Chapter-2

TUNED AMPLIFIERS

EET 233
Electronics Devices and their Application
By Zemenu T. /2019

Department of electrical electronics technology

1
Outlines

Single and Double Tuned Amplifiers

Band Width of Amplifier
Parallel and Series Resonance in an Amplifier
Ideal Band Pass Amplifier
Feedback Amplifiers
• Types of Feedback
• Basic Representation of Feedback Amplifier
• Topologies and Analysis of Feedback Amplifier
• Effect of feedback on different parameters

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 Tuned Amplifiers
Tuned amplifiers are the amplifiers that are employed for
the purpose of tuning. Tuning means selecting. Among a
set of frequencies available, if there occurs a need to select
a particular frequency, while rejecting all other frequencies,
such a process is called Selection. This selection is done
by using a circuit called as Tuned circuit.
When an amplifier circuit has its load replaced by a tuned
circuit, such an amplifier can be called as a Tuned
amplifier circuit.
The tuner circuit is nothing but a LC circuit which is also
called as resonant or tank circuit. It selects the frequency.
A tuned circuit is capable of amplifying a signal over a
narrow band of frequencies that are centered at resonant
frequency.
3
 Tuned Amplifiers (Cont’d)

The basic tuned amplifier circuit looks as shown

below.

4
 Tuned Amplifiers (Cont’d)

When the reactance of the inductor balances the reactance of the

capacitor, in the tuned circuit at some frequency, such a
frequency can be called as resonant frequency. It is denoted
by fr.

The formula for resonance is

5
 Types of Tuned Circuits

A tuned circuit can be Series tuned circuit (Series resonant

circuit) or Parallel tuned circuit (parallel resonant circuit)
according to the type of its connection to the main circuit.

Series Tuned Circuit

The inductor and capacitor connected in series make a series

tuned circuit, as shown in the following circuit diagram.

At resonant frequency, a series resonant circuit offers low

impedance which allows high current through it. A series
resonant circuit offers increasingly high impedance to the
frequencies far from the resonant frequency.
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 Parallel Tuned Circuit

The inductor and capacitor connected in parallel make a parallel

tuned circuit, as shown in the below figure.

At resonant frequency, a parallel resonant circuit offers high

impedance which does not allow high current through it. A parallel
resonant circuit offers increasingly low impedance to the
frequencies far from the resonant frequency.

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 Analysis of Parallel Tuned Circuit

•A parallel tuned circuit consists of a capacitor C and inductor L

in parallel is shown in Fig. 2.6 (i).
•In practice, some resistance R is always present with the coil.
•If an alternating voltage is applied across this parallel circuit, the
frequency of oscillations will be that of the applied voltage.
•However, if the frequency of applied voltage is equal to the
natural or resonant frequency of LC circuit, then electrical
resonance will occur.
•Under such conditions, the impedance of the tuned circuit
becomes maximum and the line current is minimum.
 Parallel resonance

•A parallel circuit containing reactive elements (L and C) is

resonant (In an a.c. circuit if applied voltage and supply current
are in phase (i.e., in step with), resonance is said to occur. If
this happens in a parallel a.c. circuit, it is called parallel
resonance.) when the circuit power factor is unity i.e. applied
voltage and the supply current are in phase.
•The phasor diagram of the parallel circuit is shown in Fig. 2.6
(ii).
•The coil current IL has two rectangular components viz active
component IL cos φL and reactive component IL sin φL.
•This parallel circuit will resonate when the circuit power factor is
unity. This is possible only when the net reactive component of
the circuit current is zero i.e.
Parallel resonance (Cont’d)
i.e. IC - IL sin φL = 0

or IC = IL sin φL
• Resonance in parallel circuit can be obtained by changing the
supply frequency. At some frequency fr (called resonant

frequency), IC = IL sin φL and resonance occurs.

