Amplifier

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Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Amplifier (disambiguation). Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal by use of an external energy source. In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to make the human voice louder or play recorded music. Amplifiers may be classified according to the input (source) they are designed to amplify (such as a guitar amplifier, to perform with an electric guitar), the device they are intended to drive (such as a headphone amplifier), the frequency range of the signals (Audio, IF, RF, and VHF amplifiers, for example), whether they invert the signal (inverting amplifiers and non-inverting amplifiers), or the type of device used in the amplification (valve or tube amplifiers, FET amplifiers, etc.). A related device that emphasizes conversion of signals of one type to another (for example, a light signal in photons to a DC signal in amperes) is a transducer, a transformer, or a sensor. However, none of these amplify power.

Figures of merit
The quality of an amplifier can be characterized by a number of specifications, listed below.

Gain
The gain of an amplifier is the ratio of output to input power or amplitude, and is usually measured in decibels. (When measured in decibels it is logarithmically related to the power ratio: G(dB)=10 log(Pout /(Pin)). RF amplifiers are often specified in terms of the maximum power gain obtainable, while the voltage gain of audio amplifiers and instrumentation amplifiers will be more often specified (since the amplifier's input impedance will often be much higher than the source impedance, and the load impedance higher than the amplifier's output impedance).

Example: an audio amplifier with a gain given as 20 dB will have a voltage gain of ten (but a power gain of 100 would only occur in the unlikely event the input and output impedances were identical).

If two equivalent amplifiers are being compared, the amplifier with higher gain settings would be more sensitive as it would take less input signal to produce a given amount of power.[1]

Bandwidth

The bandwidth of an amplifier is the range of frequencies for which the amplifier gives "satisfactory performance". The definition of "satisfactory performance" may be different for different applications. However, a common and well-accepted metric is the half power points (i.e. frequency where the power goes down by half its peak value) on the output vs. frequency curve. Therefore bandwidth can be defined as the difference between the lower and upper half power points. This is therefore also known as the 3 dB bandwidth. Bandwidths (otherwise called "frequency responses") for other response tolerances are sometimes quoted (1 dB, 6 dB etc.) or "plus or minus 1dB" (roughly the sound level difference people usually can detect). The gain of a good quality full-range audio amplifier will be essentially flat between 20 Hz to about 20 kHz (the range of normal human hearing). In ultra high fidelity amplifier design, the amp's frequency response should extend considerably beyond this (one or more octaves either side) and might have 3 dB points < 10 Hz and > 65 kHz. Professional touring amplifiers often have input and/or output filtering to sharply limit frequency response beyond 20 Hz20 kHz; too much of the amplifier's potential output power would otherwise be wasted on infrasonic and ultrasonic frequencies, and the danger of AM radio interference would increase. Modern switching amplifiers need steep low pass filtering at the output to get rid of high frequency switching noise and harmonics.

Efficiency
Efficiency is a measure of how much of the power source is usefully applied to the amplifier's output. Class A amplifiers are very inefficient, in the range of 1020% with a max efficiency of 25% for direct coupling of the output. Inductive coupling of the output can raise their efficiency to a maximum of 50%. Drain efficiency is the ratio of output RF power to input DC power when primary input DC power has been fed to the drain of an FET. Based on this definition, the drain efficiency cannot exceed 25% for a class A amplifier that is supplied drain bias current through resistors (because RF signal has its zero level at about 50% of the input DC). Manufacturers specify much higher drain efficiencies, and designers are able to obtain higher efficiencies by providing current to the drain of the transistor through an inductor or a transformer winding. In this case the RF zero level is near the DC rail and will swing both above and below the rail during operation. While the voltage level is above the DC rail current is supplied by the inductor. Class B amplifiers have a very high efficiency but are impractical for audio work because of high levels of distortion (See: Crossover distortion). In practical design, the result of a tradeoff is the class AB design. Modern Class AB amplifiers commonly have peak efficiencies between 3055% in audio systems and 50-70% in radio frequency systems with a theoretical maximum of 78.5%. Commercially available Class D switching amplifiers have reported efficiencies as high as 90%. Amplifiers of Class C-F are usually known to be very high efficiency amplifiers. RCA manufactured an AM broadcast transmitter employing a single class-C low mu triode with an RF efficiency in the 90% range. More efficient amplifiers run cooler, and often do not need any cooling fans even in multikilowatt designs. The reason for this is that the loss of efficiency produces heat as a by-

product of the energy lost during the conversion of power. In more efficient amplifiers there is less loss of energy so in turn less heat. In RF linear Power Amplifiers, such as cellular base stations and broadcast transmitters, special design techniques can be used to improve efficiency. Doherty designs, which use a second output stage as a "peak" amplifier, can lift efficiency from the typical 15% up to 3035% in a narrow bandwidth. Envelope Tracking designs are able to achieve efficiencies of up to 60%, by modulating the supply voltage to the amplifier in line with the envelope of the signal.

