BJT Amplifier

One of the primary uses of a transistor is to amplify ac signals. This could

be an audio signal or perhaps some high frequency radio signal. It has to
be able to do this without distorting the original input.

For the analysis of transistor

circuits from both dc and ac
perspectives, the ac
subscripts are lower case and
italicized. Instantaneous
values use both italicized
lower case letters and
subscripts.

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 Linear Amplifier

Recall from the previous chapter that the purpose of dc biasing

was to establish the Q-point for operation. The collector curves
and load lines help us to relate the Q-point and its proximity to
cutoff and saturation. The Q-point is best established where
the signal variations do not cause the transistor to go into
saturation or cutoff.
What we are most interested in is the ac signal itself. Since the
dc part of the overall signal is filtered out in most cases, we
can view a transistor circuit in terms of just its ac component.

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 The boundary between cutoff and saturation is called the linear region. A
transistor which operates in the linear region is called a linear amplifier.
Note that only the ac component reaches the load because of the
capacitive coupling and that the output is 180º out of phase with input.

No distortion

Note. Subscript Q represents Q-point 26

 Ic(sat)

AC load line

Vce(cutoff)

Graphical operation of the amplifier showing the variation of the base current, collector current, and collector-
to-emitter voltage about their dc Q-point values. Ib and Ic are on different scales.

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 Example
The ac load line of a certain amplifier extends 10µA above and below
Q-point base current value of 50µA as shown. Determine the resulting
peak-peak value of Ic and Vce.
 Amplifier Configuration
• Common-Emitter(CE) or Grounded Emitter
• Common-Collector(CC) or Grounded Collector
• Common-Base(CB) or Grounded Base
The term common is used to denote the element that
is common to both input and output circuits, often grounded.

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 Common-Emitter Amplifier
The CE configuration has the emitter as the common terminal,
or ground, to an ac signal.

The common-emitter amplifier exhibits high voltage and current gain. The output
signal is 180º out of phase with the input.

Note. The circuit analysis can be done by dc and ac analysis 31

 CE Amplifier DC Analysis
The dc component of the circuit
“sees” only the part of the
circuit that is within the
boundaries of C1, C2, and C3
as the dc will not pass through
these components. The
equivalent circuit for dc
analysis is shown.
The methods for dc analysis
are just are the same as
dealing with a voltage-divider
circuit.

Stiff voltage divider or not? [RIN(BASE)> 10R2]

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Example
• Draw
waveforms of
VB,VE,IE,VCE

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 Transistor AC Model

ac emitter resistance*

Note. * Approximate equation from p-n junction at 20 degree Celcius 34

 Example
• What is re’ for CE amplifier? Assume stiff voltage-divider
bias.

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36
The emitter bypass capacitor helps increase the gain by allowing the ac
signal to pass more easily.
The XC(bypass) should be about ten times less than RE.

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The bypass capacitor makes the gain unstable since transistor
amplifier becomes more dependent on IE. This effect can be swamped
or somewhat alleviated by adding another emitter resistor(RE1) to
lower the voltage gain.

Stability is a measure of how well

an amplifier maintain its design
value over changes in temperature
or for a transistor with a different β

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 Applications

• Most frequently used in practical amplifier

[Good voltage, current, and power gain]
• Best combination between voltage and
current gain

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 Common-Collector Amplifier
The common-collector amplifier is usually referred to as the emitter
follower (sometimes is called a buffer) because the output developed on
the emitter follows the input the input signal applied to the base and there
is no phase inversion or voltage gain. The output is taken from the emitter.
The common-collector amplifier’s main advantages are its high current
gain and high input resistance with a voltage gain approximately 1.

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Because of its high input
resistance the common-
collector amplifier used as a
buffer to reduce the loading
effect of low impedance loads.
The input resistance can be
determined by the simplified
formula below.

Rin(base) ≅ β ac(r’e + Re)

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 Summary

The output resistance is very low. This makes it useful

for driving low impedance loads.

The current gain(Ai) is approximately βac.

The voltage gain(Av) is approximately 1.

The power gain is approximately equal to the

current gain(Ai).

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 Applications

• Impedance matching
• Buffer
• Current driver

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 Darlington Amplifier

The darlington pair is used to boost

the input impedance to reduce loading
of high output impedance circuits. The
collectors are joined together and the
emitter of the input transistor is
connected to the base of the output
transistor. The input impedance can be
determined the formula below.
Rin = β ac1βac2Re

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A darlington emitter-follower used as a buffer between a common-emitter amplifier
and a low-resistance load such as a speaker.
 Common-Base Amplifier
The common-base amplifier has high voltage gain with a current gain
no higher than 1. It has a low input resistance making it ideal for low
impedance input sources. The ac signal is applied to the emitter and the
output is taken from the collector.

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 Summary

The common-base voltage gain(Av) is

approximately equal to Rc/r’e
The current gain is approximately 1.

The power gain is approximately equal to the voltage gain.

The input resistance is approximately equal to r’e.

The output resistance is approximately equal to RC.

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 Applications

• Certain applications
• Low input resistance and voltage
amplification
• Impedance matching in high frequency
circuit
• Current buffer

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Comparison Table

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 Multistage Amplifier
Two or more amplifiers can be connected to increase the
gain of an ac signal. The overall gain can be calculated by
simply multiplying each gain together.
A’v = Av1Av2Av3 ……

Reminder: The term GAIN is used to describe the amplification capability.

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 Decibels
• Amplifier voltage gain is often expressed
in decibels(dB)

A v(dB) = 20logAv

Each stage’s gain can now can be simply added

together for the total.

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The capacitive coupling keeps dc bias voltages separate but
allows the ac to pass through to the next stage.

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Direct coupling(no coupling or by pass capacitor) between stage improves
low frequency gain. The disadvantage is that small changes in dc bias
from temperature changes or supply variations becomes more
pronounced.

Application: Low frequency or dc(0 Hz) amplifier

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 Example
1. Whether or not this voltage-divider is stiff ?
2. Determine VB VE IE IC and VC

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 Example
1. Whether or not this voltage-divider is stiff ?
2. Determine VB VE IE IC VC and VCE

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 Differential Amplifier

• Outputs are a function of the difference between

two inputs
• 2 operational modes:
differential mode and common mode
• It is important as a basic of operational
amplifiers.(OP-AMP)

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Basic Differential Amp

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Single-ended input operation of differential amplifier
Double-ended input operation of differential amplifier
Common-mode operation of differential amplifier
 Example

Draw the waveforms of Vout1 and Vout2

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 CMRR
• Common-mode rejection ratio(CMRR) is the measure of
an amplifier’s ability to reject common-mode signal. It is
defined as a ratio of differential voltage gain and
common-mode gain.
• The higher CMRR, the better.

Av ( d ) Av ( d )
CMRR = CMRR = 20 log( )
Acm Acm
(in decibel)

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 Summary
 Most transistors amplifiers are designed to operate in the linear region.

 Transistor circuits can be view in terms of its ac equivalent for better

understanding.

 The common-emitter amplifier has high voltage and current gain.

 The common-collector has a high current gain and voltage gain of 1. It

has a high input impedance and low output impedance.

 The common-base has a high voltage gain and a current gain of 1. It

has a low input impedance and high output impedance

 Multistage amplifiers are amplifier circuits cascaded to increased

gain. We can express gain in decibels (dB).

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