CHAPTER 5

FEEDBACK
Introduction
Harold black, an electronics engineer with western electric company invented the
feedback amplifier in 1928.

It is impossible to think electronics circuits without some form of feedback either

implicit or explicit

Feedback can be classified as

 Positive
 Negative

In amplifier design negative feedback is applied to effect one or more of the

following properties

1) Desensitize the gain

The value of gain is less dependent on the parameters of the amplifier
elements
2) Reduce nonlinear distortions
i.e make the output proportional to the input.
3) Reduce the effect of noise
Minimize the contribution to the output of unwanted electrical signal
generated either by the circuit components themselves or by extraneous interference.
4) Control the input and output impedances
Raising or lowering of the input and output impedances by the selection of an
appropriate feedback topology.
5) Extend the bandwidth of amplifier

All the desirable properties above are obtained at the expense of a reduction in gain

The general feedback structure

Figure shows the basic structure amplifier which is signal flow diagram.
 The quantities ‘X’ can represent either a voltage or a current signal.
 The open loop amplifier has a gain ‘A’ thus its output ‘xo’ is related to its input ‘xi’
by

 The output ‘Xo’ is fed to the load as well as to a feedback network which produces a
sample of the output ‘Xf’
 ‘Xf’ is related to ‘Xo’ By the feedback factor ‘β’.

i.e.
 The feedback signal ‘Xf’ is subtracted from the source ‘Xs’ which is the input to the
amplifier circuit
i.e.
 The source, load and the feedback network do not load the amplifier i.e. gain ‘A’ does
not depend on any of these three networks.
 The gain of the feedback

 The quantity ‘Aβ’ is loop gain.

 For feedback to be negative the loop gain ‘Aβ’ should be positive i.e. the feedback
should have the same sign as ‘Xs’.
  The resulting is a smaller difference ‘Xi’ indicates that for positive ‘Aβ’the gain with
feedback ‘Af’ will be smaller than the open loop gain ‘A’ by the quantity 1+Aβ
which is called amount of feedback.
 If Aβ 1 then Af = 1/β the gain is dependent on outer feedback network.
 We also have

 For Aβ 1 we see that Xf = Xs i.e. the signal ‘Xi’ reduces to almost zero. Thus if
large amount of negative feedback is employed the feedback ‘X f’ becomes an almost
identical replica of input signal ‘Xs’
 The differencing circuit is also referred to be a compression circuit or mixer.
 An expression of ‘Xi’

For Aβ 1 ‘Xi’ becomes very small.

Properties of negative feedback

Gain densensitivity

A higher reduction in the gain of the basic amplifier will cause a lesser reduction in
the gain of the closed loop amplifier.

Assume β is constant

We have

( )

Differentiating

( )
( )

Dividing (2) by (1)

 ( )

Shows that percentage change in ‘Af’ is smaller than percentage change in ‘A’ by the
amount of feedback (1+Aβ) known as densensitivity factor.

Bandwidth extension

Consider an amplifier whose high frequency response is characterized by a single

pole its gain at mid and high frequencies can be expressed as

( ) ( )

Where
AM --- mid-band gain

WH----- upper 3 – dB frequency

Application of negative feedback with frequency independent factor ‘β’ results in

closed loop gain ‘Af(s)’ as

( )
( ) ( )
( )

Substituting (1) in (2) and on amplification

( )
( )
( )

Where

( )

( )

It can be seen that upper 3 dB frequency is increased by a factor equal to the amount
of feedback
 Similarly for a dominant low frequency pole the feedback amplifier will have a lower
3 – dB frequency ‘WLf’

The amplifier gain is increased by the same factor by which mid band gain is
decreased this is illustrated as shown.

Noise reduction

Negative feedback can be employed to reduce the noise or inferences in an amplifier

or more precisely, to increase the signal to noise ratio.

The noise reduction process is possible only under certain conditions

Consider the situation illustrated as shown in the figure

 The figure shows the amplifier with gain ‘A1’ an input signal ‘Vs’ and noise or
interferences ‘Vn’

It is assumed that for some reason this amplifier suffers from noise and that the noise
is introduced at the input of the amplifier.

