Module - 02
MOSFET Power Amplifiers
Power Amplifiers, Power Transistors, Classes of Amplifiers,
Class A Power Amplifiers, Class B, Class AB Push-Pull
Complementary Output Stages.
Functions of Power amplifiers
• to provide a low output resistance
– so that it can deliver the signal power to the load
without loss of gain and to
• maintain linearity in the output signal
– A measure of the linearity of the output signal is
the total harmonic distortion (THD)
Limitations of Transistors
• Maximum rated current
– On the order of amperes
• Maximum rated voltage
– On the order of 100 V
• Maximum rated power
– On the order of Watts or tens of Watts
– Related to maximum allowed temperature
• Which in turn depends on heat removal
Comparison with Power BJTs
Characteristics of two Power
MOSFETs
Parameter 2N6757 2N6792
VDS (max) (V) 150 400
ID (Max) 8 2
PD (W) 75 20
Difference between Power BJT and
MOSFET
• faster switching times,
• no second breakdown,
• stable gain and
• Response time over a wide temperature range
CLASSES OF AMPLIFIERS
Objective: • Define various classes of power amplifiers, and investigate the characteristics,
including power efficiency, of a few of these amplifiers.
Some power amplifiers are classified according to the percent of time the output
transistors are conducting, or “turned on.”
Four of the principal classifications are:
class A, class B, class AB, and class C.
In class-A operation, an output transistor is biased at a quiescent current IQ and
conducts for the entire cycle of the input signal.
For class-B operation, an output transistor conducts for only one-half of each
sine wave input cycle.
In class-AB operation, an output transistor is biased at a small
quiescent current IQ and conducts for slightly more than half a cycle.
class-A amplifier class-B amplifier
Collector current versus Collector current versus
time characteristics time characteristics
class-AB amplifier
Collector current versus time characteristics
class-A amplifier
The load line is given by
At the transition point,
For sinusoidal input signals, the average ac power delivered to the load is
2
𝑉𝑝
𝑃 𝐿=
2 𝑅𝐷
The quiescent drain current is found to be
𝑉 𝐷𝐷 −𝑉 𝐷𝑆𝑄
𝐼 𝐷𝑄 =
𝑅𝐷
The average power supplied by the source is
𝑃 𝑆=𝑉 𝐷𝐷 𝐼 𝐷𝑄
The power conversion efficiency
𝑃𝐿
𝜂= 25%
𝑃𝑆
Problem : Calculate the actual efficiency of a class-A output stage.
class-B amplifier
This circuit is called a complementary push–pull output stage. Transistor NMOS
conducts during the positive half of the input cycle, and PMOS conducts during the
negative half-cycle. The transistors do not both conduct at the same time.
Idealized class-B output stage with Device A turns on for > 0, supplying current to
complementary pair, A and B, of the load
electronic devices
ideal voltage transfer characteristics
device B turns on for < 0, sinking
current from the load
Voltage transfer characteristics of basic
complementary push–pull output stage
there is a range of input voltage around zero volts
where both transistors are cut off and is zero. This
portion of the curve is called the dead band.
The output voltage is not a perfect sinusoidal signal,
which means that crossover distortion is produced by the
dead band region.
Crossover distortion of basic complementary push–pull
output stage
Crossover distortion can be virtually eliminated by biasing both PMOS and
NMOS with a small quiescent drain current when is zero. The crossover
distortion effect can also be minimized with an op-amp used in a feedback
configuration.
Derivation
Refer class notes
Consider the class B output stage with complementary MOSFET. The
transistor parameters are and . Let (a) Find the maximum output voltage such
that remains biased in the saturation region. What are the corresponding
values of for this condition? (b) Determine the conversion efficiency for a
symmetrical sine-wave output signal with the peak value found in part (a).
MOSFET class-AB output stage
The output voltage is
𝑣 𝑜 =𝑅 𝐿 𝑖 𝐿
The input voltage for positive is
The source-to-gate voltage of is
Problem : Determine the required biasing in a MOSFET class-AB output stage.