A monolithic 5 Watt integrated amplifier

A monolithic integrated circuit (commonly called an IC) is contained in one silicon chip; this is different from other forms of integrated circuits that are made up of discrete components on a common substrate (i.e. thick-film, thinfilm, hybrids, etc.). An IC amplifier design has an advantage over discrete circuits in utilizing thermal feedback to stabilize the voltage and current quiescent bias conditions. The small physical size of an IC inherently provides close thermal coupling between circuit elements that cannot be matched using discrete transistors and biasing components mounted on a common heatsink. The author describes the General Electric PA246, a monolithic power amplifier designed for consumer and industrial systems requiring up to 5W of audio power output. In a stereo phonograph, tape, or FM system, a pair of PA246s give a stereo output of 10W continuous power (20W peak).