EECE2031: ANALOG
CIRCUITS
Faculty- Mr V Santosh Kumar
Semester-IV
Class-2/4 ECE C
3rd Module
Power Amplifiers
INTRODUCTION
• A power amplifier is more commonly known as audio amplifier.
• Unlike voltage amplifiers, it takes the power from dc power supply
connected to the output circuit and converts it into useful ac signal
power.
Classification of Output stages
• Output Stages
• Class A output stage:
• Bias current is greater than the magnitude of the signal current.
• Conduction angle is 360.
• Class B output stage:
• Biased at zero dc current
• Conduction angle is 180
• Another transistor conducts during the alternate half-cycle
• Class AB output stage:
• An intermedi ate class b etween A an d B
• Biased at a nonzero dc current much smaller than the peak current of
the signal
• Conduction angle is greater than 180 but much smaller than 360
• Two transistors are used and currents are combined at the load
Contd..
• Class C output stage:
• Conduction angle is smaller than 180
• The current is passed through a parallel LC network to obtain the output
signal
• Class A, B and AB are used as output stage of op amps.
• Class AB amplifiers are preferred for audio power amplifier.
• Class C amplifiers are usually used at higher frequencies.
• Collector current waveforms for the transistors operating in different
classes.
• The classification also applies for output stages with MOSFETs
Difference between Voltage
amplifiers & Power Amplifiers
Class A Power Amplifier
Direct Coupled Class A Power
Amplifier
Power Efficiency of Direct
Coupled Class A Power Amplifier
Key Points for Series fed or direct
coupled Class A power Amplifier
Transformer Coupled Class A power
Amplifier
Conversion Efficiency
Equation taken from direct coupled class A derivation. Do the complete
derivation for this equation in exam.
Contd..
Class B Push pull Power Amplifier
Complementary push pull Class B
Power Amplifier
Crossover Distortion
Crossover distortion is a
type of distortion which is
caused by switching
between devices driving a
load. It is most commonly
seen in complementary,
or "push-pull", Class-B
amplifier stages, although
it is occasionally seen in
other types of circuits as
well.
Methods to reduce cross over
distortion
Class AB Output Stage
• Crossover distortion can be virtually
eliminated by biasing the
complementary output transistors at a
small nonzero current. The result is the
class AB output stage shown in Fig.
• A bias voltage VBB is applied between
the bases of QN and QP. For vI =0, vO
=0, and a voltage VBB/2 appears across
the base–emitter junction of each of QN
and QP. Assuming matched devices,
Class C Power Amplifier
POWER BJT’s
• Power transistors are required to conduct currents in the ampere
range and to withstand power dissipation in the watts and tens-of-
watts ranges differ in their physical structure, packaging, and
specification from the small-signal transistors considered in earlier.
• Power transistors dissipate large amounts of power in their collector–
base junctions. The dissipated power is converted into heat, which
raises the junction temperature.
• However, the junction temperature TJ must not be allowed to exceed
a specified maximum, TJmax; otherwise the transistor could suffer
permanent damage. For silicon devices, TJmax is in the range of 150°C
to 200°C.
Contd..
• Consider first the situation of a transistor operating in free air—that
is, with no special arrangements for cooling. The heat dissipated in
the transistor junction will be conducted away from the junction to
the transistor case, and from the case to the surrounding
environment.
• In a steady state in which the transistor is dissipating PD watts, the
temperature rise of the junction relative to the surrounding
ambience can be expressed as
TJ – TA = θ JAPD
• where θJA is the thermal resistance between junction and ambience,
having the units of degrees Celsius per watt.
• Since we wish to be able to dissipate large amounts of power without
raising the junction temperature above TJmax, it is desirable to have,
for the thermal resistance θJA, as small a value as possible.
Contd..
• The thermal resistance between junction and ambience, θJA, can be
expressed as
θ JA = θ JC + θ CA
θ CA = θ CS + θ SA
Where,
• θ JA=Thermal resistance between Junction to Air
• θ Jc=Thermal resistance between Junction to Case
• θ CA=Thermal resistance between Case to Air
• θ CS=Thermal resistance between Case to Sink
• θ SA=Thermal resistance between Sink to Air
• The electrical analog of the thermal-conduction
process when a heat sink is employed,
from which we can write
TJ – TA = PD (θ JC + θ CS + θ SA)
Parameter Values of Power
Transistors
• Owing to their large geometry and high operating currents, power
transistors display typical parameter values that can be quite
different from those of small-signal transistors.
• The important differences are as follows:
1. At high currents, the exponential iC–vBE relationship exhibits a
factor of 2 reduction in the exponent; that is, . iC= IS evBE ⁄ 2VT
2. β is low, typically 30 to 80, but can be as low as 5. Here, it is
important to note that β has a positive temperature coefficient.
3. At high currents, rπ becomes very small (a few ohms)
4. fT is low (a few megahertz), Cμ is large (hundreds of picofarads), and
Cπ is even larger.
5. ICBO is large (a few tens of microamps) and, as usual, doubles for
every 10°C rise in temperature.
6. BVCEO is typically 50 to 100 V but can be as high as 500 V.
7. ICmax is typically in the ampere range but can be as high as 100 A.
MOS Power Transistors
• The MOSFET structure studied previously is not suitable for high-
power applications.
• To appreciate this fact, recall that the drain current of an n-channel
MOSFET operating in the saturation region is given by
• To increase the current capability of the MOSFET, its width W should
be made large and its channel length L should be made as small as
possible.
• however, reducing the channel length of the standard MOSFET
structure results in a drastic reduction in its breakdown voltage.
• Thus the device would not be capable of handling the high voltages
typical of power-transistor applications.
• For this reason, new structures had to be found for fabricating short-
channel (1- to 2-μm) MOSFETs with high breakdown voltages.
Contd..
The most popular structure for a power
MOSFET is the double diffused or DMOS
transistor.
As indicated, the device is fabricated on
a lightly doped n-type substrate with a heavily
doped region at the bottom for the drain
contact.
Two diffusions are employed, one to form the
p-type body region and another to form
the n-type source region.
The DMOS device operates as follows. Application of a positive gate voltage, vGS, greater
than the threshold voltage Vt, induces a lateral n channel in the p-type body region
underneath the gate oxide. The resulting channel is short; its length is denoted L in Fig.
Current is then conducted by electrons from the source moving through the resulting short
channel to the substrate and then vertically down the substrate to the drain.
This should be contrasted with the lateral current flow in the standard small-signal
MOSFET structure
Characteristics of Power
MOSFETs
• Power MOSFETs have threshold voltages in
the range of 2 V to 4 V.
• In saturation, the drain current is related to
vGS by the square-law characteristics.
• However, as shown in Fig., the iD–vGS
characteristic becomes linear for larger
values of vGS.
• The linear portion of the characteristic occurs
as a result of the high electric field along the
short channel, causing the velocity of charge
carriers to reach an upper limit, a
phenomenon known as velocity saturation.
• The linear iD–vGS relationship implies a
constant gm in the velocity-saturation region.
Temperature Effects
Observe that there is a value of vGS. at
which the temperature coefficient of iD is
zero. At higher values of vGS, iD exhibits a
negative temperature coefficient. It
implies that a MOSFET operating beyond
the zero-temperature-coefficient point
does not suffer from the possibility of
thermal runaway. This is not the case,
however, at low currents (i.e., lower than
the zero-temperature-coefficient point).
In the (relatively) low-current region, the
temperature coefficient of iD is positive,
and the power MOSFET can easily suffer
thermal runaway (with unhappy
consequences). Since class AB output
stages are biased at low currents, means
must be provided to guard against
thermal runaway.