A 28W -108.9dB/-102.2dB THD/THD+N Hybrid ΔΣ-PWM Class-D Audio Amplifier with 91% Peak Efficiency and Reduced EMI Emission

Class-D amplifiers are often used in high-power audio applications due to their high power efficiency. They typically employ pulse-width modulation (PWM) at a fixed carrier frequency, which may cause electromagnetic interference (EMI). Setting this frequency f_PWM) below the AM band (535 to 1605kHz) helps mitigate this, but its harmonics still contain substantial energy and must be filtered out by bulky LC filters with low cut-off frequencies (f_c = 20 to 40 kHz), significantly increasing system cost and size. Stability considerations also constrain the amplifier's unity-gain frequency to be < mathrm{f} {mathrm{PWM}}/pi [1], compromising the audio-band loop gain required to suppress output-stage nonlinearity. Setting f_PWM above the AM band helps increase f_c and allows a higher loop gain [2]. However, this results in narrower pulses at higher power levels (higher modulation index), which cannot be faithfully produced by the output stage, thus exacerbating its non-linearity. Delta-sigma modulation (DeltaSigma M) has fixed pulse widths and does not suffer from these narrow-pulse artefacts. However, the out-of-band noise of 1bit modulators then requires larger LC filters. Moreover, high-order loop filters must be used to achieve sufficient SQNR, which then require additional techniques to maintain stability as the modulation range approaches 100% [3].