EE 2255 Microelectronics

Lecture 2: Examples of Electronic Systems

and Basic Circuit Theorems
• Examples of electronic systems
− cellular phone and digital camera
• Analog versus digital
• Considerations of amplifier design
• Basic circuit theorems
− KVL and KCL
− Thevenin and Norton theorems
Reading: (1) pp. 1-8 in the textbook
(2) Reference material for lecture 2
EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 1/18
 Examples of Electronic Systems (1/2)
• Cellular phone
− contains many of sophisticated analog and digital electronics.
• What goes on in these black boxes?
− transmitter: the signal needs to be amplified to reach across distances
of several kilometers.
− receiver: the signal received by the antenna can be as low as a few
tens of microvolts, which also needs to be amplified.
active device
• This class will show you how to built amplifiers using semiconductor
transistors (MOSFETs and BJTs on silicon).

antenna antenna

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 2/18

 Examples of Electronic Systems (2/2)
• Digital camera
− “front end” of the camera converts light to electricity
− this task is performed by an array (matrix) of “pixels”
− the current flows through CL and built a voltage across CL
 the weak signal at each pixel also needs to be amplified before
further signal processing * why using array?
MOSFET
switch
when light intensity ↑
PN junction

𝑒𝑒 − 𝑒𝑒 − 𝑒𝑒 − 𝑒𝑒 −

ℎ+ ℎ+ ℎ+ ℎ+

* photo electric effect

ADC
EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 3/18
 Analog vs. Digital (1/2)
• Signals that occur in nature with all different values called “analog,”
such as voice, video, seismic, and music waveforms.
• An analog signal swings through a continuous form and provides
information at each moment.
• Analog signals are sensitive to interferences from environment and
other circuits. IC single
analog
chip
• Amplifiers are critical to analog signals.
* If signal level is increased mixed-
by amplification mode digital

signal distortion

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 4/18

 Analog vs. Digital (2/2)

• A digital signal assumes only a finite number of values (usually two) as a

function of time. In contrast to the analog signal, the digital signal is almost
always “man made”. By electronic circuits such as ADC
• A “binary” system remains at only one or zero (high or low in voltage)
for each period.
• Even with the undesired noise, it is still quite easy to see the difference
between 0 and 1
 digital signals are more “robust” than analog signals.

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 5/18

 Importance of Analog Circuits
• It is obvious that digital signals are more robust and much easier for
signal processing, why do we still need analog circuits?
• As mentioned earlier, almost all the signals occur in nature are in
analog format. Also, many digital binary signals must be viewed and

processed as analog waveform when thesignal level is low or at high
frequencies.
• The most commonly-used analog function is amplification.
 ⟹ even in digital format, very low signal
level (close to noise level)

fast not ideal digital signal

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 6/18

 Analog-to-digital Conversion
• In modern microelectronic systems, it is a trend to have the analog
signal to be digitized as early as possible for the following signal
processing.
• However, the analog processing is still the most critical part in the quality
of the signal output.

DSP
ADC (AND, NOR, ⋯)

A memory, SSD,
hard disk, ⋯

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 7/18

 Considerations of Amplifier Design (1/2)
target (spec.) 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 ⁄𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 ② freq. 𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 × 𝐼𝐼𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
① ③
• Design specifications of an amplifier: gain, speed, and power
consumption.
• A voltage amplifier produces an output voltage swing larger than the
input swing
 voltage gain: Vout/Vin ( in a range of 101 to 105 typically).
• The “ground” terminal signifies a reference point with zero potential.
DC power supply
𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 1V

𝑡𝑡
T
1 mV
𝑡𝑡
ref. potential (best ref. is earth)
AC signal

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 8/18

 Considerations of Amplifier Design (2/2)
• As the signal frequency increases, the gain of the amplifier roll-off, i.e.
the gain reduces at high frequencies
 the concept of bandwidth for an amplifier.
• What limits the speed of amplifiers?
 parasitic capacitances in transistors (we must study semiconductor
materials and transistors to really understand this).

charge / dis-charge of
the capacitors

⟹ slow down circuits

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 9/18

 Basic Circuit Theorems (1/2)
• Kirchoff’s Laws: the Kirchoff Current Law (KCL) states that the sum
of all currents flowing into a node is zero. The physics behind is the
conservation of electrical charges.