Figure 2.6
The frequency at which parallel resonance occurs (i.e. reactive component of
circuit current becomes zero) is called the resonant frequency (fr).
IC = IL sin φL
Now I L = V/ZL ; sin  L = X L /Z L and I C = V/X C
Therefore, V/X C =V/Z L * X L /Z L
or X L X C =ZL 2
L
or  Z L 2  R 2  X L 2 ................................(i)
C
L
or  R 2  (2 f r L) 2
C
L
or (2 f r L) 2   R 2
C
L
or 2 f r L   R2
C
1 L
or fr   R2
2 L C
1 1 R2
Therefore, Re sonantfrequency, f r   2 ..................(ii)
2 LC L
If the coil resis tan ce R is small (as is generally the case), then,
1
fr  ....................................(iii)
2 LC
Parallel resonance (Cont’d)

The resonant frequency will be in Hz if R, L and C are in ohms,

henry and farad respectively.
Note: If in the problem, the value of R is given, then eq. (ii)
should be used to find fr. However, if R is not given, then eq. (iii)
may be used to find fr.

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Characteristics of a Parallel Tuned Circuit
The frequency at which parallel resonance occurs (i.e. reactive
component of circuit current becomes zero) is called the resonant
frequency fr. The main characteristics of a tuned circuit are as
follows.
Impedance
The ratio of supply voltage to the line current is the impedance of
the tuned circuit. Impedance offered by LC circuit is given by

Supply voltage Line equation=VI

At resonance, the line current increases while the impedance
decreases.
The below figure represents the impedance curve of a parallel
resonance circuit. 13
 Impedance (Cont’d)

Impedance of the circuit decreases for the values above and

below the resonant frequency fr. Hence the selection of a

particular frequency and rejection of other frequencies is possible.

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To obtain an equation for the circuit impedance, let us
consider

Therefore, circuit impedance Zr is obtained as

Thus at parallel resonance, the circuit impedance is equal

to L/CR. 15
Circuit Current
At parallel resonance, the circuit or line current I is given by the
applied voltage divided by the circuit impedance Zr i.e.,

Because Zr is very high, the line current I will be very small.
Quality Factor
For a parallel resonance circuit, the sharpness of the resonance curve
determines the selectivity. The smaller the resistance of the coil, the sharper
the resonant curve will be. Hence the inductive reactance and resistance of
the coil determine the quality of the tuned circuit.
The ratio of inductive reactance of the coil at resonance to its resistance is
known as Quality factor. It is denoted by Q.

The higher the value of Q, the sharper the resonance curve and the better the
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selectivity will be.
 Quality Factor (Cont’d)

• It is desired that resonance curve of a parallel tuned circuit

should be as sharp as possible in order to provide selectivity.
• The sharp resonance curve means that impedance falls
rapidly as the frequency is varied from the resonant
frequency.
• The smaller the resistance of coil, the sharper the resonance
curve is.
• The ratio of inductive reactance and resistance of the coil at
resonance, therefore, becomes a measure of the quality of
the tuned circuit. This is called quality factor and may be
defined as under :
• The ratio of inductive reactance of the coil at resonance to its
resistance is known as quality factor Q i.e.,
Quality Factor (Cont’d)
X L 2 f r L
Q 
R R
•The quality factor Q of a parallel tuned circuit is very important
because the sharpness of resonance curve and hence selectivity
of the circuit depends upon it.
•The higher the value of Q, the more selective is the tuned
circuit. Fig. below shows the effect of resistance R of the coil on
the sharpness of the resonance curve.
•It is clear that when the resistance is small, the resonance curve
is very sharp. However, if the coil has large resistance, the
resonance curve is less sharp. It may be emphasised that where
high selectivity is desired, the value of Q should be very large.
Quality Factor (Cont’d)

Strictly speaking, the Q of a tank circuit is defined as the ratio of

the energy stored in the circuit to the energy lost in the circuit i.e.,
Energy stored Re active Power I L 2 X L XL
Q   2 or Q 
Energy lost Re sistive Power IL R R
Advantages of Tuned Amplifiers
The following are the advantages of tuned amplifiers.
•The usage of reactive components like L and C, minimizes the
power loss, which makes the tuned amplifiers efficient.
•The selectivity and amplification of desired frequency is high, by
providing higher impedance at resonant frequency.
•A smaller collector supply VCC would do, because of its little
resistance in parallel tuned circuit.
It is important to remember that these advantages are not
applicable when there is a high resistive collector load.
Frequency Response of Tuned Amplifier
For an amplifier to be efficient, its gain should be high. This
voltage gain depends upon β, input impedance and collector load.
The collector load in a tuned amplifier is a tuned circuit. The
voltage gain of such an amplifier is given by

