Op Amps

Op Amps, short for Operational Amplifiers, are semiconductor devices commonly used in analogue electronic circuits. They work by receiving an input signal and amplifying it into a stronger output signal. Op Amps offer a very high voltage gain.

How do Op Amps work?

Op Amps provide mathematical operations such as addition, multiplication, differentiation, and integration. They are voltage amplifiers which usually have a differential input and a single-ended output.

There are two inputs into an Operational Amplifier which are called inverting (-) and non-inverting (+) inputs. If you were to increase the voltage to the inverting input, the output voltage decreases. Alternatively, if you increase the voltage to the non-inverting input, the output voltage increases. If an equal voltage is supplied to both inputs, the output will not change.

What is a differential amplifier?

Op Amps are often referred to as differential amplifiers. This is because the output of an Op-Amp is relative to the difference between the input voltages.

Where are Op Amps used?

Operational amplifiers have a wide variety of uses in electronic circuits.

Op Amp Applications

• Crystal oscillators and waveform generators
• Audio- and video-frequency pre-amplifiers and buffers
• Integrators
• Comparators
• Analogue-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analogue (DAC) converters
• Voltage Clamps
• Analogue Calculators
• Filters
• Differentiators
• Precision rectifiers
• Linear voltage regulators
• Current regulators
• Precision rectifiers
• Precision peak to peak detectors