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Gain(electronics)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Gain(electronics)
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inelectronics,gainisameasureoftheabilityofatwoportcircuit(oftenanamplifier)toincreasethe
poweroramplitudeofasignalfromtheinputtotheoutputport[1][2][3][4]byaddingenergyconvertedfrom
somepowersupplytothesignal.Itisusuallydefinedasthemeanratioofthesignalamplitudeorpowerat
theoutputporttotheamplitudeorpowerattheinputport.[1]Itisoftenexpressedusingthelogarithmic
decibel(dB)units("dBgain").[4]Againgreaterthanone(zerodB),thatisamplification,isthedefining
propertyofanactivecomponentorcircuit,whileapassivecircuitwillhaveagainoflessthanone.[4]
Thetermgainaloneisambiguous,andcanrefertotheratioofoutputtoinputvoltage(voltagegain),
current(currentgain)orelectricpower(powergain).[4]Inthefieldofaudioandgeneralpurpose
amplifiers,especiallyoperationalamplifiers,thetermusuallyreferstovoltagegain,[2]butinradio
frequencyamplifiersitusuallyreferstopowergain.Furthermore,thetermgainisalsoappliedinsystems
suchassensorswheretheinputandoutputhavedifferentunitsinsuchcasesthegainunitsmustbe
specified,asin"5microvoltsperphoton"fortheresponsivityofaphotosensor.The"gain"ofabipolar
transistornormallyreferstoforwardcurrenttransferratio,eitherhFE("Beta",thestaticratioofIcdivided
byIbatsomeoperatingpoint),orsometimeshfe(thesmallsignalcurrentgain,theslopeofthegraphofIc
againstIbatapoint).
Thegainofanelectronicdeviceorcircuitgenerallyvarieswiththefrequencyoftheappliedsignal.Unless
otherwisestated,thetermreferstothegainforfrequenciesinthepassband,theintendedoperating
frequencyrange,oftheequipment.Thetermgainhasadifferentmeaninginantennadesignantennagain
istheratioofradiationintensityfromadirectionalantennato
(meanradiationintensityfroma
losslessantenna).

Contents
1 Logarithmicunitsanddecibels
1.1 Powergain
1.2 Voltagegain
1.3 Currentgain
1.4 Example
2 Seealso
3 References

Logarithmicunitsanddecibels
Powergain
Powergain,indecibels(dB),isdefinedbythe10logruleasfollows:
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where

Gain(electronics)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

isthepowerappliedtotheinputand

isthepowerfromtheoutput.

Asimilarcalculationcanbedoneusinganaturallogarithminsteadofadecimallogarithm,andwithoutthe
factorof10,resultinginnepersinsteadofdecibels:

Whenlogarithmstothedecibelbase
areusedinplaceoftherespective
bases10andeabove,theresultisgivendirectlyindecibels.Forexample,
,in
agreementwith
.

Voltagegain
ThepowergaincanbecalculatedusingvoltageinsteadofpowerusingJoule'sfirstlaw
formulais:

Inmanycases,theinputimpedance
besimplifiedto:

andoutputimpedance

the

areequal,sotheaboveequationcan

Thissimplifiedformula,the20logrule,isusedtocalculateavoltagegainindecibelsandisequivalenttoa
powergainonlyiftheimpedancesatinputandoutputareequal.

Currentgain
Inthesameway,whenpowergainiscalculatedusingcurrentinsteadofpower,makingthesubstitution
,theformulais:

Inmanycases,theinputandoutputimpedancesareequal,sotheaboveequationcanbesimplifiedto:
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4/21/2016

Gain(electronics)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Thissimplifiedformulaisusedtocalculateacurrentgainindecibelsandisequivalenttothepowergain
onlyiftheimpedancesatinputandoutputareequal.
The"currentgain"ofabipolartransistor,
ratioof to (orslopeofthe versus

or ,isnormallygivenasadimensionlessnumber,the
graph,for ).

Inthecasesabove,gainwillbeadimensionlessquantity,asitistheratiooflikeunits(decibelsarenotused
asunits,butratherasamethodofindicatingalogarithmicrelationship).Inthebipolartransistorexample,it
istheratiooftheoutputcurrenttotheinputcurrent,bothmeasuredinamperes.Inthecaseofotherdevices,
thegainwillhaveavalueinSIunits.Suchisthecasewiththeoperationaltransconductanceamplifier,
whichhasanopenloopgain(transconductance)insiemenses(mhos),becausethegainisaratioofthe
outputcurrenttotheinputvoltage.

Example
Q.Anamplifierhasaninputimpedanceof50ohmsanddrivesaloadof50ohms.Whenitsinput(
volt,itsoutput(
)is10volts.Whatisitsvoltageandpowergain?

)is1

A.Voltagegainissimply:

TheunitsV/Vareoptionalbutmakeitclearthatthisfigureisavoltagegainandnotapowergain.Using
theexpressionforpower,P=V2/R,thepowergainis:

Again,theunitsW/Wareoptional.Powergainismoreusuallyexpressedindecibels,thus:

Againoffactor1(equivalentto0dB)wherebothinputandoutputareatthesamevoltageleveland
impedanceisalsoknownasunitygain.

Seealso
Activelasermedium
Antennagain
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Gain(electronics)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Aperturetomediumcouplingloss
Automaticgaincontrol
Attenuation
Complexgain
DCoffset
Effectiveradiatedpower
Gainbeforefeedback
Insertiongain
Loopgain
Openloopgain
Netgain
Powergain
Processgain
Transmitterpoweroutput

References
1.Graf,RudolfF.(1999).ModernDictionaryofElectronics(7ed.).Newnes.p.314.ISBN0080511988.
2.Basu,Dipak(2000).DictionaryofPureandAppliedPhysics.CRCPress.p.157.ISBN1420050222.
3.Bahl,Inder(2009).FundamentalsofRFandMicrowaveTransistorAmplifiers.JohnWileyandSons.p.34.
ISBN0470462310.
4.White,GlennLouie,GaryJ(2005).TheAudioDictionary(3ed.).UniversityofWashingtonPress.p.18.
ISBN0295984988.

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