Differential Amplifier

Modes of operation of
Differential Amplifier (DA)
There are two modes of operations of DA

Differential mode
Common mode
Differential mode:
Two input signals are of same
magnitude but opposite polarity are
used (1800 out of phase)
Common mode
Two input signals are of equal in
magnitude and same phase are used

Differential mode
Assume sine wave on base of Q1 is
+ve going signal while on the base of
Q2 ve going signal

 An amplified ve going signal will appear at

collector of Q1
An amplified +ve going signal will appear at
collector of Q2
Due to +ve going signal of base of Q1, current
increases in RE & hence a +ve going wave is
developed across RE
Due to -ve going signal of base of Q2, -ve going
wave is developed across RE because of emitter
follower action of Q2

 So, signal voltages across R E, due to effect

of Q1 &Q2 are equal in magnitude &180 0

out of phase- due to matched transistors
Hence the two signals cancel each other &

there is no signal across R E

No AC signal flows thro it
Vo= +10-(-10)= 20
Vo is difference voltage in two signals

Common Mode Operation

Two input signals are of equal in
magnitude and same phase are used
In phase signal develops in phase signal
voltages across RE

 Hence RE carries a signal current & provides

-ve feedback
This ve f/b decreases AC
In signal voltages of equal magnitude will
appear
across two collectors of Q1 &Q2
Vo= 10-10=0 Negligibly small
Ideally it should be zero

Analysis of evaluating Ac
To evaluate Ac we set VS1=VS2=Vs
On bisecting the Diff. amp. Ckt., we get the

equivalent ckt. As shown in Fig. below

It is nothing but CE amplifier with un bypassed

emitter resistor 2RE

For calculation of Ac we assume that, 2RE connected

in parallel
ie 2RE 2RE/ 2RE +2RE= RE

 Hybrid parameters equations are taken

directly for CE amplifier with un
bypassed emitter resistor but value of
emitter resistor can taken as 2RE
AI = (hoe RE-hfe)/ (1+hoe(RC + RE))
= ( hoe (2RE)-hfe)/ (1+hoe(RC + 2RE))

 Ri= (1- AI)RE+ hie+ hre AI RL

= (1- AI) 2RE + hie+ hre AI RL
Where RL = RC +(AI 1/AI )RE
RL = RC +(AI 1/AI ) 2RE

 AC = AI Rc/ Ri+Rs

(Since AV = (AI Rc)/Ri)

In Ri expression neglecting the term hre AI RL

and substitute AI and Ri we get,
AC =((2hoe RE - hfe)Rc)/(2 RE(1+ hfe)+(Rs+hie)
(2hoe RE +1))

Provided that hoe Rc<<1

If we use approximate model we get simpler
expression

AC = - hfe Rc/Rs+hie+ (1+hfe)2RE

Evaluating Ad
We set VS1= -VS2= Vs/2
ie magnitude of AC I/P voltages is set as above
Ie1= -Ie2 ,

Io= 0 (They cancel each other to get

resultant ac current thro RE as I0=o)

Hence for ac analysis emitter terminal can be

grounded
Bisecting the ckt with RE = 0
We get equi. Ckt which is conventional CE amplifier

 Ac small signal Diff.Amp.

ckt with grounded emitter
is shown here
As two trs. are matched
ac equi. Ckt of the other
Ckt is identical

 Approximate hybrid model for the

above ckt is shown here

 -ve sign indicates phase difference

between I/P &O/P

Here Vs difference I/P

Mod of Ad is

CMRR is =

Method of improving
CMRR
Effect of R :
E

To improve CMRR, Ac must be reduced

Ac approaches zero as RE tends to infinite
Because RE introduces ve feedback which
reduces Ac
Higher value of RE, lesser the Ac, higher
the value of CMRR
Ad is independent of RE

 But practically RE cannot be selected

very high due to some limitations
Large RE needs higher biasing
voltage to set Q-pt
( Under Dc cond Ic=IB but IE=IC IB=IE/

IE depends on
To make Q-pt stable IE should be constant
irrespective of
For constant IE emitter R should be very

 So various methods are used

which provide increased effect of
RE without any limitations
1. Constant current bias
method
2. Use of current mirror
method
Another method to improve
Ad to increase CMRR is
Active load

Differential Amplifier with constant

current circuit

Here RE is replaced by constant current

source circuit
It provides increased
effect of RE without
physically increasing
value of RE

 R1, R2, R3 are selected to give

the same operating point for
Q1&Q2
Let current thro R3 is IE3 and
Current R1 is I
Neglect base current(Because of
large )

 Thus as VEE, R1, R2, R3 & VBE are

constant, Current IC3 is almost equal
to IE3and also constant.
Thus ckt with Tr Q3 acts as a constant
current source.
Internal Resistance of a cont. current
source is very high, ideally infinite
Hence this ckt makes the value of RE
ideally infinite which reduces Ac
ideally to zero

