Lab 4 - ECE 420L

Authored by: Justin Le

February 27, 2015

 

 

Goal

 

Measure the bandwidth and slew rate of the LM324 op-amp in various configurations.

 

 

Pre-Lab

 

Review the second video lecture and notes on op-amps.

Vary the parameters in the simulation from the lecture to ensure understanding of the circuit.

 

 

Experiment 1

 

The non-inverting op-amp circuits in Figures 1a, 1b, and 3c were built, using VCC+ = 5 V and VCC– = 0 V, to order to demonstrate how the op-amp’s bandwidth varies with closed-loop gain. A common-mode voltage of 2.5 is maintained by a voltage divider at the supply voltage node. Figures 1d, 1e, and 1f show the 3-dB frequencies to be about 522 kHz, 106 kHz, and 40 kHz, respectively, which match the frequencies corresponding to gains of 0 dB, 14 dB, and 20 dB in the frequency response plot shown in Figure 1g. Although the measured amplitudes and frequencies do not deviate from the estimated values, an undesired phase-shift is present in the output that is possibly caused by the internal capacitances of the op-amp.
 


Figure 1a.


Figure 1b.


Figure 1c.
 


Figure 1d.


Figure 1e.


Figure 1f.
 


Figure 1g.
 
 

Experiment 2

 
Experiment 1 was repeated using the inverting op-amp circuits in Figures 2a, 2b, and 2c, which have closed-loop gains of -1, -5, and -10, respectively. The resulting 3-dB frequencies were about 650 kHz, 87 kHz, and 39 kHz, as shown in Figures 2d, 2e, and 2f, which match the frequencies corresponding to gains of 0 dB, 14 dB, and 20 dB in the frequency response plot shown in Figure 1g.
 



Figure 2a.


Figure 2b.


Figure 2c.
 


Figure 2d.


Figure 2e.


Figure 2f.
 
  

Experiment 3

 

The circuit in Figure 2a was built, using VCC+ = 5 V and VCC– = 0 V, to measure the op-amp’s slew rate.
 
With a sinusoidal input of amplitude 1.15 V and frequency 1.25 MHz, the output slewed significantly, taking 265.2 ns to rise 184 mV, as shown in Figure 3a. The slew rate is thus Vo / t = 184 mV / 265.2 ns = 0.694 V/µs, which approximates the value of 0.4 V/µs listed in the datasheet, as shown in Figure 3c.
 
With a square-wave input of amplitude 300 mV and frequency 420 kHz, the output slewed significantly, taking 876.1 ns to rise 452 mV, as shown in Figure 3b. The slew rate is thus Vo / t = 452 mV / 876.1 ns = 0.516 V/µs, which approximates the value of 0.4 V/µs listed in the datasheet, as shown in Figure 3c. In this case, the mismatch between the measured and specified values can possibly be attributed to error in the scope's precision in measuring voltage or time.
 



Figure 3a.


Figure 3b.

  



Figure 3c.

  

 

Figures

 

For Experiment 1:

    abc:  Schematics.

    def:  Measurements.

    g:    Datasheet.

For Experiment 2:

    abc:  Schematics.

    def:  Measurements.

For Experiment 3:

    ab:   Measurements.

    c:    Datasheet.

 

 

Click to view all labs.