ABSTRACT
Operational amplifiers are analogue integrated circuits designed for linear amplification that offer near-ideal characteristics (virtually infinite voltage gain and input resistance coupled with low output resistance and wide bandwidth).
Operational amplifiers can be thought of as universal ‘gain blocks’ to which external components are added in order to define their function within a circuit. By adding two resistors, we can produce an amplifier having a precisely defined gain. Alternatively, with two resistors and two capacitors we can produce a simple band-pass filter. From this you might begin to suspect that operational amplifiers are really easy to use. The good news is that they are!
