Electronic – Why are BJTs common in output stages of power amplifiers

bjtbuffermosfet

From my understanding, the role of the output stage is to decrease the output impedance to almost 0. For that, MOSFETs seem better suited since they've got way lower \$R_{ds}\$.

Yet I see quite often BJTs as buffer in discrete design, often in a Darlington configuration to increase input impedance, while only one MOSFETs would have a high enough input impedance.

My thoughts were that it was either cheaper or simpler. Power BJTs are indeed a bit cheaper than power MOSFETs, and it seems to me that it is simpler to make a relatively linear buffer with a BJT emitter follower, while a MOSFET source follower may require some feedback.

Best Answer

To make an Audio Voltage source, you want the crossover voltage distortion to be null which requires some quiescent DC current > 1% of the max current. This modest distortion and output impedance is reduced further by negative feedback or excess open loop gain. The active diode bias DC voltage can be predicted in mV for the differential Darlington output stage.

However for MOSFETs the conduction threshold can vary 50% e.g. 1 to 2V or 2 to 4V, so the biasing for cross conduction to eliminate crossover distortion is not easily done with low voltage gain linear power amps.

Edit May 22:
Also, Thermal Runway exists as stated by @Thor from the micro-array FET structures sharing-current with Vgs NTC effects in linear mode yet PTC effects for RdsOn in full conduction mode. Without proper transistor component selection, this can result in catastrophic failure.