Pulse and Digital Circuits

1.1 INTRODUCTION

When devices such as diodes, bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and field-effect transistors (FETs) are used in amplifiers, oscillators, rectifiers and other such applications, these devices are used either as linear or nonlinear circuit elements, for which they have to be used in a limited range of the transfer characteristic (defines the relation between the input and the output). If the operation goes beyond the linear region of the transfer characteristic, unwanted frequencies called harmonics—integer multiples of the fundamental frequency—appear in the output of the circuit. However, when the signal swing is large, as in power amplifiers, the output is invariably distorted. This distortion can be minimized using a push–pull ...