Linearity
An ideal amplifier would be a totally linear device, but real amplifiers are only linear within limits. When the signal drive to the amplifier is increased, the output also increases until a point is reached where some part of the amplifier becomes saturated and cannot produce any more output; this is called clipping, and results in distortion. In most amplifiers a reduction in gain takes place before hard clipping occurs; the result is a compression effect, which (if the amplifier is an audio amplifier) sounds much less unpleasant to the ear. For these amplifiers, the 1 dB compression point is defined as the input power (or output power) where the gain is 1 dB less than the small signal gain. Sometimes this nonlinearity is deliberately designed in to reduce the audible unpleasantness of hard clipping under overload. Ill effects of nonlinearity can be reduced with negative feedback. Linearization is an emergent field, and there are many techniques, such as feedforward, predistortion, postdistortion, in order to avoid the undesired effects of the non-linearities.

Noise
This is a measure of how much noise is introduced in the amplification process. Noise is an undesirable but inevitable product of the electronic devices and components; also, much noise results from intentional economies of manufacture and design time. The metric for noise performance of a circuit is noise figure or noise factor. Noise figure is a comparison between the output signal to noise ratio and the thermal noise of the input signal.

Output dynamic range

Output dynamic range is the range, usually given in dB, between the smallest and largest useful output levels. The lowest useful level is limited by output noise, while the largest is limited most often by distortion. The ratio of these two is quoted as the amplifier dynamic range. More precisely, if S = maximal allowed signal power and N = noise power, the dynamic range DR is DR = (S + N ) /N.[2] In many switched mode amplifiers, dynamic range is limited by the minimum output step size.

Slew rate
Slew rate is the maximum rate of change of the output, usually quoted in volts per second (or microsecond). Many amplifiers are ultimately slew rate limited (typically by the impedance of a drive current having to overcome capacitive effects at some point in the circuit), which sometimes limits the full power bandwidth to frequencies well below the amplifier's smallsignal frequency response.

Rise time
The rise time, tr, of an amplifier is the time taken for the output to change from 10% to 90% of its final level when driven by a step input. For a Gaussian response system (or a simple RC roll off), the rise time is approximated by:

tr * BW = 0.35, where tr is rise time in seconds and BW is bandwidth in Hz.

Settling time and ringing

The time taken for the output to settle to within a certain percentage of the final value (for instance 0.1%) is called the settling time, and is usually specified for oscilloscope vertical amplifiers and high accuracy measurement systems. Ringing refers to an output variation that cycles above and below an amplifier's final value and leads to a delay in reaching a stable output. Ringing is the result of overshoot caused by an underdamped circuit.

Overshoot
In response to a step input, the overshoot is the amount the output exceeds its final, steadystate value.

Stability
Stability is an issue in all amplifiers with feedback, whether that feedback is added intentionally or results unintentionally. It is especially an issue when applied over multiple amplifying stages. Stability is a major concern in RF and microwave amplifiers. The degree of an amplifier's stability can be quantified by a so-called stability factor. There are several different stability factors, such as the Stern stability factor and the Linvil stability factor, which specify a condition that must be met for the absolute stability of an amplifier in terms of its two-port parameters.

Electronic amplifiers
Main article: Electronic amplifier

There are many types of electronic amplifiers, commonly used in radio and television transmitters and receivers, high-fidelity ("hi-fi") stereo equipment, microcomputers and other electronic digital equipment, and guitar and other instrument amplifiers. Critical components include active devices, such as vacuum tubes or transistors.

