Preface
Preface
Welcome to the third edition of this text! The first edition was written circa 1990 and was published by West
Publishing. The title was then purchased by Delmar/Thomson/Cengage some years later and a new edition was
written around 2000 (although it was never tagged as a second edition). That version added a companion
laboratory manual. In the early 2000s the text went from hard cover to soft cover, and in early 2016, Cengage
decided to revert the copyright back to me, the original and singular author. Having already produced a number
of OER (Open Educational Resource) titles including a microcontroller text using the Arduino platform and
numerous laboratory manuals covering DC circuits, AC circuits, Python programming and discrete electronic
devices, it was an obvious decision to go the same route with this book. This third edition includes new specialty
ICs and rewrites of certain sections. If you need information on obsolete legacy ICs such as the NE565,
ICL8038, etc., an OER second edition is available (and for you fans of analog computing, Chapter 10 remains).
The OER lab manual to accompany this text has also been updated to the third edition. It features new exercises
and expansions of the existing ones. If you have any questions regarding the text or lab manual, or are interested
in contributing to the project, do not hesitate to contact me. Finally, note that the most recent versions of all of
my OER texts and manuals on electronics, circuit analysis and programming may be found at my MVCC web
site as well as my mirror site: www.dissidents.com The original Preface follows, slightly modified.
The goal of this text, as its name implies, is to allow the reader to become proficient in the analysis and design
of circuits utilizing modern linear ICs. It progresses from the fundamental circuit building blocks through to
analog/digital conversion systems. The text is intended for use in a second year Operational Amplifiers course at
the Associate level, or for a junior level course at the Baccalaureate level. In order to make effective use of this
text, students should have already taken a course in basic discrete transistor circuits, and have a solid
background in algebra and trigonometry, along with exposure to phasors. Calculus is used in certain sections of
the text, but for the most part, its use is kept to a minimum. For students without a calculus background, these
sections may be skipped without a loss of continuity. (The sole exception to this being Chapter Ten, Integrators
and Differentiators, which hinges upon knowledge of calculus.)
In writing this text, I have tried to make it ideal for both the teacher and the student. Instead of inundating the
student with page after page of isolated formulas and collections of disjunct facts and figures, this text relies on
building a sound foundation first. While it may take just a little bit longer to “get into” the operational amplifier
than a more traditional approach, the initial outlay of time is rewarded with a deeper understanding and better
retention of the later material. I tried to avoid creating formulas out of thin air, as is often done for the sake of
expediency in technical texts. Instead, I strove to provide sufficient background material and proofs so that the
student is never left wondering where particular formulas came from, or worse, coming to the conclusion that
they are either too difficult to understand completely, or are somehow “magic”.
The text can be broken into two major sections. The first section, comprised of Chapters One through Six, can
be seen as the foundation of the operational amplifier. Here, a methodical, step by step presentation is used to
introduce the basic idealized operational amplifier, and eventually examine its practical limitations with great
detail. These chapters should be presented in order. The remaining six chapters comprise a selection of popular
applications, including voltage regulation, oscillators, and active filters, to name a few. While it is not
imperative that these chapters be presented in the order given (or for that matter, that they all be covered), the
present arrangement will probably result in the most natural progression. Treat these chapters as application
reference material and shape the presentation to your needs.
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