Electronics

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Transistor bias circuits

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Bias establishes the dc operating point (Q-point) for proper linear operation of an
amplifier. If an transistor is not biased with correct dc voltages on the input and
output, it can go into saturation or cutoff when an input signal is applied.

Linear operation : larger output has same nonlinear operation : output voltage
shape as input except that it is inverted limited (clipped) by cutoff

nonlinear operation : output voltage

limited (clipped) by saturation
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 Transistor bias circuits

• The transistor is biased with VCC and VBB

DC biased circuit Collector characteristic curves

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 Transistor bias circuits

• If IB = 200 µA , the collector current : IC = βDC IB = 20 mA

• VCE = VCC - IC.RC =VCC - βDC IB RC = 10 V – (100) (200µA) ( 220Ω) = 5.6V
• At the operation point Q1 : IC = 20 mA and VCE = 5.6V

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 Transistor bias circuits

• If IB = 300 µA , IC = 30 mA and VCE = 3.4V

At the operation point Q2 : IC = 30 mA and VCE = 3.4V

• If IB = 400 µA , IC = 40 mA and VCE = 1.2V

At the operation point Q3 : IC = 40 mA and VCE = 1.2V

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 Transistor bias circuits

• The DC operation of a transistor circuit can be described graphically using a dc load line :
𝑉CC −𝑉CE 1 𝑉CC
𝐼C = =− 𝑉CE + this is the equation of a straight line
𝑅C 𝑅C 𝑅C

dc load line
• The region along the load line including all points between saturation and cutoff is generally
known as the linear region of the transistor’s operation.
• When the transistor operate in linear region, the output voltage is ideally a linear reproduction of
the input voltage.

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Transistor is biased with VBB = 3.7 V and VCC = 10 V . A sinusoidal voltage Vin is
superimposed on VBB , causing the base current to vary sinusoidal 100 µA above
and below its Q-point value of 300 µA

A : Positive peak of Vin

B: negative peak of Vin

At the operation point Q : Variation in collector current and collector emitter

IC = 30 mA and VCE = 3.4V voltage as a result of a variation in base current
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 Transistor bias circuits

Transistor is driven into

saturation because the Q-point is Transistor is driven into both cutoff Transistor is driven into cutoff
too close to saturation for the and saturation because the input because the Q-point is too close to
given input signal signal is too large. cutoff for the given input signal

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Example : determine the Q-point for the circuit in figure below, and
draw the dc load line. Find the maximum peak value of base current
for linear operation. Assume βDC = 200.

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 Transistor bias circuits

The Q-point is defined by two parameters IC and VCE

𝑉BB −0.7
• 𝐼C = 𝛽𝐷𝐶 𝐼B = 𝛽𝐷𝐶 = 39.6 𝑚𝐴
𝑅B
• 𝑉CE = 𝑉CC − 𝐼C 𝑅C = 6.93𝑉
The Q-point is at ICQ =39.6 mA and VCEQ =6.93 V
𝑉CC
• 𝐼C(sat) = = 60.6 𝑚𝐴 ; 𝐼Ccutoff = 0 mA
𝑅C

• 𝐼CQ − 𝐼Ccutoff = 39.6 mA ; 𝐼C(sat) − 𝐼CQ = 21 mA

Because of 𝐼CQ − 𝐼Ccutoff > 𝐼C(sat) − 𝐼CQ , the Q point is closer to
Saturation than cutoff. As the result, The maximum peak value of
Collector current will be 21 mA
The maximum peak value of base current for linear operation :
𝐼𝑐(𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘) 21 𝑚𝐴
𝐼𝑏(𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘) = = = 105 µ𝐴
𝛽𝐷𝐶 200

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 Transistor bias circuits

Exercises :
1. The output (collector voltage) of a biased transistor amplifier is shown in figure
below. Is the transistor biased too close to cutoff or too close to saturation

2. Determine whether the transistor in Figure below is biased in cutoff, saturation,

or the linear region. Remember that IC = βDC IB is valid only in the linear region.

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 Transistor bias circuits

3. From the collector characteristic curves and the dc load line in Figure below, determine
the following:
a. Collector saturation current
b. VCE at cutoff
c. Q-point values of IB, IC, and VCE

4. Design a biased-transistor circuit using VBB = VCC =10V for a Q-point of IC = 5 mA

and VCE = 4 V. Assume The design involves finding RB, RC, and the minimum power
rating of the transistor. (The actual power rating should be greater.) Sketch the
circuit.

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6. The DC bias circuit of transistor is shown in figure below :

a. Determine the intercept points of the dc load line on the vertical and horizontal
axes of the collector-characteristic curves.
b. Assume that you wish to bias the transistor with IB = 20 µA. To what voltage
must you change the VBB supply ? What are IC and VCE at the Q-point, given that
βDC = 50 ?

