741 op-amp (uA741, LM741): pinout, ratings, slew rate and offset

uA741, µA741, LM741 and plain 741 are the same general-purpose amplifier from different makers and catalogues. The letter after 741 is the temperature grade: C for 0 to 70 °C, the one you will buy. The last letter is the package: P or N for the through-hole DIP, D or PS for surface mount. A UA741CP and an LM741CN are both the commercial-grade part in an 8-pin DIP.

The two TI sheets now disagree on pins 1 and 5. The LM741 sheet still names them offset null. Revision H of the uA741 sheet (January 2026) dropped the offset-null function from the D and P packages and marks those pins "no internal connection"; only the PS (SO-8) package keeps it. The same revision rewrote the typical values (bias current 0.01 nA instead of 80 nA, input resistance 540 GΩ instead of 2 MΩ) but left every minimum and maximum alone. This page designs to the limits, which both sheets share.

Both C-grade parts are rated ±18 V absolute maximum. The recommended supplies differ: ±5 to ±15 V for the uA741, ±10 to ±18 V (±15 V nominal) for the LM741C. An input may go to ±15 V but never beyond the supply, so on ±12 V the inputs stop at ±12 V.

The output is short-circuit protected. TI's uA741 sheet allows a short to ground or to either supply for an unlimited time, and the LM741 sheet says continuous. The LM741 also takes ±30 V between its inputs, twice what the uA741C allows.

The 741 has bipolar inputs, so it draws real input current: up to 500 nA at 25 °C on either sheet. Through a 100 kΩ feedback resistor that is 50 mV, larger than the error from the 6 mV offset voltage in many circuits. A resistor from the non-inverting input to ground, equal to the resistance the inverting input sees, makes the two bias currents cancel; what is left is the offset current, 200 nA maximum.

Neither sheet gives a gain-bandwidth figure for the C grade. Both give a 0.3 µs small-signal rise time at unity gain, and TI's LM741A table converts rise time to bandwidth with BW = 0.35 / rise time, which gives about 1.17 MHz. Treat it as typical. The slew rate, 0.5 V/µs, is also typical only; no minimum is given.

On ±15 V both sheets guarantee an input range of ±12 V and an output swing of ±12 V into 10 kΩ: 3 V inside each rail. Keep that 3 V on ±12 V and you have ±9 V. A single 5 V supply is ±2.5 V around its midpoint, half the uA741's recommended minimum and a quarter of the LM741C's. Take 3 V off each side and nothing is left. The LM741 sheet says the part can run from a single supply, but its own table starts at a 20 V total.

A sine of peak V at frequency f changes at up to 2π f V volts per second. When that is more than the slew rate, the output turns into a triangle. At 0.5 V/µs, a ±9 V output stays clean only up to 8.84 kHz. At 20 kHz the largest clean peak is 3.98 V. Small signals are fine well past that: the gain −10 stage below is flat to about 106 kHz, but only for outputs of a volt or two at the top of the audio band.

• Learning. Most textbooks, lab manuals and exam questions use the 741, so its numbers are the ones your answers are checked against. The op-amp lesson starts there.
• DC and slow signals on ±12 V or ±15 V: sensor amplifiers, level shifters, comparators for slow inputs.
• Repairs, where the board was designed around it and the supply is already split.

It is a poor choice on 5 V or 3.3 V, for full-swing audio, and wherever input current through large resistors matters. The op-amp limitations lesson explains each of these limits.

One 741 as a DC-coupled inverting amplifier: the input through 10 kΩ, the feedback through 100 kΩ, on ±12 V rails.

Fit 100 nF from each supply pin to ground, close to the package, as TI's layout section asks. The inverting amplifier lesson derives the gain formula.

• Always fit the bias-balancing resistor on the + input in a DC-coupled stage. It costs nothing and cuts the bias-current error by more than half.
• Do not wire an offset trimmer to a UA741 in a DIP bought new: TI's current sheet marks pins 1 and 5 as not connected. An LM741 still takes one.
• Bypass both supply pins with 100 nF ceramics at the package and keep the input wiring away from the output.
• If a sine comes out as a triangle with sloped sides, you have hit the slew rate, not the bandwidth. Lower the level or the frequency, or use a faster part.
• Supply current is 2.8 mA at most, about 67.2 mW on ±12 V. A part that gets warm with no load is probably oscillating or damaged.

The LM741 drops into the same socket. Any single op-amp with the standard pin order (2, 3, 4, 6, 7) fits too; the TL071 is the usual upgrade for speed and input current on a split supply. For a single 5 V rail choose a part made for it, such as the LM358.

1. Build the gain −10 stage on ±12 V, input shorted to ground. The output should sit within 86 mV of 0 V, usually much closer. An output stuck near a rail means a missing feedback connection or a dead part.
2. Measure the supply current: 2.8 mA at most.
3. Feed a 1 kHz sine of 0.5 V peak. The scope should show a clean 5 V peak sine, upside down against the input.
4. Raise the frequency at the same level. Around 15.9 kHz the sides of the sine start to straighten into a triangle: that is the slew rate.

The bench power supply lesson covers setting up a split supply with current limits.

Use the 741 to learn op-amps and to keep old split-supply equipment running, with a bias-balancing resistor on the + input and signals kept below a few kilohertz at full swing. For new designs on ±12 V or ±15 V take a TL071 or TL072, and on a single 5 V rail an LM358 or a rail-to-rail part.

The UA741CP and LM741CN are on every component seller's list, often without a maker named. Both have the same pinout, so either works in a breadboard. Check one from each batch with the bench test above. Our guide to buying electronic components in India compares ten online sellers and covers how to spot fakes.