Power Dissipation in Microelectronic Transmission Circuits

The interrelationship of power dissipation, gain, stability, terminal impedance values, dynamic range and efficiency is investigated for small-signal amplifiers in the middle range of frequencies. Utilizing a novel circuit-design theory which treats a transistor along with its biasing resistors as a single entity, amplifier designs are derived which combine optimum ac performance and minimum dc power dissipation. The product of ac power gain and dc-to-ac efficiency is found to be a useful figure of merit for microelectronic transmission circuits.