Fundamentals of Electronics: Book 2

Book excerpt: This book, Amplifiers: Analysis and Design, is the second of four books of a larger work, Fundamentals of Electronics. It is comprised of four chapters that describe the fundamentals of amplifier performance. Beginning with a review of two-port analysis, the first chapter introduces the modeling of the response of transistors to AC signals. Basic one-transistor amplifiers are extensively discussed. The next chapter expands the discussion to multiple transistor amplifiers. The coverage of simple amplifiers is concluded with a chapter that examines power amplifiers. This discussion defines the limits of small-signal analysis and explores the realm where these simplifying assumptions are no longer valid and distortion becomes present. The final chapter concludes the book with the first of two chapters in Fundamental of Electronics on the significant topic of feedback amplifiers. Fundamentals of Electronics has been designed primarily for use in an upper division course in electronics for electrical engineering students. Typically such a course spans a full academic years consisting of two semesters or three quarters. As such, Amplifiers: Analysis and Design, and two other books, Electronic Devices and Circuit Applications, and Active Filters and Amplifier Frequency Response, form an appropriate body of material for such a course. Secondary applications include the use with Electronic Devices and Circuit Applications in a one-semester electronics course for engineers or as a reference for practicing engineers.