1,2,5,10,20,50,…,10000 Hz). Is your gain dependent on the frequency?

4. Integrator

d) Build the following integrator circuit:

RDC

C
R
- R =39k
+ +
V2 C =10 nF
V1 ~
- RDC =10M

NOTE: RDC compensates for nonidealities of the op-amp at DC and does not
(visibly) affect the AC operation of the integrator circuit.
e) Again, use an amplitude of 1V for V1 and f=100Hz and observe V2 on the scope.
What are amplitude and phase difference with respect to V1 of the output voltage?
Does this agree with your expectation? NOTE: If the shape of your output signal
looks strange or is unstable, talk to your TA. You may have a DC offset problem
and may have to increase RDC.
f) Vary the frequency between 1Hz and 100kHz in suitable steps
(1,2,5,10,20,50,…,100000 Hz). Measure the amplification V2,max/V1,max. Plot
20log(V2,max/V1,max) versus log(f). Is the circuit a low pass filter or a high pass
filter?
g) If the signal generator has provision to generate square pulses use that. Observe
the output waveform. Plot the waveform to verify if the circuit is acting like a
integrator.
5. Differentiator
Repeat part (4) with the positions of resistance R and the position of the parallel
combination of C and Rdc interchanged.i.e. connect the parallel combination of C and
Rdc between the input and the negative terminal of the op-amp. Connect resistor R on the
feedback path.