Other amplifier types

Carbon microphone
One of the first devices used to amplify signals was the carbon microphone (effectively a sound-controlled variable resistor). By channeling a large electric current through the compressed carbon granules in the microphone, a small sound signal could produce a much larger electric signal. The carbon microphone was extremely important in early telecommunications; analog telephones in fact work without the use of any other amplifier. Before the invention of electronic amplifiers, mechanically coupled carbon microphones were also used as amplifiers in telephone repeaters for long distance service.

Magnetic amplifier
A magnetic amplifier is a transformer-like device that makes use of the saturation of magnetic materials to produce amplification. It is a non-electronic electrical amplifier with no moving parts. The bandwidth of magnetic amplifiers extends to the hundreds of kilohertz.

Rotating electrical machinery amplifier

A Ward Leonard control is a rotating machine like an electrical generator that provides amplification of electrical signals by the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy. Changes in generator field current result in larger changes in the output current of the generator, providing gain. This class of device was used for smooth control of large motors, primarily for elevators and naval guns. Field modulation of a very high speed AC generator was also used for some early AM radio transmissions.[3] See Alexanderson alternator.

Johnsen-Rahbek effect amplifier

The earliest form of audio power amplifier was Edison's "electromotograph" loud-speaking telephone, which used a wetted rotating chalk cylinder in contact with a stationary contact. The friction between cylinder and contact varied with the current, providing gain. Edison discovered this effect in 1874, but the theory behind the Johnsen-Rahbek effect was not understood until the semiconductor era.

Mechanical amplifiers

Mechanical amplifiers were used in the pre-electronic era in specialized applications. Early autopilot units designed by Elmer Ambrose Sperry incorporated a mechanical amplifier using belts wrapped around rotating drums; a slight increase in the tension of the belt caused the drum to move the belt. A paired, opposing set of such drives made up a single amplifier. This amplified small gyro errors into signals large enough to move aircraft control surfaces. A similar mechanism was used in the Vannevar Bush differential analyzer. The electrostatic drum amplifier used a band wrapped partway around a rotating drum, and fixed at its anchored end to a spring. The other end connected to a speaker cone. The input signal was transformed up to high voltage, and added to a high voltage dc supply line. This voltage was connected between drum and belt. Thus the input signal varied the electric field between belt and drum, and thus the friction between them, and thus the amount of lateral movement of the belt and thus speaker cone. Other variations on the theme also existed at one time.

Optical amplifiers
Main article: Optical amplifier Optical amplifiers amplify light through the process of stimulated emission. See Laser and Maser.

Miscellaneous types

There are also mechanical amplifiers, such as the automotive servo used in braking. Relays can be included under the above definition of amplifiers, although their transfer function is not linear (that is, they are either open or closed). Also purely mechanical manifestations of such digital amplifiers can be built (for theoretical, instructional purposes, or for entertainment), see e.g. domino computer. Another type of amplifier is the fluidic amplifier, based on the fluidic triode.

Low-noise amplifier
Low-noise amplifier (LNA) is an electronic amplifier used to amplify possibly very weak signals (for example, captured by an antenna). It is usually located very close to the detection device to reduce losses in the feedline. This active antenna arrangement is frequently used in microwave systems like GPS, because coaxial cable feedline is very lossy at microwave frequencies, e.g. a loss of 10% coming from few meters of cable would cause a 10% degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). An LNA is a key component which is placed at the front-end of a radio receiver circuit. Per Friis' formula, the overall noise figure (NF) of the receiver's front-end is dominated by the first few stages (or even the first stage only). Using an LNA, the effect of noise from subsequent stages of the receive chain is reduced by the gain of the LNA, while the noise of the LNA itself is injected directly into the received signal. Thus, it is necessary for an LNA to boost the desired signal power while adding as

little noise and distortion as possible, so that the retrieval of this signal is possible in the later stages in the system. A good LNA has a low NF (like 1dB), a large enough gain (like 20dB) and should have large enough intermodulation and compression point (IP3 and P1dB). Further criteria are operating bandwidth, gain flatness, stability and input and output voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR). For low noise, the amplifier needs to have a high amplification in its first stage. Therefore JFETs and HEMTs are often used, and distributed amplifiers could be used. They are driven in a high-current regime, which is not energy-efficient, but reduces the relative amount of shot noise. Input and output matching circuits for narrow-band circuits enhance the gain (see Gain-bandwidth product) and do not use resistors, as these would add noise. Biasing is done by large resistors, because energy efficiency is not needed, and a large resistor prevents leakage of the weak signal out of the signal path or noise into the signal path.

