ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS II :ECE2202 Page 1

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- CHAPTER 1 FEEDBACK

AMPLIFIERS

Contents

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Types of feedback, basic representation, topologies.

1.3 Effect of feedback on different parameters.

1.4 Analysis of feedback amplifiers.

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1.1 INTRODUCTION

Circuits and Components can be divided into two groups: analog and digital. Analog circuits are
sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog circuits such
as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and transistor
amplifiers, operational amplifiers and oscillators.

Amplifier:
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase
the power of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). An amplifier uses electric power from
a power supply to increase the amplitude of a signal. The amount of amplification provided by
an amplifier is measured by its gain: the ratio of output to input. An amplifier is a circuit that can
give a power gain greater than one.

In principle, an amplifier is an electrical two-port network that provides an output signal that is a
replica of the input signal, but increased in magnitude. Either current or voltage can be used as
input and either as output, leading to four types of amplifiers. Types are based on the magnitudes
of the input and the output impedances of an amplifier relative to the source and load impedances
respectively.

Classification of Amplifiers:

Voltage amplifiers:

If the amplifier input resistance Ri is large compared with the source resistance Rs then Vi ≈ Vs. If
the external load resistance RL is large compared with the output resistance Ro of the amplifier,
then Vo ≈Av Vi ≈ Av Vs. This amplifier provides a voltage output proportional to the voltage
input, and the proportionality factor is independent of the magnitude of the source and load
resistances. Such a circuit is called a voltage amplifier. An ideal voltage amplifier must have
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS II :ECE2202 Page 2

infinite input resistance and zero output resistance.

Figure 1.1 Voltage amplifier

Current amplifiers:

If the amplifier input resistance Ri is low/ zero compared with the source resistance Rs then Ii ≈Is
and if Ro >> RL, I L ≈Ai Ii ≈Ai Is. A current amplifier is an amplifier which provides an output
current proportional to the signal current, and the proportionality factor is independent of Rs and
RL. Hence the output current is proportional to the signal current. An ideal current amplifier must
have zero input resistance and infinite output resistance.

Figure 1.2 Current amplifier

Transconductance amplifier

This amplifier supplies an output current which is proportional to the signal voltage,
independently of the magnitude of Rs and RL. It has an infinite input resistance Ri and infinite
output resistance Ro. Since it has large input resistance, it must be driven by a low resistance
source. It presents a high output resistance and hence drives a low resistance load.

Vi ≈ Vs for Ri >> Rs and Io ≈ GM Vi ≈ GM Vs , if Ro>>RL Note that GM =Io / Vi

ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS II :ECE2202 Page 3

Figure 1.3 Transconductance amplifier

Transresistance amplifier

This amplifier provides an output voltage Vo in proportion to the signal current Is independently
of Rs and RL. In this case Ri << Rs and Ro << RL. Hence the input and output resistances are low
relative to the source and load resistance.

If Rs >> Ri , Ii ≈ Is, and if Ro << RL, Vo ≈ Rm Ii, where Rm=Vo / Ii

Figure1.4 Transresistance amplifier

Feedback Amplifiers:

In small-signal voltage gain and other characteristics of transistors are function of transistor
parameters. In general, these parameters vary with temperature and they have range of values for
a given type of transistor. This means that the Q-point, voltage gain, and other circuit properties
can vary from one circuit to another, and can be function of temperature. Such transistor circuit
characteristics can be made essentially independent of the individual transistor parameters by
using feedback.
 1.2 BASIC REPRESENTATION OF FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS

In feedback representation we may sample the output voltage or current by means of a suitable
sampling network and apply this signal to the input through the feedback two port networks as
shown below.

Figure 1.5: Representation of any single-loop feedback amplifier

At the input the feedback signal is combined with the signal through the mixer network and is
feed into the amplifier. The signal source of the feedback amplifier is either a signal voltage or a
signal current.

The feedback network is usually a passive two port network which may contain resistors,
capacitors, and inductors. Most often it is simply a resistive configuration. The output voltage is
sampled by connecting the feedback network in shunt across the output for voltage sampling
and for current sampling the feedback network is connected in series with the output.

A differential amplifier is used as a mixer, which has two inputs and gives an output proportional
to the difference between the signals at the two inputs. The transfer ratio V/Vi is the voltage
amplification or voltage gain, Av, similarly, the transfer ratio I/Ii is the current amplification or
current gain, AI. The transfer ratio I/Vi is the transconductance GM, and V/Ii is the
transresistance, RM. Each of these quantities Av, AI, GM, RM can be referred as a transfer gain of
the basic amplifier without feedback and symbol A is used to represent any one of these
quantities. The symbol Af is defined as the ratio of the output signal to the input signal of the
feedback amplifier and it is called the transfer gain of the amplifier with feedback.

