3.1 A 120.9dB DR, -111.2dB THD+N Digital-Input Capacitively-Coupled Chopper Class-D Audio Amplifier

Class-D amplifiers (CDAs) are widely used in audio applications where a high power efficiency is required. As most audio sources are digital nowadays, implementing digital-input CDAs results in higher levels of integration and lower cost. However, prior open-loop digital-input CDAs suffer from high jitter sensitivity and output-stage...

A Class-D Piezoelectric Speaker Driver Using A Quadrature Feedback Chopping Scheme achieving 29dB Large-Signal THD+N Improvement

This paper presents a Class-D piezoelectric speaker driver that employs a quadrature feedback chopping scheme (QCS). Compared to a conventional single feedback chopping scheme (SCS), the use of QCS can eliminate the timing skew between low-voltage (LV) and high-voltage (HV) choppers, greatly improving large-signal linearity. A prototype...

A 120.9-dB DR Digital-Input Capacitively Coupled Chopper Class-D Audio Amplifier

This article presents a digital-input class-D amplifier (CDA) achieving high dynamic range (DR) by employing a chopped capacitive feedback network and a capacitive digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Compared with conventional resistive-feedback CDAs driven by resistive or current-steering DACs, the proposed architecture eliminates the noise...

A - 121.5-dB THD Class-D Audio Amplifier With 49-dB LC Filter Nonlinearity Suppression

Class-D audio amplifiers produce electromagnetic interference (EMI), which often needs to be suppressed by an external LC filter. However, due to component nonlinearity, this filter can itself cause significant distortion. This article presents a class-D amplifier that suppresses LC filter nonlinearity by 49 dB and is robust to ±30%...

A Chopper Class-D Amplifier for PSRR Improvement Over the Entire Audio Band

The power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) of conventional differential closed-loop Class-D amplifiers is limited by the feedback and input resistor mismatch and finite common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of the operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) in the first integrator. This article presents a 14.4-V Class-D amplifier employing...

A 121.4-dB DR Capacitively Coupled Chopper Class-D Audio Amplifier

This article presents a class-D amplifier (CDA) with high dynamic range (DR). To eliminate the typically dominant noise contribution of a resistive feedback network, the input and feedback signals are chopped and applied to a capacitive feedback network. However, this leads to high-voltage (HV) transients at the input of the loop filter,...

A 121.4dB DR, -109.8dB THD+N Capacitively-Coupled Chopper Class-D Audio Amplifier

Class-D amplifiers (CDAs) are often used in audio applications due to their superior power efficiency. Due to the sensitivity of the human ear, a large dynamic range (DR) is desired, and audio DACs with up to 130dB DR are commercially available [1]. However, the DR of the CDAs they drive is typically much lower [2]-[4], mainly due to the...

A-121.5 dB THD Class-D Audio Amplifier with 49 dB Suppression of LC Filter Nonlinearity and Robust to +/-30% LC Filter Spread

This paper reports a Class-D audio amplifier that uses multiloop feedback to suppress output LC filter nonlinearity by 49 dB, enabling the use of small, low-cost LC filters with ±30% spread while maintaining low distortion. Fabricated in a 180 nm BCD process, the prototype achieves a THD of-121.5 dB and a THD+N of-107.1 dB. It delivers 12W...

A -109.1 dB/-98 dB THD/THD+N Chopper Class-D Amplifier with >83.7 dB PSRR Over the Entire Audio Band

This paper reports a chopper Class-D audio amplifier that obtains high PSRR over the entire audio band. A chopping scheme is proposed to minimize intermodulation distortion between pulse-width modulation (PWM) and chopping in the audio band. A high-voltage chopper is developed to handle a 14.4 V PWM signal. Timing matching techniques are...

A High-Linearity and Low-EMI Multilevel Class-D Amplifier

This article presents a Class-D audio amplifier for automotive applications. Low electromagnetic interference (EMI) and, hence, smaller LC filter size are obtained by employing a fully differential multilevel output stage switching at 4.2 MHz. A modulation scheme with minimal switching activity at zero input reduces idle power, which is...

A 28-W, -102.2-dB THD+N Class-D Amplifier Using a Hybrid ΔΣM-PWM Scheme

This article presents a 28-W class-D amplifier for automotive applications. The combination of a high switching frequency and a hybrid multibit Δ Σ M-PWM scheme results in high linearity over a wide range of output power, as well as low AM-band EMI. As a result, only a small (150-kHz cutoff frequency), and thus low-cost, LC filter is needed...

A 28W -108.9dB/-102.2dB THD/THD+N Hybrid ΔΣ-PWM Class-D Audio Amplifier with 91% Peak Efficiency and Reduced EMI Emission

Class-D amplifiers are often used in high-power audio applications due to their high power efficiency. They typically employ pulse-width modulation (PWM) at a fixed carrier frequency, which may cause electromagnetic interference (EMI). Setting this frequency f_PWM) below the AM band (535 to 1605kHz) helps mitigate this, but its...

A -107.8 dB THD+N Low-EMI Multi-Level Class-D Audio Amplifier

This paper describes a class-D audio amplifier with a multilevel output stage that reduces both EMI and idle power. High loop gain, and thus high linearity, are enabled by a relatively high (4.2 MHz) switching frequency, which relaxes the requirements on its output LC filter. Fabricated in a 180nm BCD technology, it can drive 14 W into an 8-Ω...