The signal to noise ratio as

Consider the next circuit as shown in the figure

In the above figure we will assume another amplifier stage with gain ‘A2’ that doesn’t
suffer from noise problem.

i.e. the amplifier ‘A1’ is precede by the clean amplifier ‘A2’ and negative feedback
around the overall cascade.

The output voltage of the above circuit is given as

( )

Thus the signal to noise ratio at the output becomes

 Which is ‘A2’ times higher than in the original case. Hence the improvement in
signal to noise ratio by the application of feedback is possible only if one precede the noisy
stage by a noise free stage.

Reduction in nonlinear distortion

The figure below shows the piecewise linear characteristics of an amplifier (A) with
voltage gain changing from ‘1000’ to ‘100’ and then to ‘0’.

This nonlinear transfer characteristics will result in generating a large amount of

nonlinear distortion.

The amplifier transfer characteristics can be considerably linearized through the

application of negative feedback. Thus large changes in open loop gain gives rise to much
smaller corresponding changes in the closed loop gain.

Four basic feedback topologies

Based on the quantity to be amplified and on the desired form of output (voltage or
current) amplifiers can be classified into four categories.

Voltage amplifiers

 Voltage amplifiers are intended to amplify an input voltage signal and provide an
output voltage signal.
  The voltage amplifier is essentially a voltage controlled voltage source.
 The input impedance is required to be high and output impedance to be low.
 Since signal source is voltage it is convenient to represent it in turns of thevenin’s
equivalent circuit.
 The feedback network should sample the output voltage and can be mixed with
source voltage in series.
 The voltage amplifier is known as voltage mixing voltage sampling as shown in the
figure
 Because of series connect ion at the input and parallel connection at the output it is
also known as series shunt feedback.
 This topology stabilizes the voltage gain also results in higher input resistance
because of series connection and lower output resistance because of parallel
connection.

Current amplifiers

 The input signal is current and thus the signal source is represented in Norton
equivalent.
  The feedback networks should sample the output current and can be mixed with the
input in series.
 The current amplifier is also known as current mixing current sampling topology as
shown in figure.
 Because of parallel connection at input and series connection at the output this
feedback topology is also called shunt series feedback.
 The topology stabilizes the current gain also results in lower input resistance because
of parallel connection and higher output resistance because of series connection.

An example for current amplifier is as shown in the figure

 The biasing details are not shown in the figure.

 The current being sampled is not the output current but the equal current flowing
from the source of Q2.
 For the feedback to be negative the loop gain should be positive.
 Let current ‘Is’ increases hence gate voltage ‘Q1’ increases and thus drain current
will also increases.
 Thus the gate voltage of ‘Q2’ decreases hence ‘Io’ decreases.
 From feedback network we see that if ‘Io’ decreases ‘If’ increases and hence feedback
is negative.
Transconductance amplifier
 In transconductance amplifier the input signal is a voltage and the output signal is a
current.

 The amplifier is also known as voltage mixing current sampling as shown in the
figure.
 Because of the presence of series connection at both input and output this feedback
topology is also known as series - series feedback.

An example for transconductance amplifier is as shown in the figure.

Transresistance amplifier

 In transresistance amplifier the input signal is current and the output signal is voltage.

 The amplifier is also known as current mixing voltage sampling.

 Because of the presence of parallel connection at both the input and output side the
feedback topology is also known as shunt - shunt topology

An example for transresistance amplifier is as shown in the figure

The series shunt feedback amplifier

The ideal structure feedback amplifier is as shown in the figure

 It consists of a unilateral open loop amplifier (the ‘A ’circuit) and an ideal voltage
mixing voltage sampling feedback network (the β circuit).
 The ‘A’ circuit has an input resistance of ‘Ri’ a voltage gain ‘A’ and output resistance
‘Ro’ the source and load resistance have been included in ‘A’ circuit.
 The ‘β’ circuit doesn’t load the ‘A’ circuit i.e. connecting the ‘β’ circuit will not vary
‘A’ i.e. defined as

Open loop gain:

