Lecture 24

Stabilizing the Collector Current

If we can prove that the emitter current will be stable, then we also can show that the collector current will be too The two currents differ from each other in active mode by very little. The first requirement essentially makes variations in the emitter base voltage have little effect (this is for Temp. variations) The second reduces the dependency of the emitter current on Beta. Note that both these requirements can and do conflict with other requirements for an amplifier, so as always compromise!

VBB >> VBE

RB RE >> +1

Example 1
We want to choose the proper resistors such that we will have an emitter current of 1mA from a power supply of +12V The nominal beta for the transistor is 100 We have a few rules of thumb we can use:
VBB=1/3 VCC ICRC=1/3 VCC

These rules will give us a possible voltage swing at the collector of about 1/3 of the supply voltage

Example 1
Using these rules of thumb, we have a base voltage of 4V If the BJT is in active mode, then the VE = 4 0.7 = 3.3V emitter voltage is: VE R = = 3.3k We can get the emitter resistor now: E IE Another design rule is that we want the voltage divider network to have a current of IE to 0.1IE flowing through it. Neglecting the base current, we have 12V a series resistance of: R1 + R2 = = 120k
0.1mA

Example 1
We want the output of the divider network to be 4V,which gives us values for two resistors: We can now go back and see what the actual emitter current will be: This is lower than we are specifying There are two ways to correct this:
Decrease the emitter resistance by the magnitude of the second term in the denominator: Reduce the values of the divider network
IE =

R2 VCC = 4V R1 + R2 R2 = 40k R1 = 80k

4 0.7 = 0.93mA ( 80k // 40k ) 3.3k + 101

Using the second approach, our emitter current will be: Finally we can calculate the collector resistor In both design options, the collector current is 0.99mA

RE = 3k

IE =

4 0.7 = 0.99mA 3.3 + 0.027

12 8 = 4k 1

RC =

Example 1
There is an important difference between the two proposed solutions to the emitter current issue: The first design approach will result in a larger susceptibility to the variations in beta
We are already violating the design rule of the base resistance to the emitter resistance: By lowering the emitter resistance, we are headed in the wrong direction

RE = 3k
RB = 40k // 80k = 26.6k RB 26.6k = = 264 + 1 101

The second solution is much better, but comes at the cost of more current drawn from the power supply.

This is only a factor of 10 larger, not really enough.

Dual Supply Approach

If we have a dual power supply, then we can take a simpler approach to the biasing issue We will choose a common base configuration instead
Note that the presence of the base resistor means the base voltage is not zero.

We dont need RB for biasing, but instead we need it for isolating any input signal from being shunted to ground.

IE =

VEE VBE RE + RB / ( + 1)

Collector to Base
Another effective method for biasing the base is to connect it to the collector Here we need the base resistor still. Recall that in the MOSFET we didnt necessarily need it If we want to have a circuit that is insensitive to variations in beta, we need: Also note that RB determines the output voltage swing:

VCC VBE IE = RC + RB / ( + 1)
RC >> RB +1
RB +1

VCB = I E

Constant Current Biasing

Much like the MOSFET, we can use a current source to bias the BJT. This has several advantages over the other methods:
The emitter current is independent of the values of beta or the base resistor This means that the base resistance can be made large to avoid large signal losses

The most common current source chosen is the current mirror as shown here

I Re f

VCC + VEE VBE = = I out R

Small Signal Operation

Now that we have the DC biasing for the BJTs established we can look at the small signal response of the amplifiers Out input will consist of a DC source for biasing and an AC signal to float on top of that. The DC bias relationships are: For active mode operation
VC > VB 0.4

I C = I S eVBE
I E = IC / I B = IC /

VT

VC = VCC I C RR

Signal Addition
If we apply a small signal vBE the instantaneous voltage at the input is: This results in a collector current of: Rewritten, this current is: If the signal is much smaller than VT, we may approximate the current as: Note this is valid for signals less than 10mV at room temperature
vBE = VBE + vbe
iC = I S e (VBE + vbe ) VT

iC = I C e vbe VT
vbe iC I C 1 + V T

Transconductance
We can rewrite this current as: The signal component is: This shows the relationship between the signal current in the collector to the emitter base voltage Where gm is the transconductance: Note that to have a predictable transconductance we need a constant collector current.
IC iC = I C + vbe VT
IC ic = vbe = g m vbe VT