IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 48, NO.

1, FEBRUARY 2005

53

Simplified Analysis of Feedback Amplifiers

Jos Luis Rodrguez Marrero

AbstractA very simple and general method for the analysis of

feedback amplifiers with large-loop gain is presented in this paper.
The general properties of feedback amplifiers, such as gain and
input and output resistances, are obtained using an open-loop circuit where the loading effect of the feedback network is easily taken
into account. Emphasis is placed on quick, intuitive, and reliable
calculations, useful for both the analysis and design of feedback
amplifiers.
Index TermsNegative feedback, practical feedback amplifiers.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE CONTENTS of most analog electronics textbooks are

well suited for a sequence of two semester courses. A first
course is usually devoted to devices and basic circuits, using
operational amplifiers, diodes, and transistors. More advanced
topics, such as differential amplifiers, multistage design, frequency response, and feedback are covered in a second course.
The study of negative feedback is useful because it produces
many important benefits for amplifiers, such as gain insensitivity against parameter changes and precise control of input and
output impedances and bandwidth. A typical chapter on feedback in most textbooks starts with the analysis of the properties of the ideal feedback configuration [1][5]. The feedback
amplifier signal gain is obtained; it is independent of the basic
amplifier characteristics when the loop gain is large. Since the
input and output signals can be voltages or currents, one needs
to introduce four basic topologies in the study of amplifiers with
negative feedback. Up to this point, the analysis of feedback
amplifiers is straightforward. However, the analysis of practical
feedback amplifiers becomes complicated because the feedback
network is not unidirectional and because it loads the basic amplifier stage. The simplest approaches are often seen by the students as a collection of recipes [3], [4], whereas more formal
approaches, such as the two-port representations of the basic
amplifier and the feedback network, lack insight into the advantages and properties of these amplifiers and make their analysis
a very complicated task [5]. Some books offer an alternative
method, the return-ratio method [4][6], for the calculation of
the loop gain. Although this method is not very intuitive, it looks
simpler.
Although the two-port analysis and the return-ratio method
may be used to study feedback amplifiers, important differences
may be present in the closed-loop formulas because the loop
gain obtained by means of two-port analysis does not always

Manuscript received July 15, 2003; revised December 15, 2003. This work
was supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologa of Spain under
Grant MAT2002-04246-C05-02.
The author is with the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain
(e-mail: marrero@dea.icai.upco.es).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TE.2004.832878

agree with the return ratio [7], [8]. The reason for the disagreement is that some forward signal transfers through the feedback
network. Since this network is usually a passive one, this forward signal transfer can be ignored at low frequencies, but it
may become important at high frequencies where the gain of
the basic amplifier falls [9], [10].
All feedback amplifiers can be analyzed as circuits. However,
such treatment becomes very tedious and difficult in most practical cases, and, most important, the key aspects of circuit performance are not transparent. A different approach to analyze
feedback amplifiers, where the feedback loop plays an important role, is presented in this paper. This approach is appropriate
for the analysis of feedback amplifiers where it is easy to recognize the kind of connection at both the input and output of the
amplifier. It is based on the calculation of the return ratio, and
it gives accurate results when the loop gain is very large, which
should be the case for a well-designed feedback amplifier [5].
Emphasis is placed on general properties common to all feedback topologies, using a straightforward and informal approach
suitable for quick-hand analysis. This method has proven very
successful in introductory courses where motivation and insight
to circuit design is very important and where detailed analysis
is not needed.
There are, however, feedback circuits where one cannot easily
identify the kind of connection at both the input and output of the
amplifier or where the circuits do not fit into the ideal feedback
amplifier configuration. In some current generators, such as the
bipolar Wilson current mirror, the return-ratio method seems the
appropriate choice for the analysis [5].
The topic will be presented as it appears in class notes, omitting important aspects of feedback, such as a detailed analysis of
gain sensitivity, bandwidth extension, or effect of feedback on
distortion. These topics and the frequency response of feedback
amplifiers can be studied after these basic ideas have been presented. Section II is devoted to the review of the analysis of the
ideal feedback amplifier, where the loading effect of the feedback network is ignored. This effect is studied in Section III,
where a general and simple method for the analysis and design
of practical feedback amplifiers is proposed.
II. IDEAL FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS
Fig. 1 shows the basic configuration of a feedback amplifier.
It is termed ideal feedback configuration because one assumes
that 1) the feedback network does not load the basic amplifier
and that 2) each block is unidirectional. In this figure and
are the input and output signals. The feedback network
samples the output signal and produces a signal
that is fed back to the amplifier input, where an error signal
is generated. The basic amplifier amplifies

0018-9359/$20.00 2005 IEEE

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 48, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005

Fig. 2. Ideal seriesshunt feedback amplifier.