Closed loop gain is given as

The equivalent circuit is as shown

 Here and represents input and output resistance with feedback

( )

 i.e. the negative feedback increases the input resistance by a factor equal to the
amount of feedback.
 It can be generalized as

Zif (s) = Zi (s) [1 + A(s)β(s)]

To find output resistance ‘Rof’ consider the circuit as shown in the figure
 ( )

(2)

For VS = 0

Substituting Vi in equation (2) we have

Thus

( )

Substituting (3) in equation (2) we have

i.e. negative feedback reduces the output resistance by a factor equal to amount of feedback

This can be generalized as

( )
( ) ( )

The practical situation

 In practical case the series shunt feedback will not be an ideal voltage controlled voltage
source, rather the feedback network is usually resistive and hence the amplifier affecting
the values of ‘A’ ‘Ri’ and ‘Ro’.
 In addition the source and load resistance will effect these three parameters.
 The ideal structural of amplifier is as shown in figure below

Rif - input feedback resistance. Rof – output feedback resistance

Rin – input resistance of ‘A’ circuit Rout – output resistance of ‘A’ circuit
 The two port feedback in terms of ‘h’ parameters is illustrated in figure:
 The choice of’ ‘h’ parameter is based on the fact that this is the only parameter that
represents the feedback network by a series network at port1 and parallel network at
port2.

 The current source h21I1 represents the forward transmission of feedback network.
 Since the feedback network is usually formed from passive elements its forward
transmission can be neglected when compared to forward transmission of amplifier.

Hence
| | | |

 Hence omitting the controlled source altogether.

 By including ‘h11’ and ‘h22’ with basic amplifier we obtain the circuit as shown which is
very similar to that of ideal circuit
 The loading effect of the feedback network on the basic amplifier is represented as ‘h11’
and ‘h22’
 ‘h11’ is the impedance looking in port 1 of the feedback network with port 2 short
circuited, since port 2 feedback network is connected in shunt with the output port of the
amplifier short circuiting port 2 destroys the feedback.
 Similarly ‘h22’ is admittance looking into port 2 of feedback network with port 1 open
circuited since port 1 feedback network connected in series with the amplifier input open
circuiting port 1 destroys the feedback.

Determination of β
 β equal to ‘h12’ of feedback network, hence

 Apply voltage to port 2 of the feedback network and measure the voltage at port 1 and ‘β’
should be found with port 1 open circuit
 The actual input and output resistance of the feedback amplifier that can be determined as
Note:

Summary

Where R11 is obtained as

Where R22 is obtained as

β is obtained as

Determining the loop gain:

 Consider the general feedback amplifier as shown in the figure:

 Let the external source ‘xs’ be set to zero
 Open the feedback loop by breaking the connection of ‘xo’ to the feedback network and
apply test signal ‘xt’.
 The output at feedback is given as:

 The input of the basic amplifier is

 The output of the basic amplifier is

 Once we break the feedback loop it should be terminated by impedance equal to that seen
before the loop.
 Consider the conceptual feedback loop as shown
 If we break loop at XX| and apply a test voltage ‘Vt’ to the terminal left of XX|.
 The terminal at the right of XX| should be loaded with an impedance ‘Zt’ as shown in the
figure

Hence

Also in terms of current

Alternative approach to find Aβ

 This method is particularly usefull when it is not easy to determine the terminal
impedance ‘Zt’.
 As before the loop is broken at a convenient point then the open circuit transfer function
is determined (Toc) as shown in the figure and short circuit transfer function is determined
to obtain loop gain (Aβ) as

Where
Ex: Determination of loop gain
 The feedback loop is as shown in the figure

 The simple equivalent circuit model is as shown

 Breaking the circuit and adding a test voltage ‘Vt’ we have the circuit as shown
 The return voltage can be calculated as

{ || ( )||( ) |} ||( )
{ || ( )||( |} ||( )

 Finally finding ‘Vr’ we can calculate

 Loop gain is also called loop transmission L(s) or L(jw).

