The other type of coupling amplifier is the direct coupled amplifier, which is especially used to amplify lower frequencies, such as amplifying photo-electric current or thermo-couple current or so.

Direct Coupled Amplifier

As no coupling devices are used, the coupling of the amplifier stages is done directly and hence called as Direct coupled amplifier.

Construction

The figure below indicates the three stage direct coupled transistor amplifier. The output of first stage transistor T₁ is connected to the input of second stage transistor T₂.

The transistor in the first stage will be an NPN transistor, while the transistor in the next stage will be a PNP transistor and so on. This is because, the variations in one transistor tend to cancel the variations in the other. The rise in the collector current and the variation in β of one transistor gets cancelled by the decrease in the other.

Operation

The input signal when applied at the base of transistor T₁, it gets amplified due to the transistor action and the amplified output appears at the collector resistor R_c of transistor T₁. This output is applied to the base of transistor T₂ which further amplifies the signal. In this way, a signal is amplified in a direct coupled amplifier circuit.

Advantages

The advantages of direct coupled amplifier are as follows.

• The circuit arrangement is simple because of minimum use of resistors.

• The circuit is of low cost because of the absence of expensive coupling devices.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of direct coupled amplifier are as follows.

• It cannot be used for amplifying high frequencies.
• The operating point is shifted due to temperature variations.

Applications

The applications of direct coupled amplifier are as follows.

• Low frequency amplifications.
• Low current amplifications.

Comparisions

Let us try to compare the characteristics of different types of coupling methods discussed till now.