Transistor Hybrid Model

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Article:AndyCollinson
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Introduction
Theprimaryfunctionofa"model"istopredictthebehaviourofadeviceinaparticular
operatingregion.Atdcthebipolarjunctiontransistor(BJT)andsomeofitsbiasing
techniqueshavealreadybeendescribed,seethesearticles:

BJTBiasing
TransistorasaSwitch

ThebehaviouroftheBJTinthesinusoidalacdomainisquitedifferentfromitsdcdomain.
AtdctheBJTusuallyworksatineithersaturationorcutoffregions.Intheacdomainthe
transistorworksinthelinearregionandeffectsofcapacitancebetweenterminals,input
impedance,outputconductance,etcallhavetobeaccountedfor.Thesmallsignalac
responsecanbedescribedbytwocommonmodels:thehybridmodelandremodel.The
modelsareequivalentcircuits(orcombinationofcircuitelements)thatallowmethodsof
circuitanalysistopredictperformance.

TransistorHybridModel
TodemonstratetheHybridtransistormodelanacequivalentcircuitmustbeproduced.
Thelefthanddiagrambelowisasinglecommonemitterstageforanalysis.

AtacthereactanceofcouplingcapacitorsC1andC2issolowthattheyarevirtualshort
circuits,asdoesthebypasscapacitorC3.Thepowersupply(whichwillhavefilter
capacitors)isalsoashortcircuitasfarasacsignalsareconcerned.Theequivalentcircuit
isshownaboveontherighthanddiagram.TheinputsignalgeneratorisshownasVsand
thegeneratorssourceimpedanceasRs.

AsRB1andRB2arenowinparalleltheinputimpedancewillbeRB1||RB2.Thecollector
resistorRCalsoappearsfromcollectortoemitter(asemitterisbypassed).Seebelow:

Thebluerectanglenowrepresentsthesmallsignalacequivalentcircuitandcannow
startworkonthehybridequivalentcircuit.
Thehybridmodelhasfourhparameters.The"h"standsforhybridbecausethe
parametersareamixofimpedance,admittanceanddimensionlessunits.Incommon
emittertheparametersare:

hie inputimpedance()
hre reversevoltageratio(dimensionless)
hfe forwardcurrenttransferratio(dimensionless)
hoe outputadmittance(Siemen)

Notethatlowercasesuffixesindicatesmallsignalvaluesandthelastsuffixindicatesthe
modesohieisinputimpedanceincommonemitter,hfbwouldbeforwardcurrenttransfer
rationincommonbasemode,etc.ThehybridmodelfortheBJTincommonemittermode
isshownbelow:

Thehybridmodelissuitableforsmallsignalsatmidbandanddescribestheactionofthe
transistor.Twoequationscanbederivedfromthediagram,oneforinputvoltagevbeand
onefortheoutputic:
 vbe=hieib+hrevce
ic=hfeib+hoevce

Ifibisheldconstant(ib=0)thenhreandhoecanbesolved:

hre=vbe/vce|ib=0
hoe=ic/vce|ib=0

Alsoifvceisheldconstant(vce=0)thenhieandhfecanbesolved:

hie=vbe/ib|vce=0
hfe=ic/ib|vce=0

ThesearethefourbasicparametersforaBJTincommonemitter.Typicalvaluesarehre
=1x104,hoetypicalvalue20uS,hietypically1kto20kandhfecanbe50750.TheH
parameterscanoftenbefoundonthetransistordatasheets.Thetablebelowliststhe
fourhparametersfortheBJTincommonbaseandcommoncollector(emitterfollower)
mode.

hparametersofBipolarJunctionTransistor

Common Common Common

Definitions
Base Emitter Collector

InputImpedancewith
OutputShortCircuit

ReverseVoltageRatio
InputOpenCircuit

ForwardCurrentGain
OutputShortCircuit

OutputAdmittance
InputOpenCircuit

Hparametersarenotconstantandvarywithtemperature,collectorcurrentandcollector
emittervoltage.Forthisreasonwhendesigningacircuitthehybridparametersshouldbe
measuredunderthesameconditionsastheactualcircuit.Belowaregraphsofthe
variationofhparameterswithtemperatureandcollectorcurrent.
 VariationofhparameterswithCollectorCurrent

VariationofhparameterswithTemperature

OutputCharacteristicCurves
Thegraphbelow,showstheoutputcharacteristiccurvesfora2N3904transistorin
commonemittermode.Theoutputcurvesarequiteusefulastheyshowthechangein
collectorcurrentforarangeofcollectoremittervoltages.
 OutputCharacteristicsfor2N3904

Inaddition,becausethebasecurrentsarealsoknown,thentwosmallsignalparameters,
hfeandhoecanbedeterminedstraightfromthegraph.Thealmostflatportionofthe
curves,showsthatthetransistorbehavesasaconstantcurrentgenerator.However,in
saturationthesteepnessofthecurves(between0and0.4Vce)showasharpdropinhfe.
Thisisanimportantfacttoconsider,ifusingthetransistorasaswitch.

