17.4      Swing: Putting AC and DC Together

Another key specification in amplifier operation is the largest output amplitude that the amplifier can produce while still producing a sinusoidal output wave. This parameter is called swing. The maximum swing depends on how far the output can swing while keeping the transistor in the current saturating region (e.g., FET = saturation region, BJT = active region). As a result, neither the AC nor DC components can be ignored in this analysis.

If the input is pushed too high or too low, the output will stop changing as a sinusoid, resulting in some of the sinusoid clipped off. This phenomenon, called “clipping,” is shown in Figure 17.37a. If the transistor is pushed out of the current saturating region, ...

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