∑Ij
j = 0
𝐼𝐼1 + 𝐼𝐼2 + ⋯ + 𝐼𝐼𝑗𝑗 = 0 𝐼𝐼1 𝐼𝐼2

𝑒𝑒 − 𝑒𝑒 − 𝑒𝑒 − 𝑒𝑒 −
conductor

𝐼𝐼3 𝐼𝐼3
−
if 𝑒𝑒 moves in this ⟶
direction


EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 10/18

 Basic Circuit Theorems (2/2)
• Kirchoff’s Laws: the Kirchoff Voltage Law (KVL) states that the sum
of voltage drops around any closed loop in a circuit is zero. The physics
behind is the conservation of electromotive force.
* Both KCL and KVL

∑V
j
j = 0 are based on energy
conservation
𝑉𝑉1 + 𝑉𝑉2 + ⋯ + 𝑉𝑉𝑗𝑗 = 0

+ 1 kΩ
𝑉𝑉1 2 kΩ
−

2 kΩ

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 11/18

 Example of using KCL and𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 KVL
• An equivalent circuit model of a BJT amplifier is shown below. Determine the
voltage gain (vout/vin) of this amplifier. 𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 A 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
𝐿𝐿 (load)
𝑅𝑅
• Why using the equivalent circuit model?
− convert the complicated physical structure of transistor to simple circuit
symbols. current source simplified version (easy for analysis)
based on the
physical structure
of transistor

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 12/18

 Thevenin and Norton Theorems (1/4)
• Thevenin’s theorem: a one-port network can be replaced with an
equivalent circuit consisting of one voltage source in series with one
impedance. + +
+ A
𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
* The electrical property of a − − −
circuit can be determined by one-port network
two-port network
V, I, and Z

ckt I: complicated ckt II: simple

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 13/18

 Thevenin and Norton Theorems (2/4)
• How to determine VThev and ZThev?
a. find VThev: measure the voltage from the port using a voltage meter.
1 kΩ 𝑍𝑍Thev (an ideal voltage meter
is an open circuit)
+ +
+ +
− 9 kΩ 𝑉𝑉out V.M. 𝑉𝑉
− Thev
′
𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 V.M.

− −

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 14/18

 Thevenin and Norton Theorems (3/4)
+
⟺ 𝑖𝑖 𝑔𝑔𝑚𝑚 𝑣𝑣𝜋𝜋
• How to determine VThev and ZThev? −

b. find ZThev: set the independent sources to zero and measure the
impedance from the port. add a testing
voltage source turn off the source
1 kΩ 𝑍𝑍Thev

+ ≡ +
− 9 kΩ − 𝑉𝑉Thev

1 kΩ


+
1 kΩ 𝑍𝑍Thev − 10 V 9 kΩ

9 kΩ

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 15/18

 Thevenin and Norton Theorems (4/4)
• Norton’s theorem: a one-port network can be represented by one current
source in parallel with one impedance. a. i = measure the current by an ideal
NOR
• How to determine iNor and ZNor? current meter
b. turn off the independent source, add
a vx or ix to find ZNOR

1 kΩ

+ 9 kΩ
−

𝑍𝑍Thev

INOR 𝑍𝑍NOR +
− 𝑉𝑉Thev

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 16/18

 Example of using Thevenin and Norton
Equivalents
• The figure below shows the equivalent circuit model of a BJT amplifier. If
only the output port is of interest, determine the Thevenin equivalent circuit
of the box.
black box 𝑍𝑍Thev

+
− 𝑉𝑉Thev

a. find Vthev (connect a V.M. at output)

𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 = −𝑖𝑖1 × 𝑅𝑅𝐿𝐿
b. find Zthev (set the independent source to zero)

⟹ short-circuit Vin

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 17/18

 A Classic Analog IC Amplifier
• Operational amplifier OP 741 ⟹ one of the most successful IC amplifiers in the history
𝑉𝑉𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 (BJT version) also with MOSFET version
𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖+
A 𝑉𝑉𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
𝑉𝑉𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 −

1st stage 2nd stage 3rd stage

EE2250 Microelectronics, S. Hsu, EE NTHU Lecture_2 18/18