Differential Amplifier

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 Differential amplifiers
Classification of closed loop differential amplifier with negative
feedback according to the no. of op-amp used. That is,
1.Differential amplifier with one op-amp
2.Differential amplifier with two op-amp

Differential amplifiers are used in instrumentation and industrial

applications to amplify differences between two input signals.

Differential amplifier are preferred over single ended because

they are better able to reject common mode (noise) voltages than
single input circuits such as inverting and non-inverting amplifiers.

Diff amp. Enables us to bias the amplifier and to couple amplifier

stages together without the need of bypass and coupling
capacitors.

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 Differential amplifier with one op-amp

Voltage gain AD=Vo/Vxy = - Rf /R1

Input Resistance Rif is determined looking into either one of the two terminals
with other grounded.
RiFx = R1 with Vy = 0V
RiFy= (R2+ R3) with Vx = 0V

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• Differential amplifier operated in 3 different
modes:
1) Single ended mode: when input signal is applied to only one of the two
input terminals i.e. either of the two input is zero, then differential amp will
be in single ended mode. In this mode,diff amp will act either as an inverting
or non inverting amplifier depending on whether the signal is applied to the
inverting or non inverting.

2) Differential mode: In this mode of operation ,magnitude of two input signals

may be same or different but their polarity is opposite at every instant of
time.
Vx =-Vy, Vin=Vx-Vy= 2 Vx Hence Vo =-(Rf/R1) (Vx-Vy)= -2 (Rf/R1 ) Vx

3) Common mode: In this mode the two input signals are same in magnitude
as well as in phase at every instant of time. So Vx-Vy=0 and Vo=0

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 Emitter coupled logic
• Differential amplifier is basic block of analog
circuit.
• It is the input stage of virtually every opamp,
and basis of high speed digital logic circuit
family, called emitter coupled logic.
• Differential amplifier, amplifies the difference
between two input signals.

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 Emitter-coupled differential pair
The emitter-coupled differential pair is a very
important circuit that is used in many bipolar
analog integrated circuits.
The circuit is shown in the figure and the two
transistors are assumed identical. The current
source IEE is typically implemented as a current
source circuit.
The input voltages vi1 and vi2 can be
considered to be composed of a differential
signal vid and a common mode signal vicm
defined below:
Q1 and Q2 in remain in forward bias.
vid  vi1  vi 2
vicm  1 / 2(vi1  vi 2 )
Differential output voltage is defined as

vod  vo1  vo 2 ,
since vo1  VCC  RC iC1 , vo 2  VCC  RC iC 2
so vod  RC (iC 2  iC1 )

Figure: Basic BJT differential amplifier.

 Emitter-coupled differential pair II
First, consider the two input signal vi1 and vi2 are equal. Then the differential input voltage
vid is 0 and we have a pure common-mode input signal.
In this case, the current IEE splits equally between the Q1 and Q2, therefore vod=0.
In other words, the circuit does not respond to the common-mode component of the
input.

Figure : Basic BJT differential amplifier with waveforms.

 Emitter-coupled differential pair III
For a pure differential input (when vicm=0), it can be shown that a non-zero differential
output voltage vod is resulted, as a differential input signal steers IEE toward one side or the
other.
In summary, the circuits rejects common-mode input and responds to the differential input.
In amplifiers, a small differential input signal is amplified to a differential output signal.

Figure :Basic BJT differential amplifier with waveforms.

 Transfer characteristics of Differential amp.
The following collector current versus differential input voltage can be obtained.

Note that in the plot, when vid=0, ic1=ic2.

Figure :Collector currents versus differential input voltage.

 Important definitions
 Input Common-mode range (ICMR)
ICMR is the range of common-mode voltages over which the differential
amplifier continues to sense and amplify the difference signal with the same gain.

Typically , ICMR is defined as common-mode voltage range over which all

MOSFETs remain in the saturation region.

 Offsets:

Output offset voltage (VOS(out)) : It is defined as the voltage which appears at

the output of the Diff Amp when the inputs terminal are shorted or grounded.

Input offset voltage (VOS(in)) : It is equal to the output offset voltage divided
by the differential voltage gain - VOS = (VOS(out) / AVD)

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Input-Offset Voltage
 Input offset voltage Vio is the differential input
voltage that exists between two input terminals
of an op-amp without any external inputs
applied.
 Or in other words, it is the amount of input
voltage that should be applied between two
input terminals in order to force the output
voltage to zero.
 The input-offset voltage (labeled Vio in the
figure at the left) can be positive or negative and
is usually small (anywhere from 1 uV to 10 mV)

 Typical value of input offset voltage +- 2mv for

741.