Fig. 1. Ideal feedback amplifier.

this signal to produce the output signal

. Hence, the
feedback amplifier signal gain is easily obtained as
(1)
has been introduced. For largewhere the loop gain
, the feedback amplifier signal gain depends
loop gains
only on the feedback network
(2)
, which with
For the feedback amplifier to have gain,
implies that
. Equation (2) shows that
feedback with large-loop gain makes the feedback gain
insensitive to changes of the basic amplifier gain . These changes
may be a result of temperature dependence, aging, or bias conditions of the active devices of the basic amplifier. When the
loop gain is higher, the feedback amplifier becomes more insensitive and has smaller gain. This result is the penalty paid
for a well-defined gain and is one disadvantage of feedback (the
other one being potential instability).
Using (1), one sees that

Fig. 3.

Diagram to calculate the feedback amplifier output resistance.

output signals are voltage signals with the feedback network

connected in series with the basic amplifier input (voltages
are added at the input) and in parallel at the output (both the
basic amplifier and the feedback network share the same output
are
voltage). The properties of the ideal feedback network
easily obtained because it does not load the basic amplifier
and has zero output resistance (because it is connected in series
with the basic amplifier input) and infinite input resistance
(because it is connected in parallel with the basic amplifier
output).
Since the feedback and output signals are voltage signals, the
gain of the feedback amplifier is obtained from (1) by replacing
and
by and , respectively.

(3)
is much smaller than
For large-loop gains, the error signal
the input signal , and since
, then
. In
, one obtains the result of (2)
this case, inverting
(4)
If
, the error signal becomes zero, which means that
and
are equal. This result is the main objective of
both
the feedback amplifier, an important result that will be used to
establish very general procedures to determine bias conditions
and to compute the gain of feedback amplifiers.
The feedback network samples the output signal to produce
a signal that is fed back to the amplifier input. Since these signals can be voltages or currents, four basic configurations are
possible. The properties of the feedback amplifier are closely
related to these configurations and, hence, to the type of feedback network. As an example, the properties of the seriesshunt
feedback configuration are reviewed subsequently. The properties of the other configurations are easily obtained from these
considerations.
Fig. 2 shows the ideal configuration of a seriesshunt feedback amplifier. In this configuration, both the feedback and

(5)
where the last step holds for large-loop gains.
The feedback amplifier input current is common to both the
basic amplifier input and the feedback network output so that
. Hence, the feedback amplifier input resistance is
(6)
where
is the basic amplifier input resistance.
In order to calculate the feedback amplifier output resistance,
one may refer to Fig. 3. The basic amplifier output resistance
has been added to the figure, where an ideal zero-output resistance basic amplifier is considered. To calculate the output re, an external output voltage
is applied with the
sistance
input voltage turned off. Since the feedback network is ideal
and it is connected in parallel at the output of the basic amplifier, it draws no current at its input and hence
(7)
where
voltage

has been used, since the input

.

MARRERO: SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS OF FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS

55

These results are very general. If

is the basic amplifier
resistance at the port being considered, a series connection of
the feedback network increases the resistance at that port by a
factor of
(8)
while a shunt connection of the feedback network reduces the
resistance by the same factor.
(9)

