II B.

TECH I SEM- ECE – ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS UNIT-V

UNIT-V:

MOSFET Small Signal Operation Models - the dc bias, separating the DC

analysis and the signal analysis, Small signal equivalent circuit models, the
transconductance, the T equivalent circuit model,
Single stage MOS Amplifiers - common source (CS) amplifier without and with
source resistance, common gate (CG) amplifier, source follower, Problem
Solving.

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II B.TECH I SEM- ECE – ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS UNIT-V

MOSFET SMALL SIGNAL OPERATION MODELS

Consider the conceptual amplifier circuit shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Conceptual circuit utilized to study the operation of the MOSFET as a small-
signal amplifier

Here the MOS transistor is biased by applying a dc voltage VGS, and the input signal to be
amplified, vgs, is superimposed on the dc bias voltage VGS. The output voltage is taken at the
drain.

The DC Bias Point:

The dc bias current ID can be found by setting the signal vgs to zero; thus,

where we have neglected channel-length modulation (i.e., λ = 0). Here VOV = VGS – Vt is the
overdrive voltage at which the MOSFET is biased to operate. The dc voltage at the drain, VDS,
will be

To ensure saturation-region operation, we must have

VDS > VOV

Furthermore, since the total voltage at the drain will have a signal component superimposed on
VDS, VDS has to be sufficiently greater than (VOV) to allow for the required signal swing.
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The Signal Current in the Drain Terminal:

Consider the situation with the input signal vgs applied. The total instantaneous gate-to source
voltage will be

resulting in a total instantaneous drain current iD,

The first term on the right-hand side of Eq. (4) can be recognized as the dc bias current
ID (Eq. 1). The second term represents a current component that is directly proportional to the
input signal vgs. The third term is a current component that is proportional to the square of the
input signal. This last component is undesirable because it represents nonlinear distortion. To
reduce the nonlinear distortion introduced by the MOSFET, the input signal should be kept
small so that

resulting in

or, equivalently,

If this small-signal condition is satisfied, we may neglect the last term in Eq. (4) and
express iD as

where

The parameter that relates id and vgs is the MOSFET transconductance gm,

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II B.TECH I SEM- ECE – ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS UNIT-V

or in terms of the overdrive voltage VOV,

Figure 2 presents a graphical interpretation of the small-signal operation of the MOSFET

amplifier. Note that gm is equal to the slope of the iD − vGS characteristic at the bias point,

Figure 2: Small-signal operation of the MOSFET amplifier

The Voltage Gain:

Returning to the circuit of Figure 1, we can express the total instantaneous drain voltage vDS
as follows:

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Under the small-signal condition, we have

which can be rewritten as

Thus, the signal component of the drain voltage is

which indicates that the voltage gain is given by

The minus sign in Eq. (12) indicates that the output signal vds is 180° out of phase with respect
to the input signal vgs. This is illustrated in Figure 3, which shows vGS and vDS.

Figure 3: Total instantaneous voltages vGS and vDS for the circuit in Figure 1

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The input signal is assumed to have a triangular waveform with an amplitude much smaller
than 2(VGS – Vt), the small-signal condition in Eq. (5), to ensure linear operation. For operation
in the saturation region at all times, the minimum value of vDS should not fall below the
corresponding value of vGS by more than Vt. Also, the maximum value of vDS should be smaller
than VDD; otherwise, the FET will enter the cutoff region and the peaks of the output signal
wave form will be clipped off.

Separating the DC Analysis and the Signal Analysis:

From the preceding analysis, we see that under the small-signal approximation, signal
quantities are superimposed on dc quantities. For instance, the total drain current iD equals the
dc current ID plus the signal current id, the total drain voltage vDS = VDS + vds, and so on. It
follows that the analysis and design can be greatly simplified by separating dc or bias
calculations from small-signal calculations. That is, once a stable dc operating point has been
established and all dc quantities calculated, we may then perform signal analysis ignoring dc
quantities.

Small-Signal Equivalent-Circuit Models:

From a signal point of view, the FET behaves as a voltage-controlled current source. It accepts
a signal vgs between gate and source and provides a current gmvgs at the drain terminal. The
input resistance of this controlled source is very high—ideally, infinite. The output resistance—
that is, the resistance looking into the drain—also is high, and assumed it to be infinite thus far.
Putting all of this together, we arrive at the circuit in Figure 1(a), which represents the small-
signal operation of the MOSFET and is thus a small-signal model or a small-signal
equivalent circuit.

