FEEDBACK IN AMPLIFIERS

FEEDBACK:
The process of sending part of the output signal of an
amplifier back to the input of the amplifier.
1. Positive (Regenerative) feedback
 feedback signal is in phase with the input signal.
will add to or "regenerate" the input signal.

2. Negative (Degenerative) Feedback

 feedback signal is out of phase with the input signal.
will subtract from or "degenerate" the input signal.

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Feedback
• May be used to get the ideal input signal.
– positive feedback used to increase the gain of an amplifier to desired
level.
– negative feedback used to decrease the gain of an amplifier stage, e.g.
to avoid saturation/clipping

• May also be unwanted

– happens at high frequencies and limits the high-frequency response of
an amplifier
– also occurs as the result of some circuit components used in the biasing
or coupling network.
– solution is a feedback network of the opposite type.

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 The feedback concept

 = feedback ratio (can be +ve or -ve)

Note: The feedback network is usually a passive network which

may contain resistors, capacitors and inductors.
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Let A = Amplifier gain without feedback (open loop gain)
and AF = Amplifier gain with feedback

Vout  AV1

V1  V in  V f  V in   Vout

 Vout  AV1  AV in  A Vout

AV in
Vout 
(1  A )
Vout A
AF  
09/12/22
Vin (1  A) 4
 Negative feedback in amplifiers
• Negative feedback is used to improve fidelity of an amplifier by
limiting the input signal.

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• Negative feedback is also used to provide gain stability; against

amplifier parameter or supply voltage variation:

Vout A
Recall: AF  
Vin (1  A)
• For negative feedback (< 0 ) so that the feedback gain AF < A
• but with A 1000 this may not be a problem.
1
• For A 1000 (A >> 1) the expression for AF reduces to FA 

• This is a very important result as it means that the presence of a
feedback network results in a gain which is independent of the
open loop gain of the amplifier.
eg. if A = 800 and  = -1/10; AF = 9.88
if A = 1000 and  = -1/10; AF = 9.90
ie. 20% change in A  0.2% change in AF
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 Negative feedback in amplifiers
• Negative feedback can also be used to se the frequency
response of an amplifier,
– i.e.increased Bandwidth.
• The gain of an amplifier es when the limit of its frequency
response is reached.
• When negative feedback is used, the effective gain (gain
with feedback) is sed at the limits of frequency response
of the amplifier .
• This will improve the frequency response of the amplifier.

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Improved frequency response of an amplifier with negative feedback

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 Summary:
Negative Feedback:
• ses gain stability
– against amplifier parameter or supply variation.
 es Bandwidth
 es i/p impedance and es o/p impedance
 es circuit stability
 es non-linear distortion

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 Positive feedback in amplifiers
Vout A
 Recall AF  
Vin (1  A )
• If  > 0 AND A = 1  AF → 
• Implications:
– a vanishing small input voltage will give rise to a finite output
voltage even when the input signal is zero.
  once the circuit receives the input trigger, it would
generate oscillations with no external signal source  an
oscillator
 A = 1 is the Barkhausen criterion: the condition for
oscillations.
• Note: A = 1 holds for ideal circuits. For practical circuits A >
1 to compensate for power losses in the circuit.
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Consider the circuit:

Cycle Vin Vout Vf

1 0.1 V 10 V 0.1 V
2 0.1 V 10 V 0.1 V

• During each cycle Vf = 0.1 V and Vout = 10 V.

 the oscillator is producing continuous, undamped oscillations

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 Summary
• An amplifier with proper +ve feedback will work
as an oscillator.
• The circuit needs only a quick trigger signal to
start the oscillations
• Once oscillations have started no external
signal source is reqd.
• For sustained undamped oscillations A = 1.
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 Oscillators

• amplifiers that provide their own i/p signal thru

feedback.
• the output frequency is determined by the
characteristics of the device.
• The primary purpose of an oscillator is to generate
a given waveform at a constant peak amplitude and
specific frequency and to maintain this waveform
within certain limits of amplitude and frequency.
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• In an oscillator, a portion of the output is fed
back to sustain the input.

• Enough power must be fed back to the input circuit for the
oscillator to drive itself
• To cause the oscillator to be self-driven, the feedback
signal must be REGENERATIVE (positive) to sustain the
oscillations.
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 CLASSIFICATIONS OF
OSCILLATORS:
• Oscillators are classified based on the type of the output
waveform.
• If the generated waveform is sinusoidal or close to
sinusoidal (with a certain frequency) then the oscillator is
said to be a Sinusoidal Oscillator.
• If the output waveform is non-sinusoidal, which refers to
square/saw-tooth waveforms, the oscillator is said to be a
Relaxation Oscillator.
• Feedback-type sinusoidal oscillators can be classified as
LC (inductor-capacitor) and RC (resistor-capacitor)
oscillators.
 Oscillators
• Common oscillators include:
1. Phase shift oscillator
2. Wien bridge oscillator
3. Collpitt’s oscillator
4. Hartley oscillator
5. Crystal oscillator
6. Tuned collector oscillator
7. Schmitt trigger/Astable multivibrator