III. PRACTICAL FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS

In this section, the small-signal analysis of electronic circuits
model [4],
will be carried out using the bipolar transistor
[11]. A similar model can be used for the field-effect transistors
(FETs). The small-signal voltages and currents will be represented by lower case letters with lower case subscripts. For exrepresents the small-signal collector voltage of tranample,
sistor
, while
represents the small-signal base current of
. In the model, the transistor collector current
transistor
is modeled by a voltage-controlled current source with the control voltage being , the small-signal base-emitter voltage. The
small-signal collector current is given by
,
is the transconductance of the bipolar tranwhere
25 mV at room temperature). One
sistor at its bias point (
(
will
will assume that is very large so that
be used hereafter). The resistance represents the small-signal
resistance seen looking into the emitter, for the base held at a
constant voltage. The resistance seen looking into the base, for
, because the
the emitter held at a constant voltage, is simply
emitter current is times larger than the base current. A very elegant use of this model appears in [11] and [12].
For a well-designed feedback amplifier, the feedback amplifier gain depends only on the characteristics of the feedback network. Hence, two important steps should be followed to start
the analysis of a feedback amplifier: 1) check that the circuit
has negative feedback and 2) find the feedback network. Negative feedback is required to have a well-defined gain, although
large-loop gains may lead to oscillations. In order to find the
feedback network, one must recognize the kind of connection
at both the input and output of the feedback amplifier. This information is not always easy to obtain, particularly for output series connections involving bipolar transistor circuits. Once the
feedback network has been identified, many properties of the
feedback amplifier are easily obtained, including its gain as follows from (2).
A. The Loading Effect
The division between basic amplifier and feedback network
is not always obvious when analyzing practical feedback amplifiers. This analysis becomes more complicated because 1) the
feedback network loads the basic amplifier and 2) the feedback
network is not unidirectional. The effect of loading is usually
the most important effect and must be taken into account.
The parameters that are needed to compute the characteristics of feedback amplifiers are , , and the input and output

Fig. 4. Open-loop amplifier with loading effect.

resistances of the basic amplifier. They can be obtained by

opening the feedback loop. In practical feedback amplifiers,
the loading effect of the feedback network must be considered
when opening the loop. This task is accomplished by terminating the basic amplifier output with a resistance equal to
that seen looking to the left of the feedback network [4], as
shown in Fig. 4, which shows the feedback amplifier of Fig. 1
with the loop open. From Fig. 4, the loop gain is obtained as
(10)
In fact, this result coincides with the return ratio [10] and is
independent of the signals chosen when opening the loop, as
will be shown in some examples hereafter.
The feedback network gain is easily obtained by disconnecting the feedback network from the basic amplifier,
avoiding the loading effect of the basic amplifier. For example,
for voltage error signals
(11)
while for current error signals
(12)
Finally, the basic amplifier input and output resistances, including the loading effect of the feedback network, can be computed from Fig. 4 by setting the sampled signal equal to zero.
The basic amplifier gain can also be obtained from this figure,
but this quantity is not needed in this analysis.
B. SeriesShunt Feedback
Fig. 5 shows a circuit with seriesshunt feedback. The resistive voltage divider (inside the dashed box) connecting the amforms the feedback
plifier output with the base of transistor
network. It samples the output voltage and produces a feed. The divider is the simplest circuit that
back voltage
accomplishes this task with passive components.
Several points are worth discussing: bias points of the transistors, voltage gain and input, and output resistances of the feedand
form a differential pair
back amplifier. Transistors
biased by the left current source, with the common emitter
amplifying its output. These transistors and the biasing components make up the basic amplifier. Since both the differential

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 48, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005

Fig. 6.

Open-loop circuit for the analysis of the feedback amplifier of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Seriesshunt feedback amplifier.

pair and the common emitter have high gains, one can see that
the open-loop gain is very large. Then, (5) shows that
(13)
The feedback network must be disconnected in order to obtain its gain . From Fig. 5 and (11), one can see that
so that
11

(14)

is possible because the

The stability of the bias point of
overall circuit negative feedback guarantees that the quiescent
output voltage is zero if has no dc component. This condition
is a result of the error signal
0
for large-loop gains. Therefore, if the dc component of the input
voltage is zero, the dc component of the output voltage is also
zero.
In general, one can infer the gain of the feedback amplifier
easily on the assumption that the loop gain is very large. However, computing the loop gain directly to obtain the input and
output resistances of the feedback amplifier is useful. The calculation of the loop gain follows the lines explained previously
in (10) and Fig. 4. The loading effect of the feedback network
(its input impedance is not infinite) is taken into account when
opening the loop by adding a resistor in series with the col, as shown in Fig. 6. Then, can be obtained from
lector of
this circuit by means of (10). From Fig. 6, one can observe that
1k
10 k 11 k , where
100 has
been used.
The loop gain is given by