LNA Design
Low noise amplifiers are the building blocks of any communication system.The four most important parameters in LNA design are: gain, noise figure, and non-linearity and impedance matching.The design for LNA is based mainly upon the S-parameters of a transistor. The steps required in designing a LNA are as follows:
Design

There are two widely used types of devices the S-parameter and normal device. An Sparameter is a built-in device which does not require any type of external biasing because it has fixed S-parameters.Normal devices are like other transistors to which external bias can be applied. In designing a LNA, the S-parameter design is the most used.
Transducer

One of the crucial stages in designing a Low Noise Amplifier is proper selection of a transducer.The transducer selected should have a maximum gain and minimum noise figure(NF). Some examples of transistors that can be selected are- ATF-34143 and ATF35143.

Stability Check
While designing any amplifier, it is important to check the stability of the device chosen, or the amplifier may function as an oscillator.For determining stability, calculate Rollet's Stability factor, (represented as variable K) using S-parameters at a given frequency.For a transistor to be stable, parameters must satisfy K>1 and ||<1.

Stability Enhancement
Some of the techniques for enhancing the stability are adding a series resistance and adding a Source Inductance. In the former, a small resistance may be added in series with gate of the transistor. This technique is not used in LNA design because the resistance generates thermal noise, increasing the noise figure of the amplifier. Alternatively, an inductor may be added in series with the transistor gate. As an ideal

inductor has zero resistance, it generates no thermal noise. It improves stability by reducing the gain of the amplifier by a small factor. Some of the inductors like 5.98nH and 3.1nH are used in 1st and 2nd stage respectively to improve the stability.

LNA Application:
LNA is used in various applications like ISM Radios, Cellular/PCS Handsets, GPS Receivers, Cordless Phones, Wireless LANs, Wireless Data, Automotive RKE, satellite communications, etc.

In Satellite:
During reception of radio signal sent by satellite in a communication system, in the receiver section, second element after antenna is LNA. It required because the signal is travelling through a very large distance and carrying important information. While travelling through a medium it suffers due to various types of noise. So this signal has very small signal to noise ratio. Due to this, direct reception of signal is not possible. Hence LNA is used to boost up the signal of desire energy from the weak information signal of required frequency. Usually satellite communication is done in the frequency range of 100 MHz to several GHz (30 GHz).

PARAMETERS
Here some electrical parameters of LNA: parameters of MAX 2640.

Operating supply voltage

Usually LNA require less operating voltage in the range of 2 V to 10 V. MAX 2640 operate at +2.7 V to +5.5 V.

Operating supply current

LNA require supply current in the range of mA, the supply current require for LNA is dependent on the its design and the application for which it has to be used. MAX 2640 which is used for satellite application requires a supply current of nearly 6mA.

Operating frequency
Range of LNA operation is very wide, it operate from 500 KHz to 50 GHz. frequency is the basic thing for any electronic device specially among the ones used in communication systems. MAX 2640 operate in the frequency range 300 MHz - 1500 MHz.

Operating temperature range

Every electronic device have some limit on operating temperature, like that LNA also has some limit on its operating temperature. general range for faithful operation of LNA is -30C to +50C. MAX 2640 operates on very wide temperature range i.e. -40C - +125C.

Noise figure

Noise figure is also one of the important factors which determines the efficiency of a particular LNA. Hence, we can decide which LNA is suitable for a particular application. For example: In satellite communication, an LNA having a very low noise figure is required. MAX 2640 which is used for communication purpose have noise figure in the range 0.9 dB 1.5 dB. noise figure varies according to the operating frequency for a same LNA. e.g. MAX 2640, NF 0.5 dB for 900 MHz, NF 1.2 dB for 1575 MHz, NF 1.3 dB for 1900 MHz, NF 1.5 dB for 2450 MHz. low noise figure results in better reception of signal.

High gain
with the low noise figure LNA must have high gain for the processing of signal into post circuit. According to requirement high gain LNA are designed for application by manufacturer. if LNA will not have high gain then the signal will be affected in by noise in LNA circuit itself and maybe attenuated so high gain of LNA is the important parameter of LNA. like NF gain of LNA also varies with the operating frequency. e.g. for MAX 2640 15.1 dB at 900 MHz, 15.7 dB at 1575 MHz, 14.4 dB at 1900 MHz, 13.5 dB at 2450 MHz.