Af is used to represent any one of the four ratios

 Vo/Vs = Avf
 Io/Is = Aif

 Io/Vs = GMf

 Vo/Is = RMf

Feedback is the process whereby a portion of the output is returned to the input to form part of
the system excitation. There are two basic types of feedback: negative feedback & positive
feedback.
Negative feedback: In this case the feedback signal is out of phase with the input signal. The
0
amplifier introduces a 180 phase shift into the circuit, while the feedback network does not.

Positive feedback: In this case the feedback signal is in phase with the amplifier input signal.
0
Both the amplifier and the feedback signal introduce a 180 phase shift. The result is a
0
360 phase shift around the loop, causing the feedback signal to be in phase with the original
signal. The positive feedback is used in oscillator circuits. In this chapter, we will
concentrate on negative feedback.

Negative feedback circuits bring a number of improvements with some reduction of the gain,
among them being:
1 Better stabilized voltage gain: variations in the gain as a result of change in transistor
parameter are reduced by feedback. This reduction in sensitivity of gain is one of the most
attractive features of negative feedback.

2. Increase in bandwidth: the bandwidth of the circuit that incorporates negative feedback is
larger than the basic amplifier.

3. Reduction of non-linear distortion: negative feedback reduces the large signal distortion
that could arise due to the non-linear response of the transistor.

4. Minimize noise sensitivity: negative feedback may increase signal to noise ratio if noise is
generated with the feedback loop.
5. Control of impedance level: the input and output impedances can be increased or
decreased using the appropriate type of negative feedback circuit.

On the other hand, negative feedback circuits have disadvantages like reduction in the
overall gain (the price required to improve circuit performance), and instability (oscillation) at
high frequencies.
1.3 BASIC TOPOLOGIES OF FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS:

There are four basic ways of connecting the feedback signal. Both voltage and current can
be feedback to the input either in series or parallel. Specifically, there can be:

1. Voltage-series feedback (Fig. 1.6a).

2. Current-series feedback (Fig. 1.6b).
3. Current-shunt feedback (Fig. 1.6c).
4. Voltage-shunt feedback (Fig. 1.6d).

Figure 1.6 Feedback-amplifier topologies.

The source resistance Rs is considered to be part of the amplifier, and the transfer gain A
(Av, Gm, Ai, Rm) includes the effect of the loading of the β network upon the amplifier. The
input signal Xs, the output signal Xo, the feedback signal Xf and the difference signal Xd, each
represents either a voltage or a current.
 Signal or Types of feedback
ratio
Voltage-series Current-series Current-shunt Voltage-shunt
Xo Voltage Current Current Voltage
Xs, Xf, Xd Voltage Voltage Current Current
A Av GM AI RM
β Vf / Vo Vf / Io If / Io If / Vo

The difference signal Xd = Xs – X f = Xi. Xd represents the difference between the applied signal and the
fed back to the input, it is called as difference or error or comparison signal. The reverse transmission factor
β is defined by
 β = Xf / Xo
 Xo is the output voltage or the output current.
 The transfer gain A is given by
 A = Xo / Xi
 Now, the gain with feedback is obtained as
 Af = Xo / Xs = A / (1 + βA).

If |Af |< |A |, the feedback is termed as negative or degenerative. If |Af |> |A |, the feedback is termed as
positive or regenerative. In case of negative feedback, the gain of the basic ideal amplifier with feedback is
divided by the factor |1 + βA |, which exceeds unity.

1.5 EFFECTS OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

Generally, we can model all types of feedback amplifiers using the following block diagram. Ss is any
input signal (voltage or current) that is supplied by a source. Sf is a sample of the output feedback to the
input through the mixer. Si is the net input (error) signal given to the amplifier.

Ss Si So
Source + A Load
_

Sf

Figure 1.7 Negative feedback amplifier model

 1. Gain reduction

The ratio of the output and the input without feedback is given as,

The portion of the output feed to the input is,

Thus, the net signal given to the amplifier is therefore,

Hence, the gain of the feedback circuit is given by

Where ( is the feedback factor.

The effect of negative feedback is that for the price of gain reduction, many desirable
characteristics are obtained.

2. Change in Input and output impedance

Consider the voltage-series feedback circuit shown in the figure 1.8.

