A buffer amplifier, or simply a buffer, is an electronic amplifier that
is designed to have an amplifier gain of 1. Buffers are used in
Impedance matching, the benefit of which is to maximize energy transfer
between circuits or systems.
There are two main kinds of buffer
circuits, Voltage buffers and Current buffers. The purposes of each is
to isolate the mentioned characteristic to avoid loading the input
circuit or source from the output stage.
Another name by which
buffer amplifiers are known as is a voltage follower. The name is given
because of the characteristic of the amplifier to output a signal of the
same amplitude as the input (given the unity gain [gain of 1 or 0dB] ).
Examples of Buffer amplifiers:
The
examples are too many to mention in this page, the most common being
the transistor voltage follower and op amp version of it. The exact
characteristics, formulas and construction instructions can be found on
the specific component's page.