Negative feedback amplifier

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Figure 1: Ideal negative feedback model A negative feedback amplifier (or more commonly simply a feedback amplifier) is an amplifier which combines a fraction of the output with the input so that a negative feedback opposes the original signal. The applied negative feedback improves performance (gain stability, linearity, frequency response, step response) and reduces sensitivity to parameter variations due to manufacturing or environment. Because of these advantages, negative feedback is used in this way in many amplifiers and control systems.[1] A negative feedback amplifier is a system of three elements (see Figure 1): an amplifier with gain AOL, an attenuating feedback network with a constant < 1 and a summing circuit acting as a subtractor (the circle in the figure). The amplifier is the only obligatory; the other elements may be omitted in some cases. For example, in a voltage (emitter, source, op-amp) follower the feedback network and the summing circuit are not necessary.

[edit] Overview

Fundamentally, all electronic devices used to provide power gain (e.g. vacuum tubes, bipolar transistors, MOS transistors) are nonlinear. Negative feedback allows gain to be traded for higher linearity (reducing distortion), amongst other things. If not designed correctly amplifiers with negative feedback can become unstable, resulting in unwanted behavior, such as oscillation. The Nyquist stability criterion developed by Harry Nyquist of Bell Laboratories can be used to study the stability of feedback amplifiers. Feedback amplifiers share these properties:[2] Pros:

Can increase or decrease input impedance (depending on type of feedback) Can increase or decrease output impedance (depending on type of feedback) Reduces distortion (increases linearity) Increases the bandwidth Desensitizes gain to component variations Can control step response of amplifier

Cons:

May lead to instability if not designed carefully The gain of the amplifier decreases The input and output impedances of the amplifier with feedback (the closed-loop amplifier) become sensitive to the gain of the amplifier without feedback (the open-loop amplifier); that exposes these impedances to variations in the open loop gain, for example, due to parameter variations or due to nonlinearity of the open-loop gain

History
The negative feedback amplifier was invented by Harold Stephen Black (US patent 2,102,671 (issued in 1937)[3] ) while a passenger on the Lackawanna Ferry (from Hoboken Terminal to Manhattan) on his way to work at Bell Laboratories (historically located in Manhattan instead of New Jersey in 1927) on August 2, 1927. Black had been toiling at reducing distortion in repeater amplifiers used for telephone transmission. On a blank space in his copy of The New York Times,[4] he recorded the diagram found in Figure 1, and the equations derived below.[5] Black submitted his invention to the U. S. Patent Office on August 8, 1928, and it took more than nine years for the patent to be issued. Black later wrote: "One reason for the delay was that the concept was so contrary to established beliefs that the Patent Office initially did not believe it would work."[6]

Classical feedback
Gain reduction
Below, the voltage gain of the amplifier with feedback, the closed-loop gain Afb, is derived in terms of the gain of the amplifier without feedback, the open-loop gain AOL and the feedback factor , which governs how much of the output signal is applied to the input. See Figure 1, top right. The open-loop gain AOL in general may be a function of both frequency and voltage; the feedback parameter is determined by the feedback network that is

connected around the amplifier. For an operational amplifier two resistors forming a voltage divider may be used for the feedback network to set between 0 and 1. This network may be modified using reactive elements like capacitors or inductors to (a) give frequency-dependent closed-loop gain as in equalization/tone-control circuits or (b) construct oscillators. The gain of the amplifier with feedback is derived below in the case of a voltage amplifier with voltage feedback. Without feedback, the input voltage V'in is applied directly to the amplifier input. The according output voltage is

Suppose now that an attenuating feedback loop applies a fraction .Vout of the output to one of the subtractor inputs so that it subtracts from the circuit input voltage Vin applied to the other subtractor input. The result of subtraction applied to the amplifier input is

Substituting for V'in in the first expression,

Rearranging

Then the gain of the amplifier with feedback, called the closed-loop gain, Afb is given by,

If AOL >> 1, then Afb 1 / and the effective amplification (or closed-loop gain) Afb is set by the feedback constant , and hence set by the feedback network, usually a simple reproducible network, thus making linearizing and stabilizing the amplification characteristics straightforward. Note also that if there are conditions where AOL = 1, the amplifier has infinite amplification it has become an oscillator, and the system is unstable. The stability characteristics of the gain feedback product AOL are often displayed and investigated on a Nyquist plot (a polar plot of the gain/phase shift as a parametric function of frequency). A simpler, but less general technique, uses Bode plots. The combination L = AOL appears commonly in feedback analysis and is called the loop gain. The combination ( 1 + AOL ) also appears commonly and is variously named as the desensitivity factor or the improvement factor.

