Feedback:

Part A - Basics
Slides taken from:
A.R. Hambley, Electronics, Prentice Hall,
2/e, 2000

Overview

The Concept of Feedback

Effects of feedback on Gain
Effects of feedback on non linear distortion
Effects of feedback on noise
Effects of feedback on input and output impedance
Types of feedback networks
Design of feedback amplifiers
Effect of Feedback on Bandwidth

Transient and frequency response

Effect of feedback on pole location
Gain margin and phase margin
Dominant-pole compensation
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Feedback
Consists

of returning part of the output of a

system to the input
Negative Feedback: a portion of the output
signal is returned to the input in opposition to
the original input signal
Positive Feedback: the feedback signal aids
the original input signal
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Negative Feedback Pro & Cons

Negative Feedback Effects:

Reduces

gain
Stabilizes gain
Reduces non linear distortion
Reduces certain types of noise
Controls input and output impedances
Extends bandwidth

The disadvantage of reducing the gain can be

overcome by adding few more stages of amplification
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Effects of Feedback on Gain (1)

Figure 9.1 Feedback amplifier. Note that the signals are denoted as xi, xf, xo, and so on.
The signals can be either currents or voltages.

Effects of Feedback on Gain (2)

Problems with Positive Feedback

Gain Stabilization (1)

If

we design the amplifier so that A >> 1, then

the closed loop gain Af is approximately 1/
Under this condition Af depends only on the
stable passive components (resistor or
capacitors) used in the feedback network,
instead of depending on the open loop gain A
which in turn depends on active device
parameters (gm) which tend to be highly
variable with operating point and temperature
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Gain Stabilization (2)

The Summing Point Constraint

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Reduction of non linear distortion (1)

Figure 9.2 Transfer characteristic of a certain nonlinear amplifier.

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Reduction of non linear distortion (2)

Figure 9.3 Output of amplifier of Figure 9.2 for xin = sin(vt).

Notice the distortion resulting from the nonlinear transfer characteristic.

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Reduction of non linear distortion (3)

Figure 9.4 Addition of a linear high-gain preamplifier and negative feedback

to reduce distortion.

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Reduction of non linear distortion (4)

Figure 9.5 Predistorted input signal.

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Reduction of non linear

distortion (5)

Figure 9.5 Predistorted input signal.

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Example: crossover distortion (1)

Figure 9.7 Nonlinear class-B

power amplifier.

Figure 9.8 Transfer characteristic for

the amplifier of Figure 9.7.

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Example: crossover distortion (2)

Figure 9.9a Class-B power amplifier with feedback.

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Example: crossover distortion (3)

Figure 9.10 Waveforms for the circuit of Figure 9.9

with the switch in position A.
Notice the crossover distortion in the output.

Figure 9.11 Waveforms for the circuit of Figure 9.9

with the switch in position B. Notice the
predistortion of the base drive voltage vB.

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Noise Reduction
SNR = signal to noise ratio

Figure 9.12 Models that account for the addition of noise in amplifiers.

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SNR for a Feedback Amplifier (1)

Figure 9.13 Feedback amplifier with a noise source.

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SNR for a Feedback Amplifier (2)

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Types of Feedback
There

are 4 basic types of feedback that have

different effects:
series

voltage
series current
parallel voltage
parallel current

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Series-Voltage Feedback

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Series-Current Feedback

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Parallel-Voltage Feedback

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Parallel-Current Feedback

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Sampling the output signal

In

complex circuits, sometimes it is not clear

whether we have current or voltage feedback
A simple test is to open or short the load
If opening the load the feedback signal
vanishes we have current feedback
If shorting the load the feedback vanishes we
have voltage feedback
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Units of the feedback ratio

units of are the inverse of the units of
the amplifier gain
For series-voltage feedback A=Av and
is unit less
For series-current feedback A=Gm and
is in
For parallel-voltage feedback A=Rm and
is in Siemens
For parallel-current feedback A=Ai and
is unit less
The

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Effects of various types of feedback on gain

series-voltage:
series-current:
parallel-voltage:
parallel-current:
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Input impedance: effect of series feedback

Figure 9.15 Model for analysis of the effect of series feedback on input impedance.

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Input impedance: effect of parallel feedback

Figure 9.16 Model for analysis of the effect of parallel feedback on input impedance.

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Output impedance: effect of voltage feedback

Figure 9.17 Model for the analysis of output impedance with voltage feedback.

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Output impedance: effect of current feedback

Figure 9.18 Model for the analysis of output impedance with current feedback.

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Summary: Effects of feedback

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Analysis of feedback amplifiers

Step

1
Identify negative feedback

Step

2
Identify the type of feedback (current feedback
vs. voltage feedback)

Step

3
Determine the feedback ratio = xf / xo
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Examples of feedback amplifiers (1)

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Examples of feedback amplifiers (2)

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Examples of feedback amplifiers (3)

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Examples of feedback amplifiers (4)

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Design of feedback amplifiers (1)

Step 1
Decide what type of feedback is required and determine the value
of the feedback ratio

Step 2
Select the appropriate circuit for the feedback network

Step 3
select the appropriate valued for the components in the feedback
network

Step 4
Analyze the circuit to verify that all approximation were legitimate.
Signal sources have nonzero internal resistance. The feedback
network has non ideal input and output impedances. Consequently
it loads the amplifier output and inserts impedance into the input
circuit
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Design of Feedback Amplifiers

Series feedback
try to select small resistance values, so that the network does
not insert significant resistance into the input circuit

Parallel feedback
try to select large resistance values so that the feedback
network does not tend to short out the input terminals

Voltage feedback
try to select large feedback resistance to do not load the
amplifier

Current feedback
try to select small feedback resistances because the input of the
feedback network is in series with the load
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