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Inverting Operational Amplifier

The Inverting Operational Amplifier configuration is one of the simplest and most commonly used op-amp
topologies

We saw in the last tutorial that the Open Loop Gain, ( AVO ) of an operational amplifier can be very high, as much
as 1,000,000 (120dB) or more.

However, this very high gain is of no real use to us as it makes the amplifier both unstable and hard to control as
the smallest of input signals, just a few micro-volts, (μV) would be enough to cause the output voltage to
saturate and swing towards one or the other of the voltage supply rails losing complete control of the output.

As the open loop DC gain of an operational amplifier is extremely high we can therefore afford to lose some of
this high gain by connecting a suitable resistor across the amplifier from the output terminal back to the
inverting input terminal to both reduce and control the overall gain of the amplifier. This then produces and
effect known commonly as Negative Feedback, and thus produces a very stable Operational Amplifier based
system.

Negative Feedback is the process of “feeding back” a fraction of the output signal back to the input, but to make
the feedback negative, we must feed it back to the negative or “inverting input” terminal of the op-amp using an
external Feedback Resistor called Rƒ. This feedback connection between the output and the inverting input/
terminal forces the differential input voltage towards zero.

This effect produces a closed loop circuit to the amplifier resulting in the gain of the amplifier now being called
its Closed-loop Gain. Then a closed-loop inverting amplifier uses negative feedback to accurately control the
overall gain of the amplifier, but at a cost in the reduction of the amplifiers gain.

This negative feedback results in the inverting input terminal having a different signal on it than the actual input
voltage as it will be the sum of the input voltage plus the negative feedback voltage giving it the label or term of a
Summing Point. We must therefore separate the real input signal from the inverting input by using an Input
Resistor, Rin.

As we are not using the positive non-inverting input this is connected to a common ground or zero voltage
terminal as shown below, but the effect of this closed loop feedback circuit results in the voltage potential at the
inverting input being equal to that at the non-inverting input producing a Virtual Earth summing point because it
will be at the same potential as the grounded reference input. In other words, the op-amp becomes a
“differential amplifier”.

Inverting Operational Amplifier Configuration

In this Inverting Amplifier circuit the operational amplifier is connected with feedback to produce a closed loop
operation. When dealing with operational amplifiers there are two very important rules to remember about
inverting amplifiers, these are: “No current flows into the input terminal” and that “V1 always equals V2”.
However, in real world op-amp circuits both of these rules are slightly broken.

This is because the junction of the input and feedback signal ( X ) is at the same potential as the positive ( + )
input which is at zero volts or ground then, the junction is a “Virtual Earth”. Because of this virtual earth node
the input resistance of the amplifier is equal to the value of the input resistor, Rin and the closed loop gain of the
inverting amplifier can be set by the ratio of the two external resistors.

We said above that there are two very important rules to remember about Inverting Amplifiers or any
operational amplifier for that matter and these are.

No Current Flows into the Input Terminals /

 The Differential Input Voltage is Zero as V1 = V2 = 0 (Virtual Earth)

Then by using these two rules we can derive the equation for calculating the closed-loop gain of an inverting
amplifier, using first principles.

Current ( i ) flows through the resistor network as shown.

Then, the Closed-Loop Voltage Gain of an Inverting Amplifier is given as.

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and this can be transposed to give Vout as:

The negative sign in the equation indicates an inversion of the output signal with respect to
the input as it is 180o out of phase. This is due to the feedback being negative in value.

The equation for the output voltage Vout also shows that the circuit is linear in nature for a
fixed amplifier gain as Vout = Vin x Gain. This property can be very useful for converting a
smaller sensor signal to a much larger voltage. Linear Output

Another useful application of an inverting amplifier is that of a “transresistance amplifier” circuit. A

Transresistance Amplifier also known as a “transimpedance amplifier”, is basically a current-to-voltage
converter (Current “in” and Voltage “out”). They can be used in low-power applications to convert a very small
current generated by a photo-diode or photo-detecting device etc, into a usable output voltage which is
proportional to the input current as shown.

Transresistance Amplifier Circuit

The simple light-activated circuit above, converts a current generated by the photo-diode into a voltage. The
feedback resistor Rƒ sets the operating voltage point at the inverting input and controls the amount of output.
The output voltage is given as Vout = Is x Rƒ. Therefore, the output voltage is proportional to the amount of
input current generated by the photo-diode.
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Inverting Op-amp Example No1
Find the closed loop gain of the following inverting amplifier circuit.

Using the previously found formula for the gain of the circuit

we can now substitute the values of the resistors in the circuit as follows,

Rin = 10kΩ  and  Rƒ = 100kΩ

and the gain of the circuit is calculated as: -Rƒ/Rin = 100k/10k = -10

Therefore, the closed loop gain of the inverting amplifier circuit above is given -10 or 20dB (20log(10)).
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Inverting Op-amp Example No2
The gain of the original circuit is to be increased to 40 (32dB), find the new values of the resistors required.

Assuming that the input resistor is to remain at the same value of 10KΩ, then by re-arranging the closed loop
voltage gain formula we can find the new value required for the feedback resistor Rƒ.

   Gain = Rƒ/Rin

therefore,   Rƒ = Gain x Rin

  Rƒ = 40 x 10,000

  Rƒ = 400,000 or 400KΩ

The new values of resistors required for the circuit to have a gain of 40 would be:

 Rin = 10KΩ  and  Rƒ = 400KΩ

The formula could also be rearranged to give a new value of Rin, keeping the same value of Rƒ.

One final point to note about the Inverting Amplifier configuration for an operational amplifier, if the two
resistors are of equal value, Rin = Rƒ  then the gain of the amplifier will be -1 producing a complementary form
of the input voltage at its output as Vout = -Vin . This type of inverting amplifier configuration is generally called
a Unity Gain Inverter of simply an Inverting Buffer.

In the next tutorial about Operational Amplifiers, we will analyse the complement of the Inverting Amplifier
operational amplifier circuit called the Non-inverting Amplifier that produces an output signal which is “in-
phase” with the input.

120 Comments

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Leoma
Thank you so much

Posted on April 14th 2020 | 7:25 pm

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Naveen
good!!

Posted on April 12th 2020 | 8:41 am

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Navya
Nice

Posted on April 08th 2020 | 7:27 am

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Marzouk
Can we get positive out put
How we avoid shifting

Posted on March 27th 2020 | 5:25 am

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Ananda
Can we add more than 07 inputs for summing amp.

Posted on March 26th 2020 | 2:47 am

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nmnsharma007
Why will high gain of open loop op amp lead to instability?

Posted on January 29th 2020 | 12:47 pm

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Naveen
because the system(op-amp) can’t handle (sustain) the output power produced(power=
voltage out* current out) which is huge ,causes instability of opamp

Posted on April 12th 2020 | 8:51 am

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Rupali Mishra
Thanks /
Posted on January 29th 2020 | 2:49 am
Reply

Jacob Mambu
I really like the note

Posted on January 26th 2020 | 2:26 am

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Saiprasath
Why is gain formula in example 2 is: ‘Rf/Rin’ and not ‘-Rf/Rin’?

Posted on December 05th 2019 | 9:57 am

Reply

Masoom
— sign just represent the Phase of the single. Which is 180⁰ out of phase. The value is
same.

Posted on January 04th 2020 | 3:39 pm

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Poorna kumaran M.E

I love this website.

Posted on November 30th 2019 | 8:00 pm

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