Bandwidth extension

Figure 2: Gain vs. frequency for a single-pole amplifier with and without feedback; corner frequencies are labeled. Feedback can be used to extend the bandwidth of an amplifier (speed it up) at the cost of lowering the amplifier gain.[7] Figure 2 shows such a comparison. The figure is understood as follows. Without feedback the so-called open-loop gain in this example has a single time constant frequency response given by

where fC is the cutoff or corner frequency of the amplifier: in this example fC = 104 Hz and the gain at zero frequency A0 = 105 V/V. The figure shows the gain is flat out to the corner frequency and then drops. When feedback is present the so-called closed-loop gain, as shown in the formula of the previous section, becomes,

The last expression shows the feedback amplifier still has a single time constant behavior, but the corner frequency is now increased by the improvement factor ( 1 + A0 ), and the gain at zero frequency has dropped by exactly the same factor. This behavior is called the gainbandwidth tradeoff. In Figure 2, ( 1 + A0 ) = 103, so Afb(0)= 105 / 103 = 100 V/V, and fC increases to 104 103 = 107 Hz.

Multiple poles
When the open-loop gain has several poles, rather than the single pole of the above example, feedback can result in complex poles (real and imaginary parts). In a two-pole case, the result is peaking in the frequency response of the feedback amplifier near its corner frequency, and ringing and overshoot in its step response. In the case of more than two poles, the feedback amplifier can become unstable, and oscillate. See the discussion of gain margin and phase margin. For a complete discussion, see Sansen.[8]

Asymptotic gain model

In the above analysis the feedback network is unilateral. However, real feedback networks often exhibit feed forward as well, that is, they feed a small portion of the input to the output, degrading performance of the feedback amplifier. A more general way to model negative feedback amplifiers including this effect is with the asymptotic gain model.

Feedback and amplifier type

Amplifiers use current or voltage as input and output, so four types of amplifier are possible. See classification of amplifiers. Any of these four choices may be the open-loop amplifier used to construct the feedback amplifier. The objective for the feedback amplifier also may be any one of the four types of amplifier, not necessarily the same type as the open-loop amplifier. For example, an op amp (voltage amplifier) can be arranged to make a current amplifier instead. The conversion from one type to another is implemented using different feedback connections, usually referred to as series or shunt (parallel) connections.[9][10] See the table below. Feedback amplifier type Current Transresistance Transconductance Voltage Input connection Shunt Shunt Series Series Output connection Series Shunt Series Shunt Ideal feedback CCCS CCVS VCCS VCVS Two-port feedback g-parameter y-parameter z-parameter h-parameter

The feedback can be implemented using a two-port network. There are four types of two-port network, and the selection depends upon the type of feedback. For example, for a current feedback amplifier, current at the output is sampled and combined with current at the input. Therefore, the feedback ideally is performed using an (output) current-controlled current source (CCCS), and its imperfect realization using a two-port network also must incorporate a CCCS, that is, the appropriate choice for feedback network is a g-parameter two-port.

Two-port analysis of feedback

One approach to feedback is the use of return ratio. Here an alternative method used in most textbooks[11][12][13] is presented by means of an example treated in the article on asymptotic gain model.

Figure 3: A shunt-series feedback amplifier Figure 3 shows a two-transistor amplifier with a feedback resistor Rf. The aim is to analyze this circuit to find three items: the gain, the output impedance looking into the amplifier from the load, and the input impedance looking into the amplifier from the source.

Replacement of the feedback network with a two-port

The first step is replacement of the feedback network by a two-port. Just what components go into the two-port? On the input side of the two-port we have Rf. If the voltage at the right side of Rf changes, it changes the current in Rf that is subtracted from the current entering the base of the input transistor. That is, the input side of the two-port is a dependent current source controlled by the voltage at the top of resistor R2. One might say the second stage of the amplifier is just a voltage follower, transmitting the voltage at the collector of the input transistor to the top of R2. That is, the monitored output signal is really the voltage at the collector of the input transistor. That view is legitimate, but then the voltage follower stage becomes part of the feedback network. That makes analysis of feedback more complicated.