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Frequency Response of Tuned Amplifier (Cont’d)
Where ZC = effective collector load and Zin = input impedance of
the amplifier.
The value of ZC depends upon the frequency of the tuned
amplifier. As ZC is maximum at resonant frequency, the gain of
the amplifier is maximum at this resonant frequency.
Bandwidth
The range of frequencies at which the voltage gain of the tuned
amplifier falls to 70.7% of the maximum gain is called
its Bandwidth.
The range of frequencies between f1 and f2 is called as
bandwidth of the tuned amplifier. The bandwidth of a tuned
amplifier depends upon the Q of the LC circuit i.e., upon the
sharpness of the frequency response. The value of Q and the
bandwidth are inversely proportional.
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 The figure below details the bandwidth and frequency response
of the tuned amplifier.

Relation between Q and Bandwidth

The quality factor Q of the bandwidth is defined as the ratio of resonant
frequency to bandwidth, i.e.,

In general, a practical circuit has its Q value greater than 10.

Under this condition, the resonant frequency at parallel resonance
is given by
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 Class activity
1. A parallel resonant circuit has a capacitor of 250pF
in one branch and inductance of 1.25mH plus a
resistance of 10Ω in the parallel branch. Find
i. resonant frequency
ii. impedance of the circuit at resonance
iii. Q-factor of the circuit
2. A parallel resonant circuit has a capacitor of 100pF in one
branch and inductance of 100µH plus a resistance of 10 Ω
in parallel branch. If the supply voltage is 10 V, calculate
iv. Resonant frequency
v. Impedance of the circuit and line current at resonance
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3. The dynamic impedance of a parallel resonant
circuit is 500 kΩ. The circuit consists of a 250 pF
capacitor in parallel with a coil of resistance 10Ω.
Calculate:
i. The coil inductance
ii. The resonant frequency and
iii. Q-factor of the circuit

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4. The Q of a tuned amplifier is 60. If the resonant
frequency for the amplifier is 1200 kHz, find:
i. Bandwidth and
ii. Cut-off frequencies.

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 Types of Tuned Amplifiers
There are two main types of tuned amplifiers. They are −
 Single tuned amplifier
 Double tuned amplifier
Single Tuned Amplifier
An amplifier circuit with a single tuner section being at the
collector of the amplifier circuit is called as Single tuner amplifier
circuit.
Construction
A simple transistor amplifier circuit consisting of a parallel tuned
circuit in its collector load, makes a single tuned amplifier circuit.
The values of capacitance and inductance of the tuned circuit are
selected such that its resonant frequency is equal to the frequency
to be amplified.
The following circuit diagram shows a single tuned amplifier
circuit. 26
 Single Tuned Amplifier (Cont’d)

The output can be obtained from the coupling capacitor CC as

shown above or from a secondary winding placed at L. 27

Operation
The high frequency signal that has to be amplified is applied at
the input of the amplifier. The resonant frequency of the parallel
tuned circuit is made equal to the frequency of the signal applied
by altering the capacitance value of the capacitor C, in the tuned
circuit.
At this stage, the tuned circuit offers high impedance to the signal
frequency, which helps to offer high output across the tuned
circuit. As high impedance is offered only for the tuned frequency,
all the other frequencies which get lower impedance are rejected
by the tuned circuit. Hence the tuned amplifier selects and
amplifies the desired frequency signal. 28
Frequency Response
The parallel resonance occurs at resonant frequency fr when the
circuit has a high Q. the resonant frequency fr is given by

The following graph shows the frequency response of a single

tuned amplifier circuit.

At resonant frequency fr the impedance of parallel tuned circuit is

very high and is purely resistive. The voltage across RL is
therefore maximum, when the circuit is tuned to resonant
frequency. Hence the voltage gain is maximum at resonant
frequency and drops off above and below it. The higher the Q,29 the
Double Tuned Amplifier
An amplifier circuit with a double tuner section being at the
collector of the amplifier circuit is called as Double tuner
amplifier circuit.
Construction
The construction of double tuned amplifier is understood by having a
look at the following figure. This circuit consists of two tuned circuits
L1C1 and L2C2 in the collector section of the amplifier. The signal at the
output of the tuned circuit L1C1 is coupled to the other tuned circuit
L2C2 through mutual coupling method. The remaining circuit details are
same as in the single tuned amplifier circuit, as shown in the following
circuit diagram.

