
TPA6011A4
SLOS392
–
FEBRUARY 2002
24
www.ti.com
APPLICATION INFORMATION
input capacitor, C
i
(continued)
The value of C
i
is important to consider as it directly affects the bass (low frequency) performance of the circuit.
Consider the example where R
i
is 70 k
and the specification calls for a flat-bass response down to 40 Hz.
Equation 2 is reconfigured as equation 3.
C
i
1
2 R
i
f
c
(3)
In this example, C
i
is 56.8 nF, so one would likely choose a value in the range of 56 nF to 1
μ
F. A further
consideration for this capacitor is the leakage path from the input source through the input network (C
i
) and the
feedback network to the load. This leakage current creates a dc offset voltage at the input to the amplifier that
reduces useful headroom, especially in high gain applications. For this reason, a low-leakage tantalum or
ceramic capacitor is the best choice. When polarized capacitors are used, the positive side of the capacitor
should face the amplifier input in most applications as the dc level there is held at V
DD
/2, which is likely higher
than the source dc level. Note that it is important to confirm the capacitor polarity in the application.
power supply decoupling, C
(S)
The TPA6011A4 is a high-performance CMOS audio amplifier that requires adequate power supply decoupling
to ensure the output total harmonic distortion (THD) is as low as possible. Power supply decoupling also
prevents oscillations for long lead lengths between the amplifier and the speaker. The optimum decoupling is
achieved by using two capacitors of different types that target different types of noise on the power supply leads.
For higher frequency transients, spikes, or digital hash on the line, a good low equivalent-series-resistance
(ESR) ceramic capacitor, typically 0.1
μ
F placed as close as possible to the device V
DD
lead, works best. For
filtering lower-frequency noise signals, a larger aluminum electrolytic capacitor of 10
μ
F or greater placed near
the audio power amplifier is recommended.
midrail bypass capacitor, C
(BYP)
The midrail bypass capacitor (C
(BYP)
) is the most critical capacitor and serves several important functions.
During start-up or recovery from shutdown mode, C
(BYP)
determines the rate at which the amplifier starts up.
The second function is to reduce noise produced by the power supply caused by coupling into the output drive
signal. This noise is from the midrail generation circuit internal to the amplifier, which appears as degraded
PSRR and THD+N.
Bypass capacitor (C
(BYP)
) values of 0.47-
μ
F to 1-
μ
F ceramic or tantalum low-ESR capacitors are recommended
for the best THD and noise performance. For the best pop performance, choose a value for C
(BYP)
that is equal
to or greater than the value chosen for C
i
. This ensures that the input capacitors are charged up to the midrail
voltage before C
(BYP)
is fully charged to the midrail voltage.