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 Transistor bias circuits

Method of biasing a
transistor

Voltage Emitter Base Emitter- Collector-

divider bias bias bias feedback bias feedback bias

.
The most widely used
Biasing method

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 Transistor bias circuits

Voltage divide bias

• Biasing a transistor for linear operation using a single source
resistive voltage divider.
• The battery symbol is omitted and replaced by a line
termination circle with a voltage indicator VCC
• A dc bias voltage at the base of the transistor can be
developed by a resistive voltage divider that consists of R1
and R2.
• 𝐼B ≪ 𝐼2
𝑉CC 𝑉E
𝑉B ≅ 𝑅2 ; 𝑉E = 𝑉B − VBE ; 𝐼C ≅ 𝐼E =
𝑅1 +𝑅2 𝑅E
𝑉C = 𝑉CC − 𝐼C 𝑅C
𝑉CE = 𝑉C − 𝑉E
Voltage divider bias

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 Transistor bias circuits

• A voltage divider in which the base current is small

compared to the current in R2 is said to be a stiff voltage
divider because of the base voltage is relatively
independent of different transistors and temperature
effects.
𝑉CC
𝑉B ≅ 𝑅2
𝑅1 + 𝑅2

• Ideally, a voltage divider circuit is stiff, which means that

the transistors does not appear as a significant load.

Voltage divider bias

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Example : determine VCE and IC in the stiff voltage-divider biased

transistor circuit in figure below, if βDC =100.

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 Transistor bias circuits

𝑉CC 10𝑉
𝑉B ≅ 𝑅2 = 5.6 𝑘Ω = 3.59𝑉
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 10 𝑘Ω + 5.6 𝑘Ω
𝑉E = 𝑉B − 𝑉BE = 3.59 − 0.7 = 2.89 𝑉

𝑉E 2.89𝑉
𝐼E = = = 5.16 𝑚𝐴
𝑅E 560Ω
𝐼C ≅ 𝐼E = 5.16 𝑚𝐴
𝑉C = 𝑉CC − 𝐼C 𝑅C = 10𝑉 − 5.16𝑚𝐴 1𝑘Ω = 4.84𝑉
𝑉CE = 𝑉C − 𝑉E = 4.84𝑉 − 2.89𝑉 = 1.95𝑉

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 Transistor bias circuits

• DC input resistance at the transistor base : the dc

input resistance of the transistor is proportional to βDC
, so it will change for different transistor.
𝑉B βDC 𝑉B
𝑅IN(BASE) = =
𝐼B 𝐼E
• If 𝑅IN(BASE) ≧ 10𝑅2 , the voltage divider is stiff :
𝑉CC
𝑉B ≅ 𝑅2
𝑅1 + 𝑅2
• If 𝑅IN(BASE) < 10𝑅2 , the voltage divider is not stiff :
𝑅2 ∥ 𝑅IN(BASE)
𝑉B = 𝑉
𝑅1 +𝑅2 ∥ 𝑅IN(BASE) CC

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Example : determine the dc input resistance looking at the base of the

transistor in figure below. βDC = 125 and VB = 4V

𝑉E 𝑉B − 0.7 3.3𝑉
𝐼E = = = = 3.3 𝑚𝐴
𝑅E 𝑅E 1 𝑘Ω

𝑉B βDC 𝑉B 125(4𝑉)
𝑅IN(BASE) = = = = 152 𝑘Ω
𝐼B 𝐼E 3.3 𝑚𝐴

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 Transistor bias circuits
𝑅2 𝑅1 𝑅2
• Applying the thevenin’s theorem to evaluate the circuit : 𝑉TH = 𝑉 𝑅TH =
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 CC 𝑅1 + 𝑅2

• Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage law : 𝑉TH − 𝑉𝑅TH − 𝑉BE − 𝑉𝑅E = 𝑉TH − 𝑉BE
𝑉TH − 𝐼B 𝑅TH − 𝑉BE − 𝐼E 𝑅E = 0 𝐼E =
𝑅E + 𝑅TH /βDC
• 𝐼E ≅ 𝐼C = βDC . 𝐼B

• If 𝑅TH /βDC is small compared to 𝑅E , the result is the same as for an unloaded voltage divider.
• Voltage divider is widely used because reasonably good bias stability is achieved with a single supply voltage
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1. Determine IC and VCE in the voltage divider circuit in figure 1 and 2

Figure 1 Figure 2

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 Exercises

2. The voltage divider bias circuit is describe in figure 3 :

a) What is the minimum value of βDC in figure 1 that
makes RIN(BASE) ≥ 10R2
b) The bias resistor R2 in Figure 1 is replaced by a
potentiometer. What minimum resistance setting
causes saturation?
c) If the potentiometer described in part b is set at 2kΩ
what are the values for IC and VCE?

Figure 3

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 Transistor bias circuits

Emitter bias
• Emitter bias provides excellent bias stability in spite of change in β or
temperature.
• it uses both positive and negative voltage.

−𝑉EE − 𝑉BE
𝐼E =
𝑅E + 𝑅B /𝛽DC

𝑉CE = 𝑉C − 𝑉E

Emitter bias
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 Transistor bias circuits

• Base bias :
𝑉CE = 𝑉CC − 𝐼C 𝑅C
𝑉 −𝑉
𝐼C = 𝛽DC ( CC BE )
𝑅B
• A variation in βDC cause the changing the
Q-point of transistor. This makes the base
bias circuit unpredictable.

• base bias is rarely used in linear circuits

Base bias

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Emitter-Feedback bias
If an emitter resistor is added to the base-circuit, the result is emitter feedback
Bias.

𝑉CC − 𝑉BE
𝐼E =
𝑅E + 𝑅B /𝛽DC

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 Transistor bias circuits

• Collector-Feedback bias :

𝑉CC −𝑉BE
𝐼C =
𝑅C +𝑅B /𝛽DC

𝑉CE = 𝑉C − 𝑉E = 𝑉CC − 𝐼C 𝑅C

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Thank you for your attention

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