Figure 1: Small-signal models for the MOSFET: (a) neglecting the dependence of iD on
vDS in saturation (the channel-length modulation effect); and (b) including the effect of
channel-length modulation, modeled by output resistance ro = │VA │/ ID.

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In the analysis of a MOSFET amplifier circuit, the transistor can be replaced by the equivalent
circuit model shown in Figure 1(a). The rest of the circuit remains unchanged except that ideal
constant dc voltage sources are replaced by short circuits and ideal constant dc current source
can be replaced by an open circuit in the small-signal equivalent circuit of the amplifier.

The most serious shortcoming of the small-signal model of Figure 1(a) is that it assumes
the drain current in saturation to be independent of the drain voltage. From our study of the
MOSFET characteristics in saturation, we know that the drain current does in fact depend on
vDS in a linear manner. Such dependence was modeled by a finite resistance ro between drain
and source, whose value was given by

where VA = 1/λ is a MOSFET parameter that either is specified or can be measured.

The current ID is the value of the dc drain current without the channel-length modulation
taken into account; that is,

Typically, ro is in the range of 10 kΩ to 1000 kΩ. It follows that the accuracy of the
small signal model can be improved by including ro in parallel with the controlled source, as
shown in Figure 1(b).

It is important to note that the small-signal model parameters gm and ro depend on the
dc bias point of the MOSFET.

The small-signal model of Figure 1(b) results in the voltage-gain expression

Thus, the finite output resistance ro results in a reduction in the magnitude of the voltage gain.

The equivalent circuit models of Figure 1 for NMOS transistor, apply equally well to PMOS
devices, except for using │VGS│,│Vt│, │V0V│ and │VA│and replacing kn with kp.

The Transconductance gm:

MOSFET transconductance given by

which we rewrite with kn = kn′ (W/L) as follows:

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II B.TECH I SEM- ECE – ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS UNIT-V

This relationship indicates that gm is proportional to the process transconductance parameter

kn′= μnCox and to the W/L ratio of the MOS transistor; hence to obtain relatively large
transconductance the device must be short and wide. We also observe that for a given device
the transconductance is proportional to the overdrive voltage, VOV = VGS - Vt, the amount by
which the bias voltage VGS exceeds the threshold voltage Vt. Note, however, that increasing gm
by biasing the device at a larger VGS has the disadvantage of reducing the allowable voltage
signal swing at the drain.

Another useful expression for gm can be obtained by substituting for VOV in Eq. (1) by

This expression shows two things:

1. For a given MOSFET, gm is proportional to the square root of the dc bias current.

2. At a given bias current, gm is proportional to √𝑊/𝐿.

Yet another useful expression for gm of the MOSFET can be obtained by substituting for
kn′(W/L) in Eq. (1) by 2ID / (VGS − Vt )2:

A convenient graphical construction that clearly illustrates this relationship is shown in

Figure 1.

Figure 1: The slope of the tangent at the bias point Q intersects the vOV axis at VOV.
𝟏
Thus, gm =ID / ( VOV).
𝟐

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The T Equivalent-Circuit Model:

Through a simple circuit transformation, it is possible to develop an alternative equivalent-
circuit model for the MOSFET. The development of such a model, known as the T model, is
illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Development of the T equivalent-circuit model for the MOSFET. For simplicity,
ro has been omitted; however, it may be added between D and S in the T model of (d).

Figure 1(a) shows the equivalent circuit studied above without ro. In Figure 1(b) we have added
a second gmvgs current source in series with the original controlled source. The newly created
circuit node, labeled X, is joined to the gate terminal G in Figure 1(c). Observe that the gate
current does not change - that is, it remains equal to zero - and thus this connection does not
alter the terminal characteristics. We now note that we have a controlled current source gmvgs
connected across its control voltage vgs. We can replace this controlled source by a resistance
as long as this resistance draws an equal current as the source. Thus the value of the resistance
is vgs/gmvgs = 1/gm. This replacement is shown in Figure 1(d), which depicts the alternative
model.

The model of Figure 1(d) shows that the resistance between gate and source looking into the
source is 1/gm. This observation and the T model prove useful in many applications. Note that
the resistance between gate and source, looking into the gate, is infinite.

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Basic MOSFET Amplifier Configurations:

Linear amplification can be obtained by biasing the MOSFET at an appropriate point in its
saturation region of operation and by keeping the signal vgs small. From this, amplifier
parameters such as voltage gain and input and output resistances are determined.

The Three Basic Configurations:

There are three basic configurations for connecting the MOSFET as an amplifier. Each of these
configurations is obtained by connecting one of the three MOSFET terminals to ground, thus
creating a two-port network with the grounded terminal being common to the input and output
ports. Figure 1 shows the resulting three configurations with the biasing arrangements omitted.

