A Class AB High Swing CMOS Power Amplifier

A novel CMOS power amplifier is presented. The following often contradictory requirements are fullfilled: - low and stable quiescent current - significantly (160 times) larger peak current - low crossover distortion - high output swing (3.2Vpp) together with - high driving capability (25 Ohm load) from a - single 5V power supply - minimum chip area These features have been achieved by combining the known AB output stage with new high swing error amplifiers and a tracking source follower stage for low output voltages. The novel power amplifier is implemented in the ARCOFI^R which is part of a subscriber telephone chip set.