1 k. As indicated before, the loop

where
gain is very large so that (13) holds true. As for any amplifier
with negative feedback, is positive.
To calculate the input and output feedback amplifier resistances, one needs to compute the basic amplifier corresponding
resistances. In order to take into account the loading effect, the
. The basic amplifier input
circuit of Fig. 6 is used with
resistance is given by
1 k 10 k

11 k

(16)

and its output resistance is

11 k

(17)

The feedback amplifier input resistance is obtained using (16)

and (6)
3.3 M

(18)

while its output resistance is obtained from (17) and (7)

37

(19)

These results show that, if the input voltage source has an internal resistance of up to
330 k , the output voltage
is essentially unchanged, and it is delivered amplified by a factor
of 11 at a very low output resistance of 37 .
C. ShuntShunt Feedback
The inverting amplifier configuration of Fig. 7 will be analyzed as an example of a practical shuntshunt feedback amplifier. The shuntshunt configuration becomes clear if the voltage
source is converted into a current source using
(20)
as shown in Fig. 8. Therefore, the transresistance gain
be given by

295

(15)

will

(21)

MARRERO: SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS OF FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS

Fig. 7.

57

Inverting amplifier.

Fig. 11. Seriesseries feedback amplifier. The component values are R =

9 k
, R = 5 k
, R = 600
, R = R = 100
, and R = 640
.
Fig. 8. Shuntshunt feedback amplifier.

Fig. 12. Feedback network of circuit of Fig. 11.

Another quantity of interest is the input resistance

inverting amplifier. From Fig. 7, it is seen that

of the

(24)

Fig. 9. Open-loop circuit for the analysis of the feedback amplifier of Fig. 8.

In order to obtain
, one needs to compute the feedback amplifier input resistance, which is given by (Fig. 9)
0

Fig. 10.

(25)

because is very large. From Fig. 8, one can see that

, which means that
0 and, therefore,

Feedback network for the inverting amplifier.

Fig. 9 shows the circuit appropriate for feedback analysis,

and Fig. 10 shows the feedback network. Typical operational
amplifiers have both very large differential input resistance and
gain. Hence, the terminating resistor of Fig. 9 will be
. Since the loop gain will also be very large
(22)
Finally, the gain of the inverting amplifier is obtained by inserting (20) in (22)
(23)

D. SeriesSeries Feedback
Fig. 11 shows a circuit amplifier with this configuration. It is
part of the commercial integrated circuit MC 1553. The circuit
omits the biasing of the input transistor needed to bias the rest
of the circuit. In this example, one can assume that the input
voltage has a dc component needed to bias the circuit properly,
so that
0.6 mA,
1 mA, and
4 mA.
The sampled signal that is fed back to the input is the emitter
. The feedback network gain is obtained from the
current of
circuit shown in Fig. 12.
11.9

(26)

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 48, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2005

Fig. 14.

Fig. 13.

Equivalent output circuit of the feedback amplifier of Fig. 11.

Open-loop circuit for the analysis of the feedback amplifier of Fig. 11.

Again, inspection of the circuit (two common emitters and an

emitter follower) indicates that the loop gain is large. If it is
larger than 10, then
(27)
The feedback amplifier voltage gain can be obtained as follows
50.4

(28)

In order to calculate the feedback amplifier resistances, the

loop gain must be obtained. Fig. 13 shows the circuit used to
calculate and the characteristics of the basic amplifier . The
loading effect of the feedback network has been taken into account by adding the resistor in series with the emitter of tran, where
sistor
87

(29)

The loop gain is given by

247

Fig. 15. Seriesshunt feedback amplifier. The component values are the same
as for the circuit of Fig. 11.

