Chapter 7. Class A Amplifiers
Published Online: 9 OCT 2001
DOI: 10.1002/0471200689.ch7
Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Book Title
Radio Frequency Circuit Design
Additional Information
How to Cite
Davis, W. A. and Agarwal, K. K. (2001) Class A Amplifiers, in Radio Frequency Circuit Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, USA. doi: 10.1002/0471200689.ch7
Publication History
- Published Online: 9 OCT 2001
Book Series:
Book Series Editors:
- Kai Chang
Series Editor Information
Texas A&M University
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9780471350521
Online ISBN: 9780471200680
- Summary
- Chapter
Keywords:
- class A amplifiers;
- gain;
- transducer power gain;
- two-port circuit;
- S parameter;
- simultaneous match;
- maximum power gain;
- stability;
- power combining;
- problems
Summary
The class A amplifier is typically used as the first amplification stage of a receiver or transmitter where minimum distortion is desired. This comes with a cost of relatively low efficiency. Since the first stages in an amplifier chain handle low-power levels, the low efficiency of these amplifiers actually wastes little power. The variety of amplifier classes are described in cited references and are covered more extensively in a later chapter. The primary properties of importance to class A amplifier design are gain, bandwidth control, stability, and noise figure. These are the topics that will be considered here.