TypicalhparameterValues
hparametersarenotconstantandvarywithbothtemperatureandcollectorcurrent.
Typicalvaluesfor1mAcollectorcurrentsare:

hie=1000hre=3x104hoe=3x106Shfe=250

Examples
CEStagewithREBypassed
Thehparametermodelwillbeappliedtoasinglecommonemitter(CE)stagewiththe
emitterresistor(RE)bypassed.Themodelwillbeusedtobuildequationsforvoltage
gain,currentgain,inputandoutputimpedance.Thecircuitisshownbelow:
ThesmallsignalparameterhreVceisoftentoosmalltobeconsideredsotheinput
resistanceisjusthie.Oftentheoutputresistancehoeisoftenlargecomparedwithethe
collectorresistorRCanditseffectscanbeignored.Thehparameterequivalentmodelis
nowsimplifiedanddrawnbelow:

InputImpedanceZi
TheinputimpedanceistheparallelcombinationofbiasresistorsRB1andRB2.Asthe
powersupplyisconsideredshortcircuitatsmallsignallevelsthenRB1andRB2arein
parallel.RBBwillrepresenttheparallelcombination:

RB1RB2
RBB=RB1||RB2=
RB1+RB2

AsRBBisinparallelwithhiethen:

Zi=RBB||hie

OutputImpedanceZo
AshfeIbisanidealcurrentgeneratorwithinfiniteoutputimpedance,thenoutput
impedancelookingintothecircuitis:

Zo=RC

VoltageGainAv
Notethesignintheequation,thisindicatesphaseinversionoftheoutputwaveform.

Vo=IoRC=hfeIbRC

asIb=Vi/hiethen:

Vi
=hfe RC
hie

hfe
= RCVi
hie

Vo hfeRC
Av= =
Vi hie
CurrentGainAi
ThecurrentgainistheratioIo/Ii.Attheinputthecurrentissplitbetweentheparallel
branchRBBandhie.Solookingattheequivalenthparametermodelagain(shown
below):

ThecurrentdividerrulecanbeusedforIb:

RBBIi
Ib=
RBB+hie

Ib RBB
=
Ii RBB+hie

Attheoutputside,Io=hfeIb

rearrangingIo/Ib=hfe

Io IoIb RBB
Ai= = =hfe
Ii IbIi RBB+hie

RBBhfe
Ai=
RBB+hie
 IfRBB>>hiethen,

RBBhfe
Ai =hfe
RBB

CEStagewithREUnbypassed
Thehparametermodelofacommonemitterstagewiththeemitterresistorunbypassed
isnowshown.Themodelwillbeusedtobuildequationsforvoltagegain,currentgain,
inputandoutputimpedance.Thecircuitisshownbelow:

Asinthepreviousexample,RB1andRB2areinparallel,thebiasresistorsarereplaced
byresistanceRBB,butasREisnowunbypassedthisresistorappearsinserieswiththe
emitterterminal.Thehybridsmallsignalmodelisshownbelow,onceagaineffectsof
smallsignalparametershreVceandhoehavebeenomitted.

InputImpedanceZi
TheinputimpedanceZiisthebiasresistorsRBBinparallelwiththeimpedanceofthe
base,Zb.
 Zb=hie+(1+hfe)RE

Sincehfeisnormallymuchlargerthan1,theequationcanbereducedto:

Zb=hie+hfeRE

Zi=RBB||(hie+hfeRE)

OutputImpedanceZo
WithVisettozero,thenIb=0andhfeIbcanbereplacedbyanopencircuit.Theoutput
impedanceis:

Zo=RC

VoltageGainAv
Notethesignintheequation,thisindicatesphaseinversionoftheoutputwaveform.

Vi
Ib=
Zb

Vo=IoRC=hfeIbRC

Vi
=hfe RC
Zb

Vo hfeRC
Av= =
Vi Zb

AsZb=hie+hfeREoftentheproducthfeREismuchlargerthanhie,soZbcanreduced
totheapproximation:
ZbhfeRE

hfeRC
Av=
hfeRE

Vo RC
Av= =
Vi RE
CurrentGainAi
ThecurrentgainistheratioIo/Ii.Attheinputthecurrentissplitbetweentheparallel
branchRBBandZb.Solookingattheequivalenthparametermodelagain(shown
below):
ThecurrentdividerrulecanbeusedforIb:

RBBIi
Ib=
RBB+Zb

Ib RBB
=
Ii RBB+Zb

Attheoutputside,Io=hfeIb

rearrangingIo/Ib=hfe

Io IoIb RBB
Ai= = =hfe
Ii IbIi RBB+Zb

RBBhfe
Ai=
RBB+Zb

ExampleCEStage
Thehybridparametersmustbeknowntousethehybridmodel,eitherfromthe
datasheetormeasured.Intheabovecircuit,Zi,Zo,Av,andAiwillnowbecalculated.
NotethatthisCEstageusesasinglebiasresistorRB1whichisthevalueRBB.

Zi

Zb=hie+(1+hfe)RE

=0.56k+(1+120)1.2k=145.76k

Zi=RB||Zb

Zi=270k||145.76k=94.66k

Zo

Zo5.6k

Av

hfeRC
Av=
Zb

120x5.6k
=
145.76k

Av=4.61

Ai

RBBhfe
Ai=
RBB+Zb

= 270kx120
 270k+145.76k

Ai=77.93

Summary
Thehybridmodelislimitedtoaparticularsetofoperatingconditionsforaccuracy.Ifthe
deviceisoperatedatadifferentcollectorcurrent,temperatureorVcelevelfromthe
manufacturersdatasheetthenthehparameterswillhavetobemeasuredforthesenew
conditions.Thehybridmodelhasparametersforoutputimpedanceandreversevoltage
ratiowhichcanbeimportantinsomecircuits.

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