Astable Multivibrator using Transistors

An Astable Multivibrator or a Free Running Multivibrator is the Multivibrator which has no

stable states. Its output oscillates continuously between its two unstable states without the aid
of external triggering. The time period of each states are determined by Resistor Capacitor
(RC) time constant.

Astable Multivibrator using Transistors –

Circuit
Astable Multivibrator Using Transistors

In the above diagram we can find two transistors which is wired as a switch. Please do read
the article Transistor as A Switch. When a transistor is ON, its collector and emitter act as a
short circuit. But when it is OFF they acts as open circuit. So in the above circuit when a
transistor is in OFF state its collector will have the voltage Vcc and when it is ON its
collector will be grounded. When one transistor is ON the other will be OFF. The OFF time
of transistor is determined by RC time constant.

When the circuit is switched on, one of the transistor will be more conducting than the other
due imbalance in the circuit or difference in the parameters of the transistor. Gradually the
more conducting transistor will be driven to Saturation and the less conducting transistor will
be driven to Cut-off.

 Working
 When the circuit is switched on one transistor will driven to saturation (ON) and other
will driven to cut-off (OFF). Consider Q1 is ON and Q2 is OFF.
 During this time Capacitor C2 is charging to Vcc through resistor R.
  Q2 is OFF due to the -ive voltage from the discharging capacitor C1 which is charged
during the previous cycle. So the OFF time of Q2 is determined by R1C1 time
constant.

Astable Multivibrator using Transistors Working

 After a time period determined by R1C1 time constant the capacitor C1 discharges

completely and starts charging in reverse direction through R1.
 When the Capacitor C1 charges to a voltage sufficient provide base emitter voltage of
0.7V to the transistor Q2, it turns ON and capacitor C2 starts discharging.

Astable Multivibrator using Transistor Working

 The negative voltage from the capacitor C2 turns off the transistor Q1 and the
capacitor C1 starts charging from Vcc through resistor R and base emitter of transistor
Q2. Thus the transistor Q2 remains in ON state.
  As in the previous state, when the capacitor C2 discharges completely it starts
charging towards opposite direction through R2.
 When the voltage across the capacitor C2 is sufficient to turn ON transistor Q1, Q1
will turn ON and capacitor C1 starts discharging.
 This process continuous and produces rectangular waves at the collector of each
transistors.
 Note : Charging time is very less compared to discharging time.

Design
R – Collector Resistor

The resistance R should be designed to limit the collector current Ic with in a safe limit.

R = V/Ic , where V is the voltage across the resistor R.

In normal cases, V = (Vcc – Vce) = (Vce – 0.3)  but when an emitter load like LED is
connected,

V = (Vcc – Vce – Vled) , where Vled is the voltage drop across LED.

Usually the maximum collector current Ic will be much higher than than the current required
for emitter load such as LED. In these cases Ic should be chosen in such a way that it should
not exceed the max current limit of emitter load.

So,

 R = (Vcc – Vce – Vload) / Ic

R1 & R2 – Base Resistors

R1 & R2 should be chosen such that it should give the required collector current during
saturation state.

 Min. Base Current, Ibmin = Ic / β, where β is the hFE of the transistor
 Safe Base Current,Ib =  10x Ibmin= 3 x Ic / β
 R1, R2 = (Vcc – Vbe) / Ib

T1 & T2 – Time Period

 T2 = OFF Period of transistor Q1 = ON Period of Transistor Q2 = 0.693R2C2

 T1 = OFF Period of transistor Q2 = ON Period of Transistor Q1 = 0.693R1C1

From these equations we can find the value of C1 and C2.

Duty Cycle
Duty Cycle

It is the ratio of  time Tc during which the output is high to total time period T of the cycle.

Thus here, Duty Cycle = Toff/(Toff + Ton) when the output is taken from the collector.