The stability problem

Transfer function of the feedback amplifier

 The open loop transfer function given as: A(s)

 The feedback transfer function given as: β(s)
 The closed loop transfer function is given as: Af(s)
Hence
( )
( )
( ) ( )
 Assume that the amplifier is direct coupled with constant DC gain ‘Ao’
 Also assume that at low frequencies β(s) reduces to a constant value thus at low
frequency A(s) β(s) becomes a constant.
 At high frequencies S = jw
( )
( )
( ) ( )

 Loop gain
( ) ( ) ( )

=| ( ) ( )|
Stability of the closed loop transfer function

1. For loop gain smaller than unity at w180

 Becomes positive feedback.
 Closed loop gain becomes larger than open loop gain.
 The feedback amplifier is stable.
2. For loop gain equal to unity
 It follows that Af(jw) will be infinite
 The amplifier will have output for zero input (oscillation)
3. For loop gain longer than unity at w180
 Oscillation with growing amplitude at the output.

Nyquist plot
 A plot used to evaluate the stability of feedback amplifier.

 Plot the loop gain versus frequency on the complex plane.

 The radical distance is |Aβ| the angle is the phase angle Φ.
 The solid line plot is for positive frequencies.
 The Aβ plot for negative frequencies is indicated in broken lines.
 The nyquist plot intersects the negative real axis at W180.
 If intersection occurs to the left of point (-1, 0) the loop gain is greater than unity and
amplifier is unstable.
 If intersection occurs to the right of the point (-1, 0) the amplifier is stable.
 If nyquist plot encircles the point (-1, 0) then also the amplifier will be unstable.
Effects of feedback on the amplifier poles

Stability and pole location

 Consider the equation as

( ) ( )

 If pole should lie in the left half of the ‘S’ plane then the ‘σo’ will be negative and the
oscillation will delay exponentially towards zero.
 If on the other hand the poles are in the right half the plane then the ‘σ o’ will be positive
and the oscillation will grow exponentially.
 Finally if poles are on the ‘jw’ axis then the ‘σo’ will be zero and oscillation will be
sustained as shown in the figure.
Poles of the feedback amplifier

The characteristics equation of feedback loop is given as

( ) ( )

The feedback amplifier poles are obtained by solving the characteristics equation

Amplifier with a single pole response

 Open loop transfer function is characterized by a single pole

( )
⁄

 Closed loop transfer function given by

⁄( )
( )
⁄ ( )

 Feedback moves the pole along the negative real axis to a frequency

( )

 This process is as shown in the figure

 The figure below shows bode plots for |A| and |Af|

 Note at low frequencies the difference between plot is 20 log(1+ ) whereas the two
curves coincide at high frequencies.
 Hence for frequencies ( )

We have

( ) ( )

 Hence the figure illustrates that bandwidth is extended by feedback at the cost of
reduction in gain.
 Since the pole of the closed loop amplifier never enters the right half of the ‘S’ plane the
single pole amplifier is stable for any value of ‘β’ thus unconditionally stable.

Amplifier with two poles response

 Open loop transfer function is characterized by two real poles

( )
( ⁄ )( ⁄ )

 Closed loop poles are obtained from ( ( ) leads to

( ) ( ) ( )

 The plot of poles versus ‘β’ is called root locus diagram

 From the root locus diagram we see that this amplifier is unconditionally stable because
the poles never enters the right half plane.
 The characteristics equation of second order network is given as

( )

Where

 The normalized gain of a two pole feedback amplifier for various values of ‘Q’

 Comparing (1) and (2) we obtain ‘Q’ factor for the poles of the feedback amplifier as

√( )
Amplifier with three or more poles

 The figure shows the root locus diagram for a feedback amplifier whose open loop
response is characterized by three poles.

 As ‘A0β’ increased the poles become complex conjugate poles and enters the right half of
the ‘S’ plane, thus causing the amplifier to become unstable.
 Reducing ‘A0β’ below the critical value causes the nyquist plot to shrink and thus
intersect the negative real axis to the right of (-1, 0) point indicating stable performance.
 Increasing ‘A0β’ above critical point or value causes the nyquist plot to expand and thus
indicating unstable performance.
 Alternatively we can state that there exists minimum value for the closed loop gain ‘Afo’
below which the amplifier is unstable.
 There exists a maximum value of ‘β’ above which the amplifier is unstable.