Skip to main content
Sign in Register
Question no. 28287

What factor is given the highest priority when designing a power amplifier __________________?

Select your answer for: What factor is given the highest priority when designing a power amplifier __________________?
Show answer

Answer: B. Collector efficiency

Explanation

Collector efficiency directly determines how effectively a power amplifier converts DC supply power into useful AC output power. Maximizing this efficiency reduces internal thermal dissipation and prevents overheating of the active transistor devices. High collector efficiency ensures optimal performance and prevents excessive energy wastage in high-power electronic transmitter systems. Power amplifiers are electronic circuits designed to deliver significant signal power to a load like a loudspeaker or antenna. Collector efficiency is calculated as the ratio of AC signal power delivered to the load versus DC power consumed. Different amplifier classes, such as Class A or Class B, offer widely varying theoretical maximum collector efficiency limits.

Biasing the circuit is an important setup procedure but remains secondary to achieving the desired overall collector efficiency. Keeping the transformer cool is a thermal management concern resulting directly from inadequate collector efficiency design choices. The none of the above option is incorrect because collector efficiency is universally recognized as a primary design priority.

Subject
Engineering
Topic
—
Difficulty
medium

Related questions

Q1. A class A power amplifier delivers a maximum AC output of 10 W. What is the minimum power rating required for the transistor used?

Select your answer for: A class A power amplifier delivers a maximum AC output of 10 W. What is the minimum power rating required for the transistor used?
Show answer

Answer: D. 20 W

A class A power amplifier requires a transistor power rating of at least twice the maximum AC output power to safely dissipate idle heat. Class A amplifiers conduct continuous collector current even with zero input signa...

Q2. How does the leakage current in a silicon transistor compare to a germanium transistor_____________?

Select your answer for: How does the leakage current in a silicon transistor compare to a germanium transistor_____________?
Show answer

Answer: C. One thousandth

Silicon transistors have significantly lower leakage currents, typically around one-thousandth of germanium transistor leakage. The wider bandgap of silicon results in far fewer thermally generated minority carriers at r...

Q3. Leakage current magnitudes in a pn junction typically fall within the scale of________________?

Select your answer for: Leakage current magnitudes in a pn junction typically fall within the scale of________________?
Show answer

Answer: D. µA

Reverse leakage currents in semiconductor diodes stay very small because minority carriers are thermally limited. Silicon devices exhibit reverse currents measured strictly in microamperes or nanoamperes under normal ope...

Q4. Which semiconductor material is most widely used in electronics________________?

Select your answer for: Which semiconductor material is most widely used in electronics________________?
Show answer

Answer: B. Silicon

Silicon possesses a stable crystal lattice structure and a wide bandgap making it ideal for modern manufacturing processes. It operates reliably at higher temperatures compared to alternative semiconductor materials like...

Q5. What is the maximum theoretical efficiency of a resistance-loaded class A power amplifier _________________?

Select your answer for: What is the maximum theoretical efficiency of a resistance-loaded class A power amplifier _________________?
Show answer

Answer: D. 25%

The maximum theoretical efficiency of a resistively loaded class A power amplifier is 25%. Calculating the ratio of maximum undistorted AC load power to total DC supply power yields exactly one-quarter under resistive lo...

Q6. The minimum and maximum cutoff frequencies are additionally known as_____________frequencies?

Select your answer for: The minimum and maximum cutoff frequencies are additionally known as_____________frequencies?
Show answer

Answer: D. Half-power

At the cutoff frequencies, the output voltage drops to approximately seventy percent of its maximum passband value. Squaring this voltage reduction factor results in an exact fifty percent decrease in overall signal powe...