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Tutorial Problems: Bipolar Junction Transistor (Basic BJT Amplifiers)

Part A. Common-Emitter Amplifier

1. For the circuit shown in Figure 1, the transistor parameters are ! = 100 and V
A
= !. Design the
circuit such that I
CQ
= 0.25 mA and V
CEQ
= 3 V. Find the small-signal voltage gain A
v
= v
o
/ v
s
. Find
the input resistance seen by the signal source v
s
.







Figure 1








Solution:

For dc analysis, the capacitors C
C
and C
E
both act as open circuit.

Given the desired operating point I
CQ
= 0.25 mA and V
CEQ
= 3 V, we have:








2

The small-signal parameters are:



For small-signal ac analysis, all dc voltages and capacitors act as short circuit. The following expressions
are obtained:



The input resistance R
i
seen by the signal source v
s
is:




2. Consider the circuit shown in Figure 2. The transistor parameters are ! = 100 and V
A
= 100 V.
Determine R
i
, A
v
= v
o
/ v
s
and A
i
= i
o
/ i
s
.






Figure 2







3

Solution:

A dc analysis is performed to determine the dc operating point by treating all capacitors as open circuit.



The small-signal parameters are:



For small-signal ac analysis, all dc voltages and capacitors act as short circuit. The following small-signal
ac equivalent circuit is obtained:








Small-signal model of transistor circuit (*g
m
V
"
= !i
b
)


4



The input resistance R
i
is:




3. The parameters of the transistor in Figure 3 are ! = 100 and V
A
= 100 V.
(a) Find the dc voltages at the base and emitter terminals.
(b) Find R
C
such that V
CEQ
= 3.5 V.
(c) Assuming C
C
and C
E
act as short circuits, determine the small-signal voltage gain A
v
= v
o
/
v
s
.
(d) Repeat part (c) if a 500 " source resistor is in series with the v
s
signal source.






Figure 3










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Solution:

(a)

A dc analysis is performed to determine the dc operating point by treating all capacitors as open circuit.


(b)

Given V
CEQ
is desired to be 3.5 V, hence:


(c)

The small-signal parameters are:



Using the small-signal ac equivalent circuit, the following expressions are obtained:


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(d)

If the source resistor is changed to 500 ", the new value of A
v
is:



Therefore the voltage gain A
v
decreases as the source resistance R
S
increases due to a larger voltage drop
across the source resistor.


4. The transistor in the circuit in Figure 4 has a dc current gain of ! = 100.
(a) Determine the small-signal voltage gain A
v
= v
o
/ v
s
.
(b) Find the input and output resistances R
i
and R
o
.






Figure 4








Solution:

(a)

A dc analysis is performed to determine the dc operating point by treating all capacitors as open circuit.




7

The small-signal parameters are:



Using the small-signal ac equivalent circuit, the following expressions are obtained:










(b)

The input resistance R
i
is:



To calculate the output resistance R
o
, the signal source v
s
is short-circuited and this gives i
b
= 0. The
following equation can be written by KCL at node v
o
:




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Part B. Common-Collector Amplifier (Emitter Follower)

5. The transistor parameters for the circuit in Figure 5 are ! = 180 and V
A
= !.
(a) Find I
CQ
and V
CEQ
.
(b) Plot the dc and ac load lines.
(c) Calculate the small-signal voltage gain.
(d) Determine the input and output resistances R
ib
and R
o
.






Figure 5








Solution:

(a)

For dc analysis, the capacitors C
C1
and C
C2
act as open circuit.


(b)

The dc load line is given by:



9

The ac load line is given by:



















(c)

The small-signal parameters are:



The small-signal ac equivalent circuit becomes:













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(d)

The input resistance R
ib
is:



To calculate the output resistance R
o
, the signal source v
s
is short-circuited and the following equations
can be written by KCL at node v
o
and node v
b
:




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6. For the circuit shown in Figure 6, let V
CC
= 5 V, R
L
= 4 k", R
E
= 3 k", R
1
= 60 k", and R
2
= 40 k".
The transistor parameters are ! = 50 and V
A
= 80 V.
(a) Determine I
CQ
and V
ECQ
.
(b) Plot the dc and ac load lines.
(c) Determine A
v
= v
o
/ v
s
and A
i
= i
o
/ i
s
.
(d) Determine R
ib
and R
o
.






Figure 6








Solution:

(a)

For dc analysis, the capacitors C
C1
and C
C2
act as open circuit.