 Ii Zo
+ + +
Vs Vi Zi AVi Vo
_ Zif _ _
Zof

+
Vf β
_

Figure 1.8: Voltage-Series feedback

The input impedance of the feedback circuit can be evaluated as,

The output impedance is determined by applying a voltage V, resulting a current I, and

shorting the input terminal, Vs=0 in the fig. 1.8.

The voltage V is then,

For, Vs=0,

So that

Rearranging terms we have

Therefore, the output impedance with feedback:

Note: similar approach can be followed to determine the input and output impedance of the
remaining feedback circuits. However, it is very important to note that A and are different for
different types of feedback amplifiers.

(Summary of effects of feedback on the input and output impedance is provided in

the table below and the derivation is left for the students as exercise.)
From the table below, voltage (shunt) feedback tends to decrease the impedance, and current
(series)feedback tends to increase the impedance.

Impedance Voltage-series Voltage-shunt Current-series Current-shunt

Zif Zi (1 + βA) Zi / (1 + βA) Zi (1 + βA) Zi / (1 + βA)
Increased Decreased Increased Decreased
Zof Zo / (1 + βA) Zo / (1 + βA) Zo (1 + βA) Zo (1 + βA)
Decreased Decreased Increased Increased

3. Gain Stability

In addition to the factor setting a precise gain value, we are also interested in how stable
the feedback amplifier is compared to an amplifier without feedback.

Differentiating Eq. (1.1) leads to

This shows that magnitude of the relative change in gain is reduced by the factor of
compared to that without feedback.

4. Reduction in frequency distortion

For a negative-feedback amplifier having , the gain with feedback is . It

follows that if the feedback network is purely resistive, the gain with feedback is not
dependent on frequency even though the basic amplifier gain is frequency dependent.
Practically, the frequency distortion arising because of varying amplifier gain with frequency
and it is considerably reduced in a negative-voltage feedback amplifier circuit.

5. Reduction in Noise and Nonlinear Distortion

The factor (1 + βA) reduces both input noise and resulting nonlinear distortion for considerable
improvement. However there is a reduction in overall gain. If additional stages are used to bring
the overall gain up to the level without feedback, the extra stages might introduce as much noise
into the system as that reduced by the feedback amplifier. This problem can be overcome by
 readjusting the gain of the feedback amplifier circuit to obtain higher gain with reduced noise.

6. Bandwidth extension

It is interesting to note that the product of gain and frequency remains the same so that the
gain bandwidth product of the basic amplifier is the same value for the feedback amplifier.
Since the feedback amplifier has lower gain, the net operation was to trade gain for bandwidth
so that it increases for any decrease in gain. See fig. 1.9.
Mathematically, it can be expressed as

Figure 1.9 Effect of feedback on bandwidth.

1.5 ANALYSIS OF FEEDBACK AMPLIFIER

The complete analysis of a feedback amplifier is obtained by applying the following steps. To find
Af, Rif, and Rof the following steps are carried out:

1. Identify the topology as indicated below. Tests for the type of sampling are the following:

 Set VO = 0 (that is, set RL = 0). If Xf becomes zero, the original system
exhibited voltage sampling.
  Set Io= 0 (that is set RL = ∞). If Xf becomes zero, current sampling was
present in the original amplifier.
2. Draw the basic amplifier circuit without feedback.

To find the input circuit:

 Set VO = 0 for voltage sampling. In other words, short circuit the

output node.
 Set IO = 0 for current sampling. In other words open circuit the output
loop.

To find the output circuit:

 Set Vi = 0 for shunt comparison. In other words, short circuit the input
node (so that none of the feedback current enters the amplifier input).
 Set Ii= 0 for series comparison. In other words, open circuit the input
loop. (So that none of the feedback voltage reaches the amplifier
input).

3. Use a Thevenin’s source if Xf is a voltage and a Norton’s source if Xf is a current.

4. Replace each active device by the proper model.
5. Indicate Xf and Xo on the circuit obtained by carrying out steps 2, 3, and 4.
Evaluate
6. Evaluate A by applying KVL and KCL to the equivalent circuit obtained after step 4.
7. From A and β, Find D, Af, Rif, Rof

Summary of the procedure to analyse the feedback circuits:

_
 References:
th
1 ROBERT BOYLESTAD AND LOUIS NASHELSKY, ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUIT THEORY,7 EDITION

ND
2 JACOB MILLMAN ,MICROELECTRONICS, 2 EDITION

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