Figure 1: The three basic MOSFET amplifier configurations

In the circuit of Figure 1(a) the source terminal is connected to ground, the input voltage signal
vi is applied between the gate and ground, and the output voltage signal vo is taken between the
drain and ground, across the resistance RD. This configuration, therefore, is called the
grounded-source or common-source (CS) amplifier. It is by far the most popular MOS
amplifier configuration.

The common-gate (CG) or grounded-gate amplifier is shown in Figure 1(b). It is obtained by

connecting the gate to ground, applying the input vi between the source and ground, and taking
the output vo across the resistance RD connected between the drain and ground.

Finally, Figure 1(c) shows the common-drain (CD) or grounded-drain amplifier. It is obtained
by connecting the drain terminal to ground, applying the input voltage signal vi between gate

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II B.TECH I SEM- ECE – ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS UNIT-V

and ground, and taking the output voltage signal vo between the source and ground, across a
load resistance RL. For reasons that will become apparent shortly, this configuration is more
commonly called the source follower.

Characterizing Amplifiers:

Figure 1: Characterization of the amplifier as a functional block: (a) An amplifier fed

with a voltage signal vsig having a source resistance Rsig, and feeding a load resistance RL;
(b) Equivalent-circuit representation of the circuit in (a); (c) Determining the amplifier
output resistance Ro .

Figure 1(a) shows an amplifier fed with a signal source having an open-circuit voltage vsig and
an internal resistance Rsig. The amplifier is shown with a load resistance RL connected to the
output terminal. Here, can be an actual load resistance or the input resistance of a succeeding
amplifier stage in a cascade amplifier.

Figure 1(b) shows the amplifier circuit with the amplifier block replaced by its equivalent-
circuit model. The input resistance represents the loading effect of the amplifier input on the
signal source. It is found from

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and together with the resistance Rsig forms a voltage divider that reduces vsig to the value vi that
appears at the amplifier input,

All the amplifier circuits are unilateral. That is, they do not contain internal feedback, and thus
will be independent of RL.

The second parameter in characterizing amplifier performance is the open-circuit voltage gain
Av0, defined as

The third and final parameter is the output resistance Ro. Observe from Figure 1(b) that is the
resistance seen looking back into the amplifier output terminal with vi set to zero. Thus, can be
determined, as indicated in Figure 1(c) with

The controlled source Av0 vi and the output resistance Ro represent the Thevenin equivalent of
the amplifier output circuit, and the output voltage vo can be found from

Thus, the voltage gain of the amplifier proper Av, can be found as

and the overall voltage gain Gv,

can be determined by combining Eqs. (2) and (6):

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The Common-Source (CS) Amplifier:

Of the three basic MOS amplifier configurations, the common source is the most widely used.
Typically, in an amplifier formed by cascading a number of stages, the bulk of the voltage gain
is obtained by using one or more common-source stages in the cascade.

Figure 1: (a) Common-source amplifier fed with a signal vsig from a generator with a
resistance Rsig. The bias circuit is omitted. (b) The common-source amplifier with the
MOSFET replaced with its hybrid-π model.

Figure 1(a) shows a common-source amplifier fed with a signal source vsig having a source
resistance Rsig.

Characteristic Parameters of the CS Amplifier:

Replacing the MOSFET with its hybrid-π model, we obtain the CS amplifier equivalent circuit
shown in Figure 1(b). We shall use this equivalent circuit to determine the characteristic
parameters Rin, Avo, and Ro as follows.

The input resistance Rin is obviously infinite,

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The output voltage vo is found by multiplying the current (gmvgs) by the total resistance between
the output node and ground,

Since vgs = vi, the open-circuit voltage gain Avo ≡ vo/vi can be obtained as

Observe that the transistor output resistance ro reduces the magnitude of the voltage gain.

In discrete-circuit amplifiers, RD is usually much lower than ro and the effect of ro on reducing
‫׀‬Avo‫ ׀‬is slight. Thus, in many cases we can neglect ro and express Avo simply as

The output resistance Ro is the resistance seen looking back into the output terminal with vi set
to zero. From Figure 1(b) we see that with vi set to zero, vgs will be zero, and thus gmvgs will be
zero, resulting in

Here, ro has the beneficial effect of reducing the value of Ro. In discrete circuits, however, this
effect is slight and we can make the approximation

This concludes the analysis of the CS amplifier proper. We can now make the following
observations.