is the resistance seen looking into the collector of , as shown

,
is the resisin Fig. 11. Since
[4]. The
tance seen when opening the loop at the emitter of
is obtained as the resisbasic amplifier output resistance
tance between points and of Fig. 13, and it is given by
143 . An approximate value1
for
can be computed by assuming that the effect of feedat the emitter of
[4]. If the Early effect
back is to place
of the transistors is ignored,
is infinite. With finite Early
is very large because it represents the output resiseffect,
tance of a common emitter amplifier with emitter degeneration
35.5 k at
and because of the presence of the resistor
the emitter of
. Therefore, it should be expected that
is
very large. As a result, the output voltage is supplied at a re600 .
sistance

(30)

where
29 . Thus, the approximation of
(27) is justified.
The feedback amplifier input resistance is given by
, where
is the basic amplifier input
resistance, obtained from Fig. 13 with
. The result is
13 k

(31)

Then,
3.2 M .
The equivalent output circuit of the seriesseries feedback
amplifier is shown inside the dashed box of Fig. 14, where

E. Another Look at the Loop Gain

A given circuit can realize different feedback functions if the
output is taken from different nodes. As an example, consider
the circuit of Fig. 11, but assume that the output signal is taken
as the voltage at the emitter of
, as shown in Fig. 15. In this
is not needed for the actual operation of
case, the resistor
the circuit but is kept here to show that both circuits are the
same, another example of seriesshunt feedback. Fig. 16 shows
1A

detailed analysis of the circuit shows that this result is very accurate.

MARRERO: SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS OF FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS

Fig. 16.

59

Open-loop circuit for the analysis of the feedback amplifier of Fig. 15.

the small-signal analysis circuit used to compute the loop gain,

and
29 .
where
The loop gain is given by

lateral basic amplifier and feedback networks. This technique is

difficult to use and does not provide insight into the properties
and advantages of the feedback amplifier. Other techniques,
like the return-ratio method, are often simpler to use but do not
offer greater insight as to the circuit performance.
In this paper, a very simple technique for the analysis of feedback amplifiers with large-loop gain has been shown to give very
reliable results with minor effort. General properties of feedback amplifiers, such as gain and input and output resistances,
are obtained using an open-loop circuit where the loading effect
of the feedback network is easily taken into account. Emphasis
is placed on quick, intuitive, and reliable calculations, useful for
both the analysis and design of feedback amplifiers.
This technique is appropriate for the analysis of feedback amplifiers where the kind of connection at both the input and output
of the amplifier is easy to recognize. However, this information
may be somewhat difficult to obtain for some cases, especially
for some current mirrors such as the bipolar Wilson mirror,
where the return-ratio method seems the appropriate choice for
the analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank the Ministerio de Ciencia y
Tecnologa of Spain for support and the anonymous reviewers
of the paper for their very helpful comments.
REFERENCES

247

(32)

This result coincides with the one obtained in (30) for the seriesseries feedback amplifier of Fig. 11. As one would expect,
the loop gain is unchanged by the choice of the output port
if the circuit is unchanged by this choice. Since the loop gain is
very large, the voltage gain of the feedback circuit is given by
7.4

(33)

The feedback amplifier input resistance is obtained as

(34)
is the basic amplifier input resistance, obtained from
where
. The result is
Fig. 16 with
13 k

(35)

3.2 M , which is the same as the result of the seThen,

riesseries amplifier of Fig. 11. A closer look reveals that there
are minor differences between (31) and (35) because of the differences in the loading effect of the feedback network at the
amplifier output, a consequence of the level of approximation
involved in this analysis.
IV. CONCLUSION
The traditional treatment of practical feedback amplifiers
often relies on two ports to convert the feedback circuit into uni-

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[8]
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IEEE Trans. Educ., vol. 35, pp. 253261, Aug. 1992.
[9] S. Ben-Yaakov, A unified approach to teaching feedback in electronic
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Jos Luis Rodrguez Marrero received the Ingeniero de Telecomunicaciones

degree from Universidad Politcnica de Catalua, Barcelona, Spain, and the
M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering and the Ph.D. degree in
physics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
He joined the faculty of the Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid,
Spain, in 1987, where he is now Professor in the School of Engineering,
teaching courses on electronics and signal processing. His research interests are
in the areas of electronic instrumentation, nonlinear dynamics, and engineering
education.