Multistage or Cascaded Amplifier

Generally the voltage or current gain obtainable from a single stage transistor
amplifier is insufficient for most applications. Hence several such stages are connected in
cascade, i.e. output of the first stage is connected to form input of second stage, whose
output becomes input of third stage, and so on.

V2 Output voltage of 1st - stage

Voltage gain of 1 -stage Av1 =
st
=
V1 Input voltage of 1st - stage
V3 Output voltage of 2 nd - stage
Voltage gain of 2 -stage Av 2 =
nd
=
V2 Input voltage of 2 nd - stage
.
.
Vk +1 Output voltage of k th - stage
Voltage gain of k -stage Avk =
th
=
Vk Input voltage of k th - stage
.
.
Vn+1 Output voltage of n th - stage
Voltage gain of n -stage Avn =
th
=
Vn Input voltage of n th - stage

V0 Output voltage of n th - stage

Resultant voltage gain Av = =
V1 Input voltage of 1st - stage

V0 V2 V3 V V
= × × .... × k +1 × .... × 0
V1 V1 V2 Vk Vn

Resultant voltage gain Av = Av1 × Av 2 × .... × Avk × .... × Avn

(product of the gains of the individual stages)

Total Gain in decibels (dB) AdB = AdB 1 + AdB 2 + .... + AdB k + .... + AdB n
(sum of the gains (dB) of the individual stages)
Types of multistage amplifiers
(depending on the components used for coupling (tying-in) between the stages)

• R-C coupled amplifier

• Transformer coupled amplifier
Inter-stage coupling method
• Direct coupled amplifier
• L-C coupled amplifier

Coupling network not only couples the two amplifier stages, it also forms a
part of the load impedance of the preceding stage. Hence performance of the
amplifier depends on coupling network.
R-C coupled amplifier
Voltage gain
V2
Voltage gain of 1st-stage Av1 = = A1∠θ1
V1
V3
Voltage gain of 2nd-stage Av 2 = = A2 ∠θ 2
V2
.
.
Vk +1
Voltage gain of kth-stage Avk = = Ak ∠θ k
Vk
.
Vn+1
Voltage gain of nth-stage Avn = = An ∠θ n
Vn
 V0
Resultant voltage gain Av = = A∠θ
V1

V0 V2 V3 Vk +1 V0 Vk +1
= × × .... × × .... × Avk = = Ak ∠θ k
V1 V1 V2 Vk Vn Vk

Resultant voltage gain Av = Av1 × Av 2 × .... × Avk × .... × Avn

= A1 × A2 × .... × Ak × .... × An ∠(θ1 + θ 2 + .... + θ k + .... + θ n )

Magnitude of resultant voltage gain A = A1 × A2 × .... × Ak × .... × An

(product of the gains of the individual stages)

Resultant phase shift of amplifier θ = θ1 + θ 2 + .... + θ k + .... + θ n

(sum of the phase shifts introduced by each stage)
 AI k RL k
th
Voltage gain of k -stage Avk = RL k → effective load of kth-stage
Ri k
− hf e
th
Current gain of k -stage AI k =
1 + ho e RL k
Input impedance of kth-stage Ri k = hi e + hr e AI k RL k
h f e → short-circuit forward current gain
ho e → output conductance with open circuited input
hi e → input resistance
hr e → reverse open circuit voltage amplification
vb = hi e ib + hr e vc
ic = h f e ib + ho e vc
 Rc n −1 Ri n
RL n = Rc n and effective load RL n−1 = Rc n−1 || Ri n or RL n−1 =
Rc n −1 + Ri n

Now, varying k as n , n − 1,…. 2, 1

− hf e AI k RL k
AI k = , Ri k = hi e + hr e AI k RL k , Avk =
1 + ho e RL k Ri k