1. The input resistance is ideally infinite.

2. The output resistance is moderate to high.
3. The open-circuit voltage gain Avo can be high, making the CS configuration the work
horse in MOS amplifier design.

Overall Voltage Gain:

To determine the overall voltage gain Gv, first note that the infinite input resistance will make
the entire signal vsig appear at the amplifier input,

an obviously ideal situation.

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If a load resistance RL is connected to the output terminal of the amplifier, this resistance will
appear in parallel with RD. It follows that the voltage gain Av can be obtained by simply
replacing RD in the expression for Avo in Eq. (2) by RD‫׀׀‬RL,

This expression together with the fact that vi = vsig, provides the overall voltage gain,

The Common-Source Amplifier with a Source Resistance:

Figure 1: The CS amplifier with a source resistance Rs : (a) Circuit without bias details;
(b) Equivalent circuit with the MOSFET represented by its T model.

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It is often beneficial to insert a resistance Rs in the source lead of the common-source amplifier
as shown in Figure 1(a). The corresponding small-signal equivalent circuit is shown in
Figure 1(b), where we note that the MOSFET has been replaced with its T equivalent-circuit
model. The T model is used in preference to the π model because it makes the analysis in this
case somewhat simpler. In general, whenever a resistance is connected in the source lead, the
T model is preferred. The source resistance then simply appears in series with the resistance
1/gm and can be added to it.

It should be noted that we have not included ro in the equivalent-circuit model. Including ro
would complicate the analysis considerably; ro would connect the output node of the amplifier
to the input side and thus would make the amplifier non-unilateral.

From Figure 1(b) we see that the input resistance Rin is infinite and thus vi = vsig. Unlike the
CS amplifier, however, here only a fraction of vi appears between gate and source as vgs. It
can be determined from the voltage divider composed of 1/gm and Rs across the amplifier input,
as follows:

Thus we can use the value of Rs to control the magnitude of the signal vgs and thereby ensure
that vgs does not become too large and cause unacceptably high nonlinear distortion. This is
the first benefit of including resistor Rs.

The mechanism by which Rs causes such improvements in amplifier performance is negative

feedback. To see how Rs introduces negative feedback, refer to Figure 1(a): If while keeping
vi constant, for some reason the drain current increases, the source current also will increase,
resulting in an increased voltage drop across Rs. Thus, the source voltage rises, and the gate-
to-source voltage decreases. The latter effect causes the drain current to decrease, counteracting
the initially assumed change, an indication of the presence of negative feedback.

The output voltage vo is obtained by multiplying the controlled-source current i by RD,

The current i in the source lead can be found by dividing vi by the total resistance in the source,

Thus, the voltage gain Avo can be found as

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which can also be expressed as

Equation (4) indicates that including the resistance Rs reduces the voltage gain by the factor
(1+gmRs). The factor (1+gmRs) is the “amount of negative feedback” introduced by Rs. It is
also the same factor by which bandwidth and other performance parameters improve. Because
of the negative-feedback action of Rs it is known as a source-degeneration resistance.

There is another useful interpretation of the expression for the drain current in Eq. (2): including
Rs reduces the transconductance by the factor (1+gmRs).

The alternative gain expression in Eq. (3) has a powerful and insightful interpretation:
The voltage gain between gate and drain is equal to the ratio of the total resistance in the drain
(RD) to the total resistance in the source (1+gmRs),

This is a general expression. For instance, setting Rs = 0 in Eq. (3) yields Avo of the CS
amplifier.

Finally, we consider the situation of a load resistance RL connected at the output. We can obtain
the gain Av using the open-circuit voltage gain Avo together with the output resistance Ro, which
can be found by inspection to be

Ro = RD

Alternatively, Av can be obtained by simply replacing RD in Eq. (3) or (4) by RD ‫ ׀׀‬RL; thus,

Or

Finally, note that because Rin is infinite, vi = vgs and the overall voltage gain Gv is equal to Av.

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The Common-Gate (CG) Amplifier:

Figure 1: (a) Common-gate (CG) amplifier with bias arrangement omitted. (b)
Equivalent circuit of the CG amplifier with the MOSFET replaced with its T model.

Figure 1(a) shows a common-gate amplifier with the biasing circuit omitted. The amplifier is
fed with a signal source characterized by vsig and Rsig. Since Rsig appears in series with the
source, it is more convenient to represent the transistor with the T model than with the π model.
Doing this, we obtain the amplifier equivalent circuit shown in Figure 1(b).

From inspection of the equivalent circuit of Figure 1(b), we see that the input resistance

Typically 1/gm is a few hundred ohms; thus the CG amplifier has a low input resistance.

