Comparison of Methods for Predicting Distortion in Class-AB Stages

In this communication, we compare four different methods for analytically evaluating the harmonic distortion in class-AB stages. All the methods are suitable for pencil-and-paper analysis and are based on modeling the stage with a specific non-linear function. Comparisons made by means of simulations, reveal that some methods are more precise than others but require more computational effort. On the contrary, some of them are simple to use but are less precise. Moreover, some are more appropriate for predicting HD2 and others for HD3, only. Results of the present work may be used by designers to choose the more efficient method for analyzing distortion in class-AB stages.