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 Operation
The high frequency signal which has to be amplified is given to the
input of the amplifier. The tuning circuit L1C1 is tuned to the input
signal frequency. At this condition, the tuned circuit offers high
reactance to the signal frequency. Consequently, large output
appears at the output of the tuned circuit L1C1which is then
coupled to the other tuned circuit L2C2 through mutual induction.
These double tuned circuits are extensively used for coupling
various circuits of radio and television receivers.
Frequency Response of Double Tuned Amplifier
The double tuned amplifier has the special feature
of coupling which is important in determining the frequency
response of the amplifier. The amount of mutual inductance
between the two tuned circuits states the degree of coupling,
which determines the frequency response of the circuit.
In order to have an idea on the mutual inductance property, let us
go through the basic principle. 31
Mutual Inductance
As the current carrying coil produces some magnetic field around
it, if another coil is brought near this coil, such that it is in the
magnetic flux region of the primary, then the varying magnetic
flux induces an EMF in the second coil. If this first coil is called
as Primary coil, the second one can be called as a Secondary
coil.
When the EMF is induced in the secondary coil due to the
varying magnetic field of the primary coil, then such phenomenon
is called as the Mutual Inductance.
The figure below gives an idea about this.

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 Mutual Inductance (Cont’d)
The current is in the figure indicate the source current
while iind indicates the induced current. The flux represents the
magnetic flux created around the coil. This spreads to the
secondary coil also.
With the application of voltage, the current is flows and flux gets
created. When the current is varies the flux gets varied,
producing iind in the secondary coil, due to the Mutual inductance
property.
Coupling
Under the concept of mutual inductance coupling will be as
shown in the figure below.

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 Coupling (Cont’d)

When the coils are spaced apart, the flux linkages of primary coil
L1 will not link the secondary coil L2. At this condition, the coils

are said to have Loose coupling. The resistance reflected from

the secondary coil at this condition is small and the resonance
curve will be sharp and the circuit Q is high as shown in the
figure below.

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 Coupling (Cont’d)
On the contrary, when the primary and secondary coils are
brought close together, they have Tight coupling. Under such
conditions, the reflected resistance will be large and the circuit Q
is lower. Two positions of gain maxima, one above and the other
below the resonant frequency are obtained.
Bandwidth of Double Tuned Circuit
The above figure clearly states that the bandwidth increases with
the degree of coupling. The determining factor in a double tuned
circuit is not Q but the coupling.
We understood that, for a given frequency, the tighter the
coupling the greater the bandwidth will be. The equation for
bandwidth is given as

Where BWdt = bandwidth for double tuned circuit, K = coefficient

of coupling, and fr = resonant frequency. 35
Class activity

1. It is desired to obtain a bandwidth of 200 kHz at an

operating frequency of 10 MHz using a double tuned
circuit. What value of co-efficient of coupling should be
used ?

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 Practical Application of Double Tuned Amplifier

• Double tuned amplifiers are used for amplifying radio-

frequency (RF) signals. One such application is in the
radio receiver as shown in Fig. 2.16. This is the IF
stage using double tuned resonant circuits. Each
resonant circuit is tuned to 455 kHz. The critical
coupling occurs when the coefficient of coupling is

1
kcritical 
QQ
1 2

where Q1 = quality factor of primary resonant circuit (L1 C1)

Q2 = quality factor of secondary resonant circuit (L2 C2)

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Double tuned amplifier (Cont’d)

Figure 2.16 Figure 2.17 38

 Double tuned amplifier (Cont’d)

• When two resonant circuits are critically coupled, the frequency

response becomes flat over a considerable range of frequencies
as shown in Fig. 2.17.
•In other words, the double tuned circuit has better frequency
response as compared to that of a single tuned circuit.
The use of double tuned circuit offers the following advantages:
i. Bandwidth is increased.
ii. Sensitivity (i.e. ability to receive weak signals) is increased.
iii. Selectivity (i.e. ability to discriminate against signals in
adjacent bands) is increased.
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 Amplifiers Feedback

An amplifier circuit simply increases the signal strength.