BJT Astable Multivibrators

Fig. 4.1.1 Basic BJT Astable Multivibrator

The basic bipolar transistor (BJT) version of an astable multivibrator as shown in Fig. 4.1.1
has two outputs that repeatedly change state at a rate determined by the time constants of its
feedback network. Although largely superseded by its equivalent op amp or timer IC versions
in many applications, it is still a useful and flexible design for square wave and pulse
generation. The circuits shown on this page will operate from a DC supply between 3.3V and
9V. Whilst the voltages and waveforms in the operational descriptions refer to the circuit
working from a 9V supply, this supply voltage may be a little high as the base/emitter
voltages on the transistors produces negative going spikes on each cycle of about -8.4V (see
Fig. 4.1.3) and the data sheet for the 2N3904 specifies a maximum base/emitter voltage of
6V. Therefore a 5V supply can be recommended for greater reliablity.

Fig. 4.1.2 Antiphase Outputs

The circuit switches continuously from one state (TR1 on and TR2 off) to the other (TR1 off
and TR2 on) and back again at a rate determined by the RC timing components Cl/R2 and
C2/R3. The circuit produces two anti-phase square wave signals, with an amplitude almost
equal to its supply voltage, at its two transistor collectors as shown in Fig 4.1.2.
 Astable Multivibrator
This is the first article in a series that I call ‘Learning Electronics’. The goal is to learn and
experiment with basic electronic circuits. The first circuit I will discuss here is the astable
multivibrator. This is a very simple oscillator circuit that can be used to generate square
waves. Here is the schematic of a standard astable multivibrator:

It consists of only two NPN transistors (T1 and T2), two capacitors (C1 and C2), and four
resistors (R1-R4), organized in a symmetric fashion. The collectors of T1 and T2 are outputs,
which provide complement square wave signals. The values of the capacitors and resistors
can vary depend on the desired frequency, and their values do not have to be symmetric.

Update: as some readers pointed out, for square wave output, the resistor values should
satisfy: R2 / R1 < h_fe, where h_fe is the transistor's current gain (same for R3 and R4). As
h_fe is usually around 80 to 250 for 2N3904, the specific values above (R1=1K, R2=100K)
are close to the margin. To improve this, consider increasing R1 or decreasing R2.
Alternatively, you can replace 2N3904 with BC547, or even a Darlington transistor (e.g.
MPSA14), which have higher h_fe values.

Principles

So how does the circuit work? To begin, when power is applied, theoretically both T1 and T2
should turn on, since their base pins are connected through resistors (R2 and R3) to Vcc.
However, due to small differences in the electric properties, one of the them will turn on
slightly earlier than the other. Without loss of generality, let’s assume T2 turns on first.
Therefore, T2’s collector begins to conduct and can be thought of as ‘shorted’ to ground.
Note that C2’s right lead is connected to T2’s collector, and since C2 is not charged yet, its
left lead also has a voltage close to ground. This immediately shuts off T1, i.e. T1 becomes
an open circuit. Therefore C1’s left lead is in floating status, and its right lead is connected to
T2’s base, which is about 0.7V due to the forward voltage drop of transistors. This forward
voltage drop is the same as a diode. So at this moment, the circuit is equivalent to the
following:
 Stage 1

During this period, T2’s collector (output O2) remains low, and C2 begins to charge through
R3. Thus the voltage on C2’s left lead will rise, and the rising time depends on R3 x C2. At
the same time, C1 also charges, through R1, which is typically a small resistor (e.g. 100-1000
ohm). So C1’s left lead (output O1) will quickly rise up to Vcc and remains high.

As C2 continues to charge, a critical moment will happen when its left lead rise up to 0.7V, at
which moment transistor T1 will turn on, and its collector will conduct to ground. Note that
since C1’s left lead is connected to T1’s collector, it will also drop to ground voltage. As C1
is fully charged, it’s right lead will suddenly drop to a negative voltage (-Vcc). This will shuts
off T2 firmly. Therefore the circuit will suddenly transition to the following equivalent:

Stage 2

During this period, output O1 will remain low, and output O2 will quickly rise to Vcc (due to
the charging of C2 through a small resistor R4). At the same time, C1 charges through R2
and the voltage on its right lead will rise over time determined by R2 x C1. Now you can
predict what’s going to happen: as C1 continues to charge, the next critical moment happens
when C1’s right lead rises above 0.7V. At that point, T2 will conduct again while T1 shuts
off. The same cycle will repeat. There you go, oscillators!

