Chapter 20

Power gain stages for monolithic amplifiers

Jim Williams

Most monolithic amplifiers cannot supply more than a few hundred milliwatts of output power. Standard IC processing techniques set device supply levels at 36V, limiting available output swing. Additionally, supplying currents beyond tens of milliamperes requires large output transistors and causes undesirable IC power dissipation.

Many applications, however, require greater output power than most monolithic amplifiers will deliver. When voltage or current gain (or both) is needed, a separate output stage is necessary. The power gain stage, sometimes called a “booster”, is usually placed within the monolithic amplifier’s feedback loop, preserving the IC’s low drift and stable ...

Get Analog Circuit Design Volume 2 now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.