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 Phase shift oscillator
 Uses an inverting amplifier
(opamp)
 The additional 180o phase shift is
provided by the RC phase-shift
network (each RC filter stage
provides 60 phase shift; so 3
needed)
 The frequency of oscillation is
given by: 1
fosc 
2 6 RC

Vout

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 Phase shift oscillator

fosc  1
2 6 RC
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RC Phase shift Oscillator
(Using phase-lead circuits)

19
RC Phase shift Oscillator
(Using phase-lag circuits)

20
• Consider the feedback network for the oscillator:

• Using mesh analysis and Kramer’s rule show that the frequency
of oscillation is:

fosc  1
2 6 RC

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Applying KVL to the phase- C C C
shift feedback network, we V1 Vo
have:
R R R
V1  I1 ( R  jX C )  I 2 R I1 I2 I3
0   I1 R  I 2 (2 R  jX C )  I 3 R
0   I2R  I 3 (2 R  jX C )

R  jX C R V1
R 2 R  jX C 0
Solving for I3, we get: 0 R 0
I3  R  jX C R 0
R 2 R  jX C R
0 R 2 R  jX C

V1R 2
Or I3 
( R  jX C )[(2 R  jX C ) 2  R 2 ]  R 2(2 R  jX C ) 22
 The output voltage,
V1 R 3
Vo  I 3 R 
( R  jX C )[(2 R  jX C ) 2  R 2 ]  R 2 (2 R  jX C )

Hence the transfer function of the phase-shift network is given by,

Vo R3
  3
V1 ( R  5RX C2 )  j ( X C3  6 R 2 X C )

For 180o phase shift, the imaginary part = 0, i.e.,

X C3  6 R 2 X C  0 or X C  0 (Rejected)
 X C2  6 R 2
1

6 RC

23
 Cont’d
Vo R3
  3
V1 ( R  5 RX C2 )  j ( X C3  6 R 2 X C ) (1)

1
But f
2 RC 6
(2)

substituting for R and Xc in Eq. 1, we obtain

V0 1
 
Vi 1  5 / (1 / 6)  j (6 6  6 6 (3)
 Cont’d
or Vi 1 1
   (4)
V o 1  5 x 6 29

Rewriting Eq. 4, we see that

Vo = -29Vi
which means that the gain of the amplifier must be at
least 29 if the circuit is to sustain oscillation.
 In summary:
• A phase-lead or phase-lag circuit can provide
phase shift between 0° and 90°.
• For total phase shift 180°, we use 3 identical
sections each giving a phase shift of 60°.

&
• It means in the beginning the gain of the transistor
amplifier must be greater than 29.
• Not very popular, as the frequency cannot be
adjusted over large range.
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 Wien bridge oscillator
Rf

R1


+
C R
Vo
R Z1
C Z2

he frequency of oscillation is the frequency at which Z1 and Z2

ave the same phase angle: f osc  2 1RC
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 Wien bridge oscillator

f osc  2 1RC
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 Analysis
• The frequency of oscillation is the Frequency Selection Network

frequency at which Z1 and Z2 have the Z1

same phase angle: R1 C1 Z2
• Z1 = R + XC and Z2 = RXC/(R+XC)
R
Z1  R  1 jC Z2 
j C Vi C2 R2 Vo
R  1 jC

• where XC = 1/jC
• Z1 and Z2 will have the same phase angle if the real and
imaginary parts
R
are equal
R 1 jC R 2  2 R jC  1  R jC
jC 
2 2
 C
R  1 jC

 1
R2  1 2  0 OR R jC  0
2 So that  2  1 and f osc  
 C R 2C 2 2 2 RC

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 Wien-Bridge Oscillator:
Advantages of Wien-Bridge Oscillator:
1. The frequency of oscillation can be easily varied just by
changing RC network
2. High gain due to two-stage amplifier
3. Stability is high

Disadvantages of Wien-Bridge Oscillator

1. The main disadvantage of the Wien-bridge oscillator is
that a high frequency of oscillation cannot be generated.
 LC oscillators
Colpitts Oscillator Hartley Oscillator

f osc 
1 1
f osc 
 C1 C 2
2 L

 2 ( L1  L2 )C
09/12/22  C1  C 2  31
 Crystal Oscillator

• the primary frequency

determining element is a
quartz crystal.
• has very high frequency
stability
– because of the inherent
characteristics of the quartz
crystal (very stable
mechanically and electrically).

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Square Wave Generator
(Astable multivibrator)

c) Waveforms at various
33 nodes of the circuit in (b).
 Square Wave Generator
(Astable multivibrator)

 1  
T  2RC ln 
R1 1  

R1  R2
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 Astable multivibrator

09/12/22

q   CVCC 1  e
 t RC
   CV
CC e
 t RC
35