To determine the voltage gain , we write at the drain node

and substitute for the source current i from

to obtain

which except for the positive sign is identical to the expression for Avo of the CS amplifier

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The output resistance of the CG circuit can be found by inspection of the circuit in Figure 1(b)
as

which is the same as in the case of the CS amplifier (with ro neglected).

Although the gain of the CG amplifier proper has the same magnitude as that of the CS
amplifier, this is usually not the case as far as the overall voltage gain is concerned. The low
input resistance of the CG amplifier can cause the input signal to be severely attenuated.
Specifically,

from which we see that except for situations in which Rsig is on the order of 1/gm, the signal
transmission factor vi/vsig can be very small and the overall voltage gain Gv can be
correspondingly small. Specifically, with a resistance RL connected at the output

Thus,

Observe that the overall voltage gain is simply the ratio of the total resistance in the drain circuit
to the total resistance in the source circuit. If is Rsig of the same order as RD and RL, Gv will be
very small.

Because of its low input resistance, the CG amplifier alone has very limited application.
One such application is to amplify high-frequency signals that come from sources with
relatively low resistances. These include cables, where it is usually necessary for the input
resistance of the amplifier to match the characteristic resistance of the cable.

The Common-Drain Amplifier or Source Follower:

The common-drain amplifier, an important circuit that finds application in the design of both
small-signal amplifiers as well as amplifiers that are required to handle large signals and deliver
substantial amounts of signal power to a load. The common drain amplifier is more commonly
known as the source follower.

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The Need for Voltage Buffers:

Consider the situation depicted in Figure 1(a).

Figure 1: Illustrating the need for a unity-gain buffer amplifier

A signal source delivering a signal of reasonable strength (1 V) with an internal resistance of

1 MΩ is to be connected to a 1-kΩ load resistance. Connecting the source to the load directly
as in Figure 1(b) would result in severe attenuation of the signal; the signal appearing across
the load will be only 1/(1000+1) of the input signal or about 1 mV. An alternative course of
action is suggested in Figure 1(c). Here we have interposed an amplifier between the source
and the load. It has a voltage gain of only unity. This is because our signal is already of
sufficient strength and we do not need to increase its amplitude.

Characteristic Parameters of the Source Follower:

Figure 2(a) shows a source follower with the bias circuit omitted. The source follower is fed
with a signal generator (vsig , Rsig) and has a load resistance connected between the source
terminal and ground. We shall assume that RL includes both the actual load and any other
resistance that may be present between the source terminal and ground. Normally, the actual
load resistance would be much lower in value than such other resistances and thus would
dominate.

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Figure 2: (a) Common-drain amplifier or source follower. (b) Equivalent circuit of the source
follower obtained by replacing the MOSFET with its T model. Note that ro appears in parallel
with RL and in discrete circuits, ro >> RL. Neglecting ro, we obtain the simplified equivalent
circuit in (c).

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Since the MOSFET has a resistance connected in its source terminal, it is most convenient to
use the T model, as shown in Figure 2(b). Note that we have included ro, simply because it is
very easy to do so. However, since ro in effect appears in parallel with RL, and since in discrete
circuits ro >>RL, we can neglect ro and obtain the simplified equivalent circuit shown in
Figure 2(c). From the circuit we can write by inspection

and obtain Av from the voltage divider formed by 1/gm and RL as

Setting RL = ∞ we obtain

The output resistance Ro is found by setting vi = 0 (i.e., by grounding the gate). Now looking
back into the output terminal, excluding RL, we simply see 1/gm, thus

The unity open-circuit voltage gain together with in Eq. (3) can be used to find Av when a load
resistance RL is connected. The result is simply the expression in Eq. (1). Finally, because of
the infinite Rin, vi = vsig, and the overall voltage gain is

Thus Gv will be lower than unity. However, because 1/gm is usually low, the voltage gain can
be close to unity. The unity open-circuit voltage gain in Eq. (2) indicates that the voltage at the
source terminal will follow that at the input, hence the name source follower.

The source follower features a very high input resistance (ideally, infinite), a relatively low
output resistance, and an open-circuit voltage gain that is near unity (ideally, unity). Thus the
source follower is ideally suited for implementing the unity-gain voltage buffer of Figure 1(c).
The source follower is also used as the output (i.e., last) stage in a multistage amplifier, where
its function is to equip the overall amplifier with a low output resistance, thus enabling it to
supply relatively large load currents without loss of gain.

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The formulas for determining the characteristic parameters of discrete MOS amplifiers are
shown in below Table. Note that ro has been neglected throughout.

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