Then,
Resultant voltage gain Av = Av1 × Av 2 × .... × Avk × .... × Avn
Current gain
I0 Ic n I
AI = =− =− n
Ib1 Ib1 Ib1
In I I I I
= 1 × 2 × .... × k × .... × n
Ib1 Ib1 I 1 I k −1 I n −1
AI = AI 1 × AI′ 2 × ..... × AI′ k × .... × AI′ n
I1
Base to collector current gain of 1st stage AI 1 = −
Ib1
Ik
Collector to collector current gain of kth stage AI′ k =
I k −1
 Ik
Base to collector current gain of kth stage AI k = −
Ib k
Under consideration of kth stage
Rc k −1
I b k = − I k −1
Rc k −1 + Ri k
Hence, Collector to collector current gain of kth stage
⎛ − Rc k −1 ⎞
= (− AI k )⎜
Ik I k Ib k A R
⎟ = I k c k −1
AI′ k = =
⎜R ⎟
I k −1 I b k I k −1 ⎝ c k −1 + Ri k ⎠ Rc k −1 + Ri k
Current gain
I1
AI = AI 1 × AI′ 2 × ..... × AI′ k × .... × AI′ n AI 1 = −
Ib1
Power gain
Output power V0 I 0 V0 ( − I n ) V0 ⎛⎜ − I n ⎟⎞
Power gain AP = = = = = Av AI
Input power V1 I b 1 V1 I b 1 ⎜ ⎟
V1 ⎝ I b 1 ⎠

Power gain AP = Av AI

(product of voltage and current gains of the amplifier)

Advantages and Drawbacks of R-C coupled amplifier

Best solution for amplifying AC signals of frequency > 10 Hz
Most convenient and least expensive method to build multistage amplifiers
Some loss of signal voltages across coupling capacitors (main drawback)
Applications of R-C coupled amplifier
In almost all audio small signal amplifiers, tape recorders, public-address
systems, radio and television receivers, etc.
Frequency response and bandwidth of R-C coupled amplifier
Transformer coupled amplifier
→ Transformer is used to transfer the AC output voltage of the first stage to the
input of second stage
→ No coupling capacitor
→ DC isolation is provided by transformer itself
Advantages
→ No voltage loss across collector resister so all DC voltage supplied by Vcc is
available at collector (DC resistance of primary winding is very small)
→ Eliminates the unnecessary power loss in resister
→ Transformer helps in proper impedance matching

Drawbacks
→ Very bulky
→ Relatively costlier
→ Due to leakage inductance and inter-winding capacitances this amplifiers
does not amplify signals of different frequencies equally
→ At resonance frequency of inter-winding capacitances very high gain
→ Can not be used for lower frequency application

Applications
Widely used for radio frequency (>20 kHz) amplification in radio and TV
receivers
Direct coupled amplifier

also known as DC amp Direct current amplifier

Two stages are connected directly without using any reactive components like
capacitors, inductors, transformers, and others
Advantages
→ Simple circuit arrangement (minimum number of components)
→ Used to amplify zero and low frequency (< 10 Hz) signals
→ Amplification of DC (zero frequency) is possible only by this amplifier
→ No coupling and bypass capacitors so no capacitive reactance
→ Provides uniform frequency response up to a high frequency. Lower cut-off
frequency is zero and upper cut-off frequency is determined by values of
components used.
→ Used for both DC and AC signals
→ in addition to transferring the AC signal (or information), the first stage also
provides DC bias to the next
→ no need for a DC blocking capacitor to interconnect the amplifier stages (DC
coupling)
→ Quite inexpensive
Disadvantages
→ Unwanted change in output voltage without any change in the input is often
observed. This is caused by temperature variations, aging of components, etc
and is referred to as 'drift'.
→ At high frequencies gain decreases
→ Transistor parameters change with temperature, hence output is affected by
temperature variations
→ Even if input is AC, some DC component is present at output.
→ Any noise or stray pickup appearing at the input is also present at the output
in amplified form, due to high gain

Application
In TV receivers, computers, regulator circuits and other electronic instruments
A building block for differential amplifiers and operational amplifiers.
Example

Vcc = 30 V , vi = 1.4 V , VBE = 0.7 V

R E1 = 680 Ω , RE 2 = 2.4 kΩ ,
RC1 = 27 kΩ , RC 2 = 24 kΩ
Classification of amplifier
Based on magnitudes of the input and output impedances relative to the source and load
impedances
• Voltage amplifier
• Current amplifier
• Transconductance amplifier
• Transresistance amplifier
Voltage amplifier
Current amplifier
Transconductance amplifier

Transresistance amplifier