Figure 4: The g-parameter feedback network An alternative view is that the voltage at the top of R2 is set by the emitter current of the output transistor. That view leads to an entirely passive feedback network made up of R2 and Rf. The variable controlling the feedback is the emitter current, so the feedback is a currentcontrolled current source (CCCS). We search through the four available two-port networks and find the only one with a CCCS is the g-parameter two-port, shown in Figure 4. The next task is to select the g-parameters so that the two-port of Figure 4 is electrically equivalent to

the L-section made up of R2 and Rf. That selection is an algebraic procedure made most simply by looking at two individual cases: the case with V1 = 0, which makes the VCVS on the right side of the two-port a short-circuit; and the case with I2 = 0. which makes the CCCS on the left side an open circuit. The algebra in these two cases is simple, much easier than solving for all variables at once. The choice of g-parameters that make the two-port and the L-section behave the same way are shown in the table below. g11 ' g12 g21 g22

Figure 5: Small-signal circuit with two-port for feedback network; upper shaded box: main amplifier; lower shaded box: feedback two-port replacing the L-section made up of Rf and R2.

Small-signal circuit
The next step is to draw the small-signal schematic for the amplifier with the two-port in place using the hybrid-pi model for the transistors. Figure 5 shows the schematic with notation R3 = RC2 // RL and R11 = 1 / g11, R22 = g22 .

Loaded open-loop gain

Figure 3 indicates the output node, but not the choice of output variable. A useful choice is the short-circuit current output of the amplifier (leading to the short-circuit current gain). Because this variable leads simply to any of the other choices (for example, load voltage or load current), the short-circuit current gain is found below. First the loaded open-loop gain is found. The feedback is turned off by setting g12 = g21 = 0. The idea is to find how much the amplifier gain is changed because of the resistors in the feedback network by themselves, with the feedback turned off. This calculation is pretty easy

because R11, RB, and r1 all are in parallel and v1 = v. Let R1 = R11 // RB // r1. In addition, i2 = (+1) iB. The result for the open-loop current gain AOL is:

Gain with feedback

In the classical approach to feedback, the feedforward represented by the VCVS (that is, g21 v1) is neglected.[14] That makes the circuit of Figure 5 resemble the block diagram of Figure 1, and the gain with feedback is then:

where the feedback factor FB = g12. Notation FB is introduced for the feedback factor to distinguish it from the transistor .

Input and output resistances

Figure 6: Circuit setup for finding feedback amplifier input resistance First, a digression on how two-port theory approaches resistance determination, and then its application to the amplifier at hand. Background on resistance determination Figure 6 shows an equivalent circuit for finding the input resistance of a feedback voltage amplifier (left) and for a feedback current amplifier (right). These arrangements are typical Miller theorem applications. In the case of the voltage amplifier, the output voltage Vout of the feedback network is applied in series and with an opposite polarity to the input voltage Vx travelling over the loop (but in respect to ground, the polarities are the same). As a result, the effective voltage across and the current through the amplifier input resistance Rin decrease so that the circuit input resistance increases (one might say that Rin apparently increases). Its new value can be

calculated by applying Miller theorem (for voltages) or the basic circuit laws. Thus Kirchhoff's voltage law provides:

where vout = Av vin = Av Ix Rin. Substituting this result in the above equation and solving for the input resistance of the feedback amplifier, the result is:

The general conclusion to be drawn from this example and a similar example for the output resistance case is: A series feedback connection at the input (output) increases the input (output) resistance by a factor ( 1 + AOL ), where AOL = open loop gain. On the other hand, for the current amplifier, the output current Iout of the feedback network is applied in parallel and with an opposite direction to the input current Ix. As a result, the total current flowing through the circuit input (not only through the input resistance Rin) increases and the voltage across it decreases so that the circuit input resistance decreases (Rin apparently decreases). Its new value can be calculated by applying the dual Miller theorem (for currents) or the basic Kirchhoff's laws:

where iout = Ai iin = Ai Vx / Rin. Substituting this result in the above equation and solving for the input resistance of the feedback amplifier, the result is:

The general conclusion to be drawn from this example and a similar example for the output resistance case is: