Lecture 28 – Distortion in Amplifiers

RIJIL RAMCHAND
 PULSE RESPONSE
 Often, we need to amplify a
pulse signal such as the one
shown in Figure (a).
 Pulses contain components
spread over a wide range of
frequencies; therefore,
amplification of pulses calls for
a wideband amplifier.
 A typical amplified output pulse
is shown in Figure (b).

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 PULSE RESPONSE
 The output waveform differs from the input in several important
respects:

The pulse displays overshoot and ringing, the leading and

trailing edges are gradual rather than abrupt, and if the amplifier
is ac coupled, the top of the output pulse is tilted.

 Rise Time

 The gradual rise of the leading edge of the amplifier response is

often quantified by giving the rise time t , which is the time interval
r

between the point t at which the amplifier achieves 10 percent of

10

the eventual output amplitude and the point t at which the output is
90

90 percent of the final value.

 This is illustrated in Figure 11.30.

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 PULSE RESPONSE

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 PULSE RESPONSE
 Overshoot and Ringing

 Another aspect of the output pulse shown in Figure (b) is overshoot

and ringing, which are also related to the way the gain of the
amplifier behaves in the high-frequency region.

 An amplifier that displays pronounced overshoot and ringing usually

has a peak in its gain characteristic, as shown in Figure below.

 The frequency of maximum gain approximately matches the ringing

frequency.

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 PULSE RESPONSE
 Tilt

 The tilt of the top of the output pulse, shown in Figure (a), occurs if
the amplifier is ac coupled and arises from charging of coupling
capacitors during the pulse.

 (After all, if the pulse lasted indefinitely, it would be the same as a

new dc level at the input, and eventually the output voltage of an ac-
coupled amplifier would return to zero.)

 Tilt is specified as a percentage of the initial pulse amplitude,

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 PULSE RESPONSE
 As the duration of the pulse is increased (or as the lower half-power
frequency of the amplifier is raised by changing the coupling circuits
to have shorter time constants), output waveforms such as those in
Figure (b) and (c) result.

 The pulse response of an amplifier may contain overshoot, ringing,

and tilt. Rise time is always nonzero.

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 TRANSFER CHARACTERISTIC AND
NONLINEAR DISTORTION
 The transfer characteristic of an amplifier is a plot of the
instantaneous output amplitude versus the instantaneous input
amplitude.

 For an ideal amplifier, the output is simply a larger version of the

input waveform, and the transfer characteristic is a straight line
whose slope is the gain.

 Real amplifiers have transfer characteristics that depart from straight

lines, particularly at large amplitudes.

 This is shown in Figure.

 Curvature of the transfer characteristic results in an undesirable

effect known as nonlinear distortion.

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 TRANSFER CHARACTERISTIC AND
NONLINEAR DISTORTION
 Sometimes, the departure from a straight line characteristic can be
very abrupt.

 Then the result of applying a high-amplitude input signal is clipping

of the output waveform, as shown in Figure.

 However, even small departures from a straight characteristic can

be very serious in some applications.

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 Harmonic Distortion
 The input–output relationship of a nonlinear amplifier can be written
as

 where A1,A2,A3, and so on, are constants selected so that the

equation matches the curvature of the nonlinear transfer
characteristic.

 Consider the case for which the input signal is a sinusoid given by

 Let us find an expression for the corresponding output signal.

Substituting second equation into first one, applying trigonometric
identities for [cos(ωat)]n, collecting terms, and defining V0 to be equal
to the sum of all of the constant terms, V1 to be the sum of the
coefficients of the terms with frequency ωa, and so on.

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 Harmonic Distortion
 We find that

 The desired output is the V1 cos(ωat) term, which we call the

fundamental component.

 The V0 term represents a shift in the dc level (which does not appear
at the load if it is ac coupled).

 In addition, terms at multiples of the input frequency have resulted

from the second and higher power terms of the transfer
characteristic.

 These terms are called harmonic distortion.

 The 2ωa term is called the second harmonic, the 3ωa term is the
third harmonic, and so on.

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 Harmonic Distortion
 The higher order terms in the transfer characteristic produce the
higher order harmonics.

 For example, the squared term produces the second harmonic.

 Similarly, the cubic term generates the third harmonic.

 Harmonic distortion is objectionable in a wideband amplifier

because the harmonics can fall in the frequency range of the
desired signal.

 In an audio amplifier, harmonic distortion degrades the aesthetic

qualities of the sound produced by the loudspeakers.

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 Harmonic Distortion
 The second-harmonic distortion factor D2 is defined as the ratio of
the amplitude of the second harmonic to the amplitude of the
fundamental.

 In equation form, we have

 where V1 is the amplitude of the fundamental term and V2 is the

amplitude of the second harmonic.

 Similarly, the third-harmonic distortion factor, and so on, are defined

as

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 Total Harmonic Distortion
 Total harmonic distortion is a specification that indicates the degree
of nonlinear distortion produced by an amplifier.

 The total harmonic distortion (THD), denoted by D, is the ratio of the

rms value of the sum of all the harmonic distortion terms to the rms
value of the fundamental.

 The total harmonic distortion can be found from

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 Problems

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 Frequency Response – Equivalent Circuits
 Each capacitor in a circuit is important at only one end of the
frequency spectrum.

 For this reason, we can develop specific equivalent circuits that

apply

 to the low frequency range,

 to midband,

 and to the high-frequency range.

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 Frequency Response – Equivalent Circuits
 Midband Range

 The equivalent circuits used for calculations in the midband range

are the same as those considered up to this point.

 As already mentioned, the coupling and bypass capacitors in this

region are treated as short circuits.

 The stray and transistor capacitances are treated as open circuits.

 In this frequency range, there are no capacitances in the equivalent

circuit.

 These circuits are referred to as midband equivalent circuits.

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 Frequency Response – Equivalent Circuits
 Low-Frequency Range

 In this frequency range, we use a low-frequency equivalent circuit.

 In this region, coupling and bypass capacitors must be included in

the equivalent circuit and in the amplification factor equations.

 The stray and transistor capacitances are treated as open circuits.

 The mathematical expressions obtained for the amplification factor

in this frequency range must approach the midband results as f
approaches the midband frequency range, since in this limit the
capacitors approach short-circuit conditions.

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 Frequency Response – Equivalent Circuits
 High-Frequency Range

 In the high-frequency range, we use a high-frequency equivalent

circuit.

 In this region, coupling and bypass capacitors are treated as short

circuits.

 The transistor and any parasitic or load capacitances must be taken

into account in this equivalent circuit.

 The mathematical expressions obtained for the amplification factor

in this frequency range must approach the midband results as f
approaches the midband frequency range, since in this limit the
capacitors approach open-circuit conditions.

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 Frequency Response Analysis
 Using the three equivalent circuits just considered rather than a
complete circuit is an approximation technique that produces useful
hand-analysis results while avoiding complex transfer functions.

 This technique is valid if there is a large separation between fL and

fH.

 This condition is satisfied in many electronic circuits that we will

consider.

 Computer simulations, such as PSpice, can take into account all

capacitances and can produce frequency response curves that are
more accurate than the hand analysis results.

 However, the computer results do not provide any physical insight

into a particular result and hence do not provide any suggestions as
to design changes that can be made to improve a particular
frequency response.
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 Frequency Response Analysis
 A hand analysis can provide insight into the “whys and wherefores”
of a particular response.

 This basic understanding can then lead to a better circuit design.

 In the next section, we introduce two simple circuits to begin our

frequency analysis study.

 We initially derive the mathematical expressions relating output

voltage to input voltage (transfer function) as a function of signal
frequency.

 From these functions, we can develop the response curves.

 The two frequency response curves give the magnitude of the

transfer function versus frequency and the phase of the transfer
function versus frequency.

 The phase response relates the phase of the output signal to the
phase of the input signal.
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 Frequency Response Analysis

 We will then develop a technique by which we can easily sketch the

frequency esponse curves without resorting to a full analysis of the
transfer function.

 This simplified approach will lead to a general understanding of the

frequency response of electronic circuits.

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 SYSTEM TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

 The frequency response of a circuit is usually determined by using

the complex frequency s.

 Each capacitor is represented by its complex impedance, 1/sC, and

each inductor is represented by its complex impedance, sL.

 The circuit equations are then formulated in the usual way.

 Using the complex frequency, the mathematical expressions

obtained for voltage gain, current gain, input impedance, or output
impedance are ratios of polynomials in s.

 We will be concerned in many cases with system transfer functions.

 These will be in the form of ratios of, for example, output voltage to
input voltage (voltage transfer function) or output current to input
voltage (transconductance function).

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 SYSTEM TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

 The four general transfer functions are listed in Table 7.1.

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 SYSTEM TRANSFER FUNCTIONS
 Once a transfer function is found, we can find the result of a steady-
state sinusoidal excitation by setting s = jω = j2π f .

 The ratio of polynomials in s then reduces to a complex number for

each frequency f.

 The complex number can be reduced to a magnitude and a phase.

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 SYSTEM TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

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 SYSTEM TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

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