Unit-I

MULTISTAGE AMPLIFIERS

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 Multistage Amplifiers

SYLLABUS:
Classification of Amplifiers, Distortions in amplifiers, Different
coupling schemes used in amplifiers, Frequency response and
Analysis of multistage amplifiers, Cascade amplifier, Darlington
pair.
Transistor at High Frequency: Hybrid - model of Common Emitter
transistor model, fα, β and unity gain bandwidth, Gain band width
product.

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Two-stage RC Coupled Amplifier:
Construction:
The two stage amplifier circuit has two transistors, connected in CE
configuration and a common power supply VCC is used.

The potential divider network R1 and R2 and the resistor Re form the
biasing and stabilization network. The emitter by-pass capacitor Ce offers
a low reactance path to the signal.

The resistor RL is used as a load impedance.

The input capacitor Cin present at the initial stage of the amplifier

The capacitor CC is the coupling capacitor that connects two stages and
prevents DC interference between the stages and controls the shift of 3
The figure above shows the circuit diagram of two stage RC coupled amplifier.

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Operation of RC Coupled Amplifier:
When an AC input signal is applied to the base of first transistor, it gets
amplified and appears at the collector load RL which is then passed through
the coupling capacitor CC to the next stage. This becomes the input of the
next stage, whose amplified output again appears across its collector load.
Thus the signal is amplified in stage by stage action.

The important point that has to be noted here is that the total gain is less
than the product of the gains of individual stages. This is because when a
second stage is made to follow the first stage, the effective load
resistance of the first stage is reduced due to the shunting effect of the
input resistance of the second stage. Hence, in a multistage amplifier, only
the gain of the last stage remains unchanged.
`
As we consider a two stage amplifier here, the output phase is same as
input. Because the phase reversal is done two times by the two stage CE
configured amplifier circuit. 5
Analysis of RC Coupled Amplifier:

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For the purpose of analysis we divide the frequency response into
following 3 ranges:
1.Mid frequency response.
2.Low frequency response.
3.High frequency response.

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1. Mid frequency response:
 At mid frequencies, the impedance offered by coupling capacitance Cc
is so small it acts as an effective short circuit while impedance offered
by shunting capacitor is comparatively so large as to be an open
circuit. Thus both can be eliminated in this range. Now the simplified
equivalent circuit is shown in below figure.

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2. Low frequency response:
 In this frequency range the impedance offered by coupling capacitor is
comparable to the load resistance so that coupling capacitor largely
affects the amplification. Therefore we include the capacitor in this
equivalent circuit.
 On the other hand, the impedance offered by the shunting capacitor is
so large hence it is acting as an open circuit. With these
considerations, the equivalent circuit is shown in below figure 7(a) and
7(b).
 From above figure value of “I” is given by

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3. High frequency response:

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 In figure 8(b), we have replaced Co at the end of the circuit. As it is
obvious from figure 8(b) that the circuit elements are in parallel hence
the alteration would not affect the circuit.
 From figure 8(b), the current “I” is given by

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Frequency Response:
The curve drawn between voltage gain and signal frequency of an
amplifier is called frequency response.

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Frequency Response of RC Coupled Amplifier:
<50 Hz at low frequency gain is small because some part of ac
output lost in Cc and at low frequency CE offer high reactance
( ) and could not shunt shunt the emitter resistance
effectively.

At mid frequency 50Hz to 20KHz gain is almost constant if frequency

At higher frequency >20KHz the voltage gain dropped off. reactance
of Cc is very small behaves as a short circuit this increase load effect
and reduces voltage gain.

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At Low frequencies (i.e. below 50 Hz):
 The capacitive reactance is inversely proportional to the frequency. At
low frequencies, the reactance is quite high. The reactance of input
capacitor Cin and the coupling capacitor CC are so high that only small
part of the input signal is allowed. The reactance of the emitter by
pass capacitor CE is also very high during low frequencies. Hence it
cannot shunt the emitter resistance effectively. With all these factors,
the voltage gain rolls off at low frequencies.

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At High frequencies (i.e. above 20 KHz):
 Again considering the same point, we know that the capacitive
reactance is low at high frequencies. So, a capacitor behaves as a short
circuit, at high frequencies. As a result of this, the loading effect of the
next stage increases, which reduces the voltage gain. Along with this,
as the capacitance of emitter diode decreases, it increases the base
current of the transistor due to which the current gain (β) reduces.
Hence the voltage gain rolls off at high frequencies.

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At Mid-frequencies (i.e. 50 Hz to 20 KHz):
 The voltage gain of the capacitors is maintained constant in this range
of frequencies, as shown in figure. If the frequency increases, the
reactance of the capacitor CC decreases which tends to increase the
gain. But this lower capacitance reactive increases the loading effect of
the next stage by which there is a reduction in gain.
 Due to these two factors, the gain is maintained constant.

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Advantages of RC Coupled Amplifier:
The following are the advantages of RC coupled amplifier.
 The frequency response of RC amplifier provides constant gain over a
wide frequency range, hence most suitable for audio applications.
 The circuit is simple, light and has lower cost because it employs
resistors and capacitors which are cheap.
 It has minimum possible nonlinear distortion because it does not use
any coils or transformers which might pick up undesirable signals.

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Disadvantages of RC Coupled Amplifier:
The following are the disadvantages of RC coupled amplifier.
 The voltage and power gain are low because of the effective load
resistance of the next stage.
 They become noisy with age.
 Impedance matching is poor as the output impedance is several
hundred ohms while of a speaker is only few ohms.

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Applications of RC Coupled Amplifier:
The following are the applications of RC coupled amplifier.
 They have excellent audio fidelity over a wide range of frequency.
 Widely used as Voltage amplifiers
 Due to poor impedance matching, RC coupling is rarely used in the
final stages.
 It is used in the initial stages of public address (PA) amplifier systems.
 It is used in stereo amplifier.
 It is used in tape recorder, CD players, VCRs, DVD players, etc.
 It is used in radio and television receivers.

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