But while amplifying, it just increases the strength of its
input signal whether it contains information or some
noise along with information. This noise or some
disturbance is introduced in the amplifiers because of
their strong tendency to introduce hum due to sudden
temperature changes or stray electric and magnetic
fields. Therefore, every high gain amplifier tends to give
noise along with signal in its output, which is very
undesirable.
The noise level in the amplifier circuits can be
considerably reduced by using negative feedback done
by injecting a fraction of output in phase opposition to
the input signal. 40
 Feedback Amplifiers

•The process of injecting a fraction of output energy of some

device back to the input is known as feedback.
•Feedback amplifier contains two component namely feedback
circuit and amplifier circuit.
•Feedback circuit is essentially a potential divider consisting of
resistances R1 & R2.
•The purpose of feedback circuit is to return a fraction of the
output voltage to the input of the amplifier circuit.
•Depending upon whether the feedback energy aids or opposes
the input signal, there are two basic types of feedback in
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amplifiers viz positive feedback and negative feedback.
 Positive feedback

•When the feedback energy (voltage or current) is in phase with

the input signal and thus aids it, it is called positive feedback
(Fig. 2.18).
•Both amplifier and feedback network introduce a phase shift of
180°. The result is a 360° phase shift around the loop, causing
the feedback voltage Vf to be in phase with the input signal Vin.
•The positive feedback increases the gain of the amplifier.
However, it has the disadvantages of increased distortion and
instability.
•Therefore, positive feedback is seldom employed in amplifiers.
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One important use of positive feedback is in oscillators.
 Positive feedback (Cont’d)
• If positive feedback is sufficiently large, it leads to
oscillations. As a matter of fact, an oscillator is a device
that converts d.c. power into a.c. power of any desired
frequency.

Figure 2.18

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 Negative feedback

•When the feedback energy (voltage or current) is out of

phase with the input signal and thus opposes it, it is called
negative feedback.
•As you can see in Fig. 2.19, the amplifier introduces a phase
shift of 180° into the circuit while the feedback network is so
designed that it introduces no phase shift (i.e., 0° phase shift).
•The result is that the feedback voltage Vf is 180° out of phase

with the input signal Vin.

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 Figure 2.19

•Negative feedback reduces the gain of the amplifier.

•Advantages of negative feedback are:
• Reduction in distortion
• Stability in gain
• Increased bandwidth and
• Improved input and output impedances.
•It is due to these advantages that negative feedback is
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frequently employed in amplifiers.
 Principles of Negative Voltage Feedback In
Amplifiers

•In Fig. 2.20 the output of the amplifier is 10 V. The fraction mv

of this output i.e. 100 mV is fedback to the input where it is
applied in series with the input signal of 101 mV.
•As the feedback is negative, therefore, only 1 mV appears at
the input terminals of the amplifier.
Gain of amplifier without feedback is:

10V
Av   10, 000
1 mV
46
 Figure 2.20
Fraction of output voltage feedback, mv =100 mV/10=0.01
Gain of amplifier with negative feedback,
Avf =10 V/101mV = 100
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The following points are worth nothing

•When negative voltage feedback is applied, the gain of the

amplifier is reduced (Since with negative voltage feedback the
voltage gain is decreased and current gain remains unaffected,
the power gain Ap = Av × Ai will decrease. However, the
drawback of reduced power gain is offset by the advantage of
increased bandwidth.).
•Thus, the gain of above amplifier without feedback is 10,000
whereas with negative feedback, it is only 100.
•When negative voltage feedback is employed, the voltage
actually applied to the amplifier is extremely small.
•In this case, the signal voltage is 101 mV and the negative
feedback is 100 mV so that voltage applied at the input of the
amplifier is only 1 mV.

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The following points are worth nothing (Cont’d)

•In a negative voltage feedback circuit, the feedback fraction mv

is always between 0 and 1.
•The gain with feedback is sometimes called closed-loop gain
while the gain without feedback is called open-loop gain.

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