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Physics 364: Analysis of a Multistage Amplier

Prof. Kroll

We will now examine the multistage amplier you will construct in lab. The schematic is shown below. Everything to the left of vIN is the input; the output is the voltage labelled vOUT on the emitter of the third transistor Q3 . The dashed rectangle indicates your function generator, which we depict as an ideal source in series with a 50 resistor.
10V

51k v IN

3.3k

51k

3.3k

6.8k

Q1 1 F 50 200 100 10 F 6.8k 330 6.8k 330

Q2

1 F

Q3 v OUT

6.8k

330

At rst this schematic may seem overwelmingly complicated, but, in fact, it is pretty simple. The key is to recognize the various components of this multistage amplier. This is a critical skill for reading any schematic. The input signal is provided by an ideal ac voltage source with a voltage divider. The input signal is coupled to the input of the amplier by a large capacitor. This capacitor blocks the DC voltage of the voltage dividers used to provide DC power to the transistors while passing the ac signal. The amplier has three transistors, and each transistor is associated with an amplier stage. The DC operation of each stage is completely decoupled from the other stages by the capacitors that are placed in between the stages. The rst two stages formed by transistors Q1 and Q2 are identical: a common emitter conguration with a resistor at the emitter. The DC operation of these two stages is the same, so we will just have to calculate the DC currents for the rst stage. The third stage formed by transistor Q3 is the common collector or emitter follower conguration. So the rst two stages provide amplication, and the last stage buers the amplied signal or drives the output, that is, it makes the amplier insensitive to the load attached to it. Remember, when you design an amplier, you would like it to be useful in a variety of situations, so its specications should not vary when, for example, it is attached to dierent loads.

DC Operation To understand the response of the amplier to the ac input, we rst have to determine the DC operating conditions. We begin with the rst stage. As mentioned above, the DC currents and voltages of the rst stage and second stage are identical. The rst stage is depicted below.
10V

51k IB

3.3k

IC VC Q1 VE IE

VB 6.8k 330

We begin with our usual simple approximate calculation of the DC voltages and currents. First we convert the voltage divider into its Thevenin equivalent. To keep the derivations presented here of more general applicability, we will use variables for the resistors R11 (51k), R21 (6.8k), RE1 (330) and RC1 (3.3k). (The second subscript refers to the stage of the amplier). The equivalent voltage and resistance of the voltage divider are VTH = VCC R21 = 1.18 V R11 + R21 RTH = R11 R21 = 6.0 k. R11 + R21

If we neglect IB , then VB = 1.18 V. Using VBE = 0.7 V, we get VE = 0.48 V. So IE = VE /0.33k = 1.44 mA (we are using too many signicant gures in these calculations we will see why in a moment). Approximating IC IE , we nd IC = 1.44 mA (which is what we need to calculate gm for the ac equivalent circuit, we will get to this later). Finally, VC = VCC IC RC1 = 5.24 V. We nd VC > VB , so the DC bias voltage has put the transistor into active mode. Did neglecting IB in determining VB eect our result signicantly? To check this, we need to assume a value of to get IB = IC /. The larger the value of IB , the worse the eect of neglecting IB , so we should use a lower value of . We will assume = 100 and calculate IB RTH = 0.087 V, which is about a 7% correction to VB . This eect is not large, but you will see it when you measure your various voltages. One way to get a better estimate of the voltages and currents is to iterate. Now assume VB = 1.18 0.09 = 1.09 V and repeat the calculation performed above. On this second iteration we nd IC = 1.18 mA, so now VB = VTH IB RTH = 1.106 V. We can continue iterating, although you will nd that we have come very close to converging already with just two iterations. It is possible to get an exact analytic answer for VB for a given value of

(and assuming VBE = 0.7 V exactly). VB = VTH IB RTH = VTH IC = IE = Solving for VB we get VB = 1+ IC RTH ;

VB 0.7 V . RE
0.7RTH (1+)RE RTH (1+)RE

VTH +

Using = 100 we nd VB = 1.104 V, and IC = 1.21 mA