Class-D amplifier

A class-D amplifier or switching amplifier is an electronic amplifier in which the amplifying devices (transistors, usually MOSFETs) operate as electronic switches, and not as linear gain devices as in other amplifiers. They operate by rapidly switching back and forth between the supply rails, using pulse-width modulation, pulse-density modulation, or related techniques to produce a pulse train output. This passes through a simple low-pass filter which blocks the high-frequency pulses and provides analog output current and voltage. Because they are always either in fully on or fully off modes, little energy is dissipated in the transistors and efficiency can exceed 90%. The first Class-D amplifier was invented by British scientist Alec Reeves in the 1950s and was first called by that name in 1955. The first commercial product was a kit module called the X-10 released by Sinclair Radionics in 1964. However, it had an output power of only 2.5 watts. The Sinclair X-20 in 1966 produced 20 watts but suffered from the inconsistencies and limitations of the germanium-based bipolar junction transistors available at the time. As a result, these early class-D amplifiers were impractical and unsuccessful. Practical class-D amplifiers were enabled by the development of silicon-based MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor) technology. In 1978, Sony introduced the TA-N88, the first class-D unit to employ power MOSFETs and a switched-mode power supply. There were subsequently rapid developments in MOSFET technology between 1979 and 1985. The availability of low-cost, fast-switching MOSFETs led to Class-D amplifiers becoming successful in the mid-1980s. The first class-D amplifier based integrated circuit was released by Tripath in 1996, and it saw widespread use. Class-D amplifiers work by generating a train of rectangular pulses of fixed amplitude but varying width and separation. This modulation represents the amplitude variations of the analog audio input signal.