S.Y.B.Sc.

P-II

TRANSISTOR BIASING

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With reference to the common emitter configuration shown below, a family of curves known commonly as the Output Characteristics Curves, relates the output collector current, (Ic) to the collector voltage, (Vce) when different values of base current, (Ib) are applied to the transistor for transistors with the same value. A DC "Load Line" can also be drawn onto the output characteristics curves to show all the possible operating points when different values of base current are applied. It is necessary to set the initial value of Vce correctly to allow the output voltage to vary both up and down when amplifying AC input signals and this is called setting the operating point or Quiescent Point, Q-point for short and this is shown below.

The Common Emitter Amplifier Circuit

Output Characteristics Curves for a Typical Bipolar Transistor

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T he most important factor to notice is the effect of Vce upon the collector current Ic when Vce is greater than about 1.0 volts. You can see that Ic is largely unaffected by changes in Vce above this value and instead it is almost entirely controlled by the base current, Ib. When this happens we can say then that the output circuit represents that of a "Constant Current Source". It can also be seen from the common emitter circuit above that the emitter current Ie is the sum of the collector current, Ic and the base current, Ib, added together so we can also say that " Ie = Ic + Ib " for the common emitter configuration. By using the output characteristics curves in our example above and also Ohms Law, the current flowing through the load resistor, (RL), is equal to the collector current, Ic entering the transistor which inturn corresponds to the supply voltage, (Vcc) minus the voltage drop between the collector and the emitter terminals, (Vce) and is given as:

Also, a Load Line can be drawn directly onto the graph of curves above from the point of "Saturation" when Vce = 0 to the point of "Cut-off" when Ic = 0 giving us the "Operating" or Q-point of the transistor. These two points are calculated as:

Then, the collector or output characteristics curves for Common Emitter NPN Transistors can be used to predict the Collector current, Ic, when given Vce and the Base current, Ib. A Load Line can also be constructed onto the curves to determine a suitable Operating or Q-point which can be set by adjustment of the base current. Thus D.C. load line gives all the possible values of collector current & collector to emitter voltage under zero signal condition. It is the line which we get by joining points (0, I CSat) & (VCC ,0) on the collector characteristics curves.zero signal And Q-point is the zero signal value of collector current & collector to emitter voltage on the load line. The method of establishing the Q-point is called Biasing & the circuits used to do this are called biasing circuits.

Bias circuit requirements

1) Signal requirements for Class A amplifiers
For analog circuit operation, the Q-point is placed so the transistor stays in active mode (does not shift to operation in the saturation region or cut-off region) when input is applied. For digital operation, the Q-point is placed so the transistor does the contrary - switches from "on" to "off" state. Often, Q-point is established near the center of active region of transistor characteristic to allow similar signal swings in positive and negative directions. Q-point should be stable. In particular, it should be insensitive to variations in transistor parameters (for example, should not shift if transistor is replaced by another of the same type), variations in temperature, S.Y.B.Sc. P-II TRANSISTOR BIASING N. KAPOOR 3

variations in power supply voltage and so forth. The circuit must be practical: easily implemented and costeffective.

2)Thermal considerations
At constant current, the voltage across the emitter-base junction VBE of a bipolar transistor decreases 2 mV(silicon) and 1.8mv(germanium) for each 1C rise in temperature (reference being 25 celsius). By the Ebers Moll model, if the baseemitter voltage VBE is held constant and the temperature rises, the current through the baseemitter diode IB will increase, and thus the collector current IC will also increase. Depending on the bias point, the power consumed in the transistor may also increase, which will further increase its temperature and exacerbate the problem. This deleterious positive feedback results in thermal runaway.[1] There are several approaches to mitigate bipolar transistor thermal runaway. For example,

Negative feedback can be built into the biasing circuit so that increased collector current leads to decreased base current. Hence, the increasing collector current throttles its source. Heat sinks can be used that carry away extra heat and prevent the baseemitter temperature from rising. The transistor can be biased so that its collector is normally less than half of the power supply voltage, which implies that collectoremitter power dissipation is at its maximum value. Runaway is then impossible because increasing collector current leads to a decrease in dissipated power; this notion is known as the half-voltage principle Since I C = I B + I CEO = I B + ( + 1) I CBO

Stability factor

ICBO is collector leakage current which is influenced by temperature changes & due to change in ICBO collector current IC also changes by (+1) ICBO . Also IC depends on i.e. if transistor is replaced by another of the same type ,IC also changes. Thus Q-point will shift. To keep Q-point fix IC must remain constant irrespective of change in ICBO & . For given transistor the extent to which a biasing circuit is successful in achieving this goal is measured by stability factor S. Stability factor S : The rate of change of collector current w.r.t. collector leakage current ICBO at constant & IB is called stability factor. S= dI C dI CO differentiating w.r.t. IC

General expression : I C = I B + ( +1) I CBO 1= dI dI B + ( + 1) CO dI C dI C dI B 1 = ( + 1) dI C S ( + 1) dI 1 B dI C

S=

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The circuits below primarily demonstrate the use of negative feedback to prevent thermal runaway.

Types of bias circuit for Class A amplifiers

The following discussion treats five common biasing circuits used with Class A bipolar transistor amplifiers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Fixed bias OR Base Resistor method Collector-to-base bias Fixed bias with emitter resistor Voltage divider bias Emitter bias

Fixed bias (base bias)

This form of biasing is also called base bias. In the example image on the right, the single power source (for example, a battery) is used for both collector and base of transistor, although separate batteries can also be used. In the given circuit, Therefore, VCC = IBRB + Vbe IB = (VCC - Vbe)/RB

For a given transistor, Vbe does not vary significantly during use. As VCC is of fixed value, on selection of RB, the base current IB is fixed. Therefore this type is called fixed bias type of circuit. Also for given circuit, Therefore, VCC = ICRC + VCE VCE = VCC - ICRC

From this equation we can obtain VCE. Since IC = IB, we can obtain IC as well. In this manner, operating point given as (VCE,IC) can be set for given transistor. Stability factor : =0 since IB =constant thus S= +1 i.e. IC changes (+1) times ICO

S.Y.B.Sc. P-II Merits:

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It is simple to shift the operating point anywhere in the active region by merely changing the base resistor (RB). A very small number of components are required & simple calculation. There is no loading of the source by biasing circuit, since no resistor is connected across BE junction.

Demerits:

The collector current does not remain constant with variation in temperature or power supply voltage. Therefore the operating point is unstable i.e. poor stabilization. Due to high S there are strong chances of thermal runaway. When the transistor is replaced with another one, considerable change in the value of can be expected. Due to this change the operating point will shift.

Usage: Due to the above inherent drawbacks, fixed bias is rarely used in linear circuits, ie. those circuits which use the transistor as a current source. Instead it is often used in circuits where transistor is used as a switch. However, one application of 'fixed' bias is to achieve crude automatic gain control in the transistor by feeding the base resistor from a dc signal derived from the ac output of a later stage.

Collector-to-base bias

This configuration employs negative feedback to prevent thermal runaway and stabilize the operating point. In this form of biasing, the base resistor RB is connected to the collector instead of connecting it to the DC source VCC. So any thermal runaway will induce a voltage drop across the RC resistor that will throttle the transistor's base current. From Kirchhoff's voltage law --(1)

--(2)

S.Y.B.Sc. P-II Substituting equation (2) in (1)

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+ If VBE is held constant and temperature increases, then the collector current IC increases. However, a larger IC causes the voltage drop across resistor Rc to increase, which in turn reduces the voltage across the base resistor RB. A lower base-resistor voltage drop reduces the base current IB, which results in less collector current IC. Because an increase in collector current with temperature is opposed, the operating point is kept stable.

Merits:

Circuit stabilizes the operating point against variations in temperature and (ie. replacement of transistor) Simple , requires only one resistor Rb .

Demerits:

In this circuit, to keep Ic independent of , the following condition must be met:

which is the case when

As -value is fixed (and generally unknown) for a given transistor, this relation can be satisfied either by keeping Rc fairly large or making Rb very low. If Rc is large, a high Vcc is necessary, which increases cost as well as precautions necessary while handling. If Rb is low, the reverse bias of the collector-base is small, which limits the range of collector voltage swing that leaves the transistor in active mode.

The resistor Rb causes an AC feedback, reducing the voltage gain of the amplifier. This undesirable effect is a trade-off for greater Q-point stability.

Usage: The feedback also decreases the input impedance of the amplifier as seen from the base, which can be advantageous. Due to the gain reduction from feedback, this biasing form is used only when the trade-off for stability is warranted.

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Fixed bias with emitter resistor

The fixed bias circuit is modified by attaching an external resistor to the emitter. This resistor introduces negative feedback that stabilizes the Q-point. From Kirchhoff's voltage law, the voltage across the base resistor is VRb = VCC IERE VBE. From Ohm's law, the base current is IB = VRb / RB. The way feedback controls the bias point is as follows. If VBE is held constant and temperature increases, emitter current increases. However, a larger Ie increases the emitter voltage VE = IERE, which in turn reduces the voltage VRb across the base resistor. A lower base-resistor voltage drop reduces the base current, which results in less collector current because Ic = IB. Collector current and emitter current are related by IC = IE with 1, so increase in emitter current with temperature is opposed, and operating point is kept stable.

Similarly, if the transistor is replaced by another, there may be a change in IC (corresponding to change in -value, for example). By similar process as above, the change is negated and operating point kept stable. For the given circuit, IB = (VCC - Vbe)/(RB + (+1)RE). Merits: The circuit has the tendency to stabilize operating point against changes in temperature and -value. Demerits:

In this circuit, to keep IC independent of the following condition must be met:

S.Y.B.Sc. P-II which is approximately the case if

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( + 1 )RE >> RB.

As -value is fixed for a given transistor, this relation can be satisfied either by keeping RE very large, or making RB very low. If RE is of large value, high VCC is necessary. This increases cost as well as precautions necessary while handling. If RB is low, a separate low voltage supply should be used in the base circuit. Using two supplies of different voltages is impractical.

In addition to the above, RE causes ac feedback which reduces the voltage gain of the amplifier.

Usage: The feedback also increases the input impedance of the amplifier when seen from the base, which can be advantageous. Due to the above disadvantages, this type of biasing circuit is used only with careful consideration of the trade-offs involved.

Voltage divider bias

The voltage divider is formed using external resistors R1 and R2. The voltage across R2 forward biases the emitter junction. By proper selection of resistors R1 and R2, the operating point of the transistor can be made independent of . In this circuit, the voltage divider holds the base voltage fixed independent of base current provided the divider current is large compared to the base current. However, even with a fixed base voltage, collector current varies with temperature (for example) so an emitter resistor is added to stabilize the Q-point, similar to the above circuits with emitter resistor.

For the given circuit, Since therefore IC is independent of VBE & i. e. independent of transistor parameters ,therefore good stabilization. This method is most widely used.

S.Y.B.Sc. P-II Stability factor :

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In this circuit the base voltage is given by: voltage across

= =

if
This is smslest value. Merits:

Unlike other circuits, only one dc supply is necessary. Operating point is almost independent of variation. Operating point stabilized against shift in temperature.

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Demerits:

In this circuit, to keep IC independent of the following condition must be met:

which is approximately the case if

where R1 || R2 denotes the equivalent resistance of R1 and R2 connected in parallel.

As -value is fixed for a given transistor, this relation can be satisfied either by keeping RE fairly large, or making R1||R2 very low. If RE is of large value, high VCC is necessary. This increases cost as well as precautions necessary while handling. If R1 || R2 is low, either R1 is low, or R2 is low, or both are low. A low R1 raises VB closer to VC, reducing the available swing in collector voltage, and limiting how large RC can be made without driving the transistor out of active mode. A low R2 lowers Vbe, reducing the allowed collector current. Lowering both resistor values draws more current from the power supply and lowers the input resistance of the amplifier as seen from the base.

AC as well as DC feedback is caused by RE, which reduces the AC voltage gain of the amplifier. A method to avoid AC feedback while retaining DC feedback is discussed below.

Usage: The circuit's stability and merits as above make it widely used for linear circuits.