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Input-Offset Voltage Effect on Output Voltage

• To examine the effect input-offset voltage has

on the output voltage, consider the non-
inverting op-amp
– The gain of the op-amp is (R1 + R2)/R1 =
100
– Assume the input voltage is modelled
adequately by a source VIO = +/- 10 mV
– Then, we can write that the output voltage
is given by
vOUT = (vIN + VIO)(R1 + R2)/R1
= 100 vIN +/- 1 volt
– Thus, a 10 mV input-offset causes a 1V
offset in vOUT

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Output-Offset Voltage and Nulling Out Offset
• A parameter called the output-offset voltage
may be used to represent the internal
imbalance of an op-amp, rather than the input-
offset voltage
– The output-offset voltage is defined as the
measured output voltage when the input
terminals are shorted together, as shown
at the left-top fig.

– The output-offset voltage may be modelled

by placing a voltage source AoVIO in series
with the output voltage source Ao(v+ - v-)
• Consequently, the output-offset
voltage is essentially the input-offset
voltage multiplied by the open loop
gain.

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Non-zero Input Bias Currents
• In practice op-amps do not actually have zero
input currents, but rather have very small input
currents labeled I+ and I- in the figure at the left
– Modeled as internal current sources inside op-
amp
– I+ and I- are both the same polarity

– In order to allow for slightly different values of I+

and I-, we define the term IBIAS as the average of I+
and I-
IBIAS = ½ (I+ + I-)
• An input bias current is defined as average of the two
input bias currents, I+ and I- .
• I+ =dc bias current flowing into the non inverting
input
• I- = dc bias current flowing into the inverting input

• Value of bias current is very small ,in the range of few

hundred nano Amps.Its a dc current
• Typical value of Ibias is 500nA max. At Supply voltages +-
15v dc for 741. 14
Input Offset Current Definition
• Non-zero input bias currents I+ and I- may not
always be equal (some opamps)

• We define a parameter “input offset current”

used as an indicator of the degree of
mismatching between these two currents.
IIO = I+ - I-
– Typical values of IIO are 5-10% (of I-) although it
can be as high as 50%

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 Common-Mode Operation
• Same voltage source is applied +
at both terminals
• Ideally, two input are equally
V o

amplified 
• Output voltage is ideally zero V i ~
due to differential voltage is
zero
• Practically, a small output
signal can still be measured
Note for differential circuits:
Opposite inputs : highly amplified
Common inputs : slightly amplified
 Common-Mode Rejection

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 Finite Common-Mode Rejection Ratio
(CMRR)
A(or Adm) = differential-mode gain
Acm = common-mode gain
vid = differential-mode input voltage
vic = common-mode input voltage
v v
v  v  id v  v  id
1 ic 2 2 ic 2
A real amplifier responds to signal An ideal amplifier has Acm = 0, but for a
common to both inputs, called the real amplifier,
common-mode input voltage (vic).  
 Acm v   v 
In general, vo  A v  ic  A v  ic 

dm id A


dm id CMRR 
v v   dm 
vo  A (v v ) Acm 1 2  A
dm 1 2  2 
 CMRR  dm
vo  A (v ) Acm(v ) Acm
dm id ic
and CMRR(dB)  20log (CMRR)
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Finite Common-Mode Rejection Ratio:
Example
• Problem: Find output voltage error introduced by finite CMRR.
• Given Data: Adm= 2500, CMRR = 80 dB, v1 = 5.001 V, v2 = 4.999 V
• Assumptions: Op amp is ideal, except for CMRR. Here, a CMRR in dB of
80 dB corresponds to a CMRR of 104.
• Analysis: v  5.001V 4.999V
id
v  5.001V 4.999V  5.000V
ic 2
 v  
5.000 
vo  A v 
 ic  25000.002
 V  6.25V
dm id CMRR  
 104 
In the " ideal" case, vo  A v  5.00 V
dm id
6.255.00
% output error  100% 25%
 5.00
The output error introduced by finite CMRR is 25% of the expected ideal
output.


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 CMRR Example
What is the CMRR?

100V + 100V +
80600V 60700V
20V  40V 

Solution :

Vd 1  100  20  80V Vd 2  100  40  60V

(1) (2)
100  20 100  40
Vc1   60V Vc 2   70V
2 2
From (1) Vo  80Gd  60Gc  80600V
From (2) Vo  60Gd  70Gc  60700V
Gd  1000 and Gc  10  CMRR  20 log(1000 / 10)  40dB

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