Current mirror circuit

Current mirror circuit:
It is a ckt in which O/P current is
forced to equal the I/P current
O/P current is the mirror image of I/P
current

 Ckt consists of two macthed transistors

Q3 &Q4
Their base-emitter voltage and base
currents are same
and IB3=IB4
VBE3= VBE4
Similarly collector currents are same
IC3=IC4
Apply KCL at node a
I2= IC4 +I
Apply KCL at node b
I= IB3+IB4 = 2 IB4 = 2 IB3

 Now IB3 = IC3/

Therefore I2= IC3 + 2 IC3/ = IC3 + IC3(2/ )
Generally is very large 2/ is negligible small
Therefore I2=IC3
Thus collector current of Q3 is nearly
equal to I2
Once current mirror ckt is set for I2, it
provides constant current bias to
Diff.Amp

 Therefore I2 can be obtained by

writing KVL for base emitter loop of
Q3
-I2R2- VBE3+VEE=0
Therefore I2=VEE - VBE3 /R2
Selecting R2 ,the appropriate I2
can be set for current mirror ckt

Advantages current mirror

circuit
Provides very high RE
Required less no of components than
constant ct source
Simple to design
Easy fabrication
So mostly widely used in IC OP-Amp

Use of active load to improve

CMRR
From equation of Ad

Thus Ad increases as Rc must be

high as possible
But there are limitations in increasing
Rc

Limitations :
For large Rc, requires high biasing
voltage to maintain Quiescent Ic
Higher Rc requires large chip area
So it is not possible to increase Rc
beyond a particular limit

 Actually a current mirror ckt has

Low DC resistance and high AC
resistance

To increase Ad we need a ckt to have

high AC resistance
It should not disturb DC conditions

Current mirror ckt can be used as

collector load instead of Rc
Such a load is called an active load

 Basically it act as a current source

& provides large AC resistance

 Under DC conditions VS1=VS2=0 and

Q1, Q2 are matched trs.
Hence I1=I2=IEE/2 where IB1 &IB2 are
neglected
Q3 &Q4 form a current repeater or
current mirror ckt hence I=I1=I2
Load ct IL is the current entering to
next stage

 IL = I - I2 = 0
But when VS1 increases over VS2, the I1
increases whereas I2 decreases as I1+ I2= IEE
Constant
Due to ct mirror action I always equal to I1
Thus active load provides high ac resistance
and hence high Ad
Ad becomes high, CMRR gets improved

Transfer characteristic of
Differential Amplifier

Its a graph of Differential I/P Vd

against IC1&IC2
Used to analyze the large signal
behaviour of DA
Used to identify the range of Vd
over which the ckt operation is in
linear region

 To obtain transfer curve we use the

following assumptions:
Current source ckt used with current
IEE has infinite O/P resistance
Rs of Q1 &Q2 are neglected
O/P resistance of each transistor is
infinite
Assumptions are valid for low frequency

 For a Tr, we can write equation for Ic

IC= Is e VBE/VT
Where Is- Reverse saturation current
VBE- base emitter voltage
VT- voltage equvalent of Temp.
For two trs. IC1&IC2 are written as
IC1= Is e

/V
BE1
T

IC2= Is e

/ V
BE2
T

where IS1=IS2= IS as Tr are mathced

This equation is called Ebers-Moll
equation for Tr

ln IC1/Is= VBE1 / VT
ln IC2/Is= VBE2 / VT
Therefore VBE1 = VT In (IC1/Is)
VBE2 = VT In (IC2/Is)
Consider the loop including two I/Ps & two
base
emitter junctions neglect Rs
Apply KVL to loop shown
VS1-VBE1+VBE2-VS2=0

 Sub VBE1 &VBE2 in above equation

VS1- VT In (IC1/Is)+ VT In (IC2/Is)
-VS2=0
VT [In (IC2/Is)- In (IC1/Is)] = VS2
VS1
(or) VT [In (IC1/Is)- In (IC2/Is)] = VS1
VS2

 IC1/IC2 = e

[VS1-VS2/VT]

VS1 VS2 = Vd- Differential I/P

IC1/IC2= e

Vd/ V

(A)

Currents thro current source IEE is

additive of two emitter currents
(B)
IEE= IE1+IE2

 IE = IC/
IE1 = IC1/
IE2 = IC2/
IEE= 1 (IC1+IC2)/
Solving (A ) & (B) we get,
IC1= IEE/ (1+ e( -Vd/ VT ))

(C)

IC2= IEE/ (1+ e( Vd/ VT ))

(D)

 From equations (C) & (D) transfer

curve can be obtained
Let IEE be constant, for various
values of Vd we can obtain IC1 &IC2