(b)

The dc load line is given by:



12
The ac load line is given by:

















(c)

The small-signal parameters are:



The small-signal ac equivalent circuit becomes:














13




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(d)

The input resistance R
ib
is:



To calculate the output resistance R
o
, the signal source v
s
is short-circuited and the following equations
can be written by KCL at node v
o
:




7. For the transistor in Figure 7, the parameters are ! = 100 and V
A
= !.
(a) Design the circuit such that I
EQ
= 1 mA and the Q-point is in the center of the dc load line.
(b) If the peak-to-peak sinusoidal output voltage is 4 V, determine the peak-to-peak sinusoidal
signals at the base of the transistor and the peak-to-peak value of v
s
.
(c) If the load resistor R
L
= 1 k" is connected to the output through a coupling capacitor,
determine the peak-to-peak value in the output voltage, assuming v
s
is equal to the value
determined in part (b).






Figure 7








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Solution:

(a)

For dc analysis, the capacitor C
C
acts as open circuit.



(b)

The small-signal ac equivalent circuit is given by:














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If the peak-to-peak output voltage v
o(peak-peak)
is 4 V,


(c)

If the load resistor R
L
= 1 k" is added in parallel to R
E
, Eq. (4) must be modified accordingly:



Therefore v
o(peak-peak)
becomes smaller due to the loading effect by R
L
.


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8. An emitter-follower amplifier, with the configuration shown in Figure 8, is to be designed such that
an audio signal given by v
s
= 5 sin(3000t) V but with a source resistance of R
S
= 10 " can drive a
small speaker. Assume the supply voltages are V
+
= + 12 V and V
#
= # 12 V and ! = 50. The load,
representing the speaker, is R
L
= 12 ". The amplifier should be capable of delivering approximately
1 W of average power to the load. What is the signal power gain of your amplifier?





Figure 8








Solution:

To deliver 1 W of average power to the load, the peak-to-peak output voltage should be:



The required voltage gain A
v
is:



Choose I
EQ
= 0.8 A and V
CEQ
= 12 V,







18


The small-signal ac equivalent circuit is given by:














Choosing I
EQ
= 0.5 A gives:



The small-signal voltage gain is taken from Q.7 with some modifications:



Due to the presence of the source resistance R
S
(loading effect) the required voltage gain of A
v
= 0.9798
cannot be achieved. Note that A
v
= 0.9951 if R
S
= 0.

Therefore the maximum achievable peak output voltage is:



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Hence the output power delivered to the load R
L
is:



The input power delivered by the signal source v
s
is:



Hence the signal power gain of the amplifier is:




Part C. AC Load Line Analysis / Maximum Symmetrical Swing

9. For the circuit in Figure 9, the transistor parameters are ! = 100 and V
A
= 100 V. The values of R
C
,
R
E
and R
L
are as shown in the figure. Design a bias-stable circuit to achieve the maximum
undistorted swing in the output voltage if the total instantaneous C-E voltage is to remain in the
range 1 $ v
CE
$ 8 V and the minimum collector current is to be i
C
(min) = 0.1 mA.






Figure 9















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Solution:

To obtain a bias-stable circuit, let:



The dc load line of the circuit is given by:



The ac load line of the circuit is given by:



Given v
CE(min)
= 1 V and i
C(min)
= 0.1 mA, the maximum swing of v
CE
and i
C
from the Q-point (I
CQ
, V
CEQ
)
would be:



Since and are related by the ac load line,



Solving (1) and (3) at the Q-point (I
CQ
, V
CEQ
):



21
To decide the value for V
TH
:






















10. In the circuit in Figure 10 with transistor parameters ! = 180 and V
A
= !, design the bias resistors R
1

and R
2
to achieve maximum symmetrical swing in the output voltage and to maintain a bias-stable
circuit. The total instantaneous C-E voltage is to remain in the range 0.5 $ v
CE
$ 4.5 V and the total
instantaneous collector current is to be i
C
% 0.25 mA.






Figure 10








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Solution:

To obtain a bias-stable circuit, let:



The dc load line of the circuit is given by:



The ac load line of the circuit is given by:



Given v
CE(min)
= 0.5 V and i
C(min)
= 0.25 mA, the maximum swing of v
CE
and i
C
from the Q-point (I
CQ
,
V
CEQ
) would be:



Since and are related by the ac load line,



Solving (1) and (3) at the Q-point (I
CQ
, V
CEQ
):



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To decide the value for V
TH
: