In electronics, direct coupling or DC coupling (also called conductive coupling) is the transfer of

electrical energy by means of physical contact via a conductive medium, in contrast to inductive
coupling and capacitive coupling. It is a way of interconnecting two circuits such that, in addition to
transferring the AC signal (or information), the first stage [clarification needed] also provides DC bias to
the next. Thus, DC blocking capacitors are not used or needed to interconnect the circuits. Conductive
coupling passes the full spectrum of frequencies including direct current.

Such coupling may be achieved by a wire, resistor, or common terminal, such as a binding post or
metallic bonding.

The provision of DC bias only occurs in a group of circuits that forms a single unit, such as an op-amp.
Here the internal units or portions of the op-amp (like the input stage, voltage gain stage, and output
stage) will be direct coupled and will also be used to set up the bias conditions inside the op-amp (the
input stage will also supply the input bias to the voltage gain stage, for example). However, when two
op-amps are directly coupled the first op-amp will supply any bias to the next - any DC at its output
will form the input for the next. The resulting output of the second op-amp now represents an offset
error if it is not the intended one.
This technique is used by default in circuits like IC op-amps, since large coupling capacitors cannot be
fabricated on-chip. That said, some discrete circuits (such as power amplifiers) also employ direct
coupling to cut cost and improve low frequency performance.
One advantage or disadvantage (depending on application) of direct coupling is that any DC at the
input appears as a valid signal to the system, and so it will be transferred from the input to the output
(or between two directly coupled circuits). If this is not a desired result, then the term used for the
output signal is output offset error, and the corresponding input signal is known as input offset error.