Astable Operation
Suppose that at switch on, TR1 is conducting heavily and TR2 is turned off. The collector of
TR1 will be almost at zero volts as will the left hand plate of C1. Beause TR2 is turned off at
this time, its collector will be at supply voltage and its base will be at almost zero potential,
the same as TR1 collector, because C1 is still un-charged and its two plates are at the same
potential.

C1 now begins to charge via R2 and its right hand plate becomes increasingly positive until it
reaches a voltage of about +0.6V. As this plate of the capacitor is also connected to the base
of TR2, this transistor will begin to conduct heavily. The rapidly increasing collector current
through TR2 now causes a voltage drop across R4, and TR2 collector voltage falls, causing
the right hand plate of C2 to fall rapidly in potential.

It is the nature of a capacitor that when the voltage on one plate changes rapidly, the other
plate also undergoes a similar rapid change, therefore as the right hand plate of C2 falls
rapidly from supply voltage to almost zero, the left hand plate must fall in voltage by a
similar amount.

Fig. 4.1.3 Switching Action (on TR1)

With TR1 conducting, its base would have been about 0.6V, so as TR2 conducts TR1 base
falls to 0.6 −9V = −8.4V, a negative voltage almost equal and opposite to that of the +9V
supply voltage.

This rapidly turns off TR1 causing a rapid rise in its collector voltage. Because a sudden
voltage change on one plate of a capacitor causes the other plate to change by a similar
amount, this sudden rise at TR1 collector is transmitted via C1 to TR2 base causing TR2 to
rapidly turn on as TR1 turns off. A change of state has occurred at both outputs.

This new state does not last however. C2 now begins to charge via R3, and once the voltage
on the left hand plate (TR1 base) reaches about +0.6V another rapid change of state takes
place. This switching action produces the collector and base waveforms shown in Fig. 4.1.3.

Frequency Calculations
The circuit keeps on changing state in this manner producing a square wave at each collector.
The frequency of oscillation can be calculated, as the time for the relevant capacitor to charge
sufficiently for a change of state to take place, will be approximately 0.7CR and, as two
changes of state occur in each cycle the periodic time T will be:

If C1 = C2 and R2 = R3 the mark to space ratio will be 1:1and in this case the frequency of
oscillation will be:

Example

What is the frequency of an astable multivibrator of mark/space ratio 1:1 using timing
components of C=100nF and R=33K?

Fig. 4.1.4 BJT Astable Modified

for Improved Rise Time

A problem with the basic astable circuit is that the capacitor action described above slows
down the rise in voltage as each transistor turns off, producing the curved rising edges to the
square wave as can be seen in Fig. 4.1.2. This can be overcome by the modified circuit shown
in Fig. 4.1.4
Each time TR2 collector voltage goes high as the transistor turns off, D2 becomes reverse
biased, isolating TR2 from the effect of C2 charging. The charging current for C2 is now
supplied by R5 instead of R6. The action of TR1 during its ‘off’ period is similar.

Fig. 4.1.5 Astable Output

Showing Improved Rise Time

The output waveforms at the collectors of TR1 and TR2 shown in Fig. 4.1.5 demonstrate the
improved rise times achieved by the modified circuit of Fig. 4.1.4, compared with those for
the basic BJT astable circuit shown in Fig. 4.1.2.

Variable Frequency Astable

Fig. 4.1.6 Variable Frequency BJT Astable

It is useful to be able to vary the frequency of operation, and this may be done as shown in
Fig.4.1.6.
By varying VR1 the voltage at the top of both R3 and R4 is varied so that whatever mark to
space ratio is used, only the frequency alters, whilst the mark to space ratio is maintained.

Fig. 4.1.7 Variable Mark to Space Ratio Astable

Variable Mark to space Ratio

Fig. 4.1.7 shows how by using a potentiometer instead of a variable resistor, an astable with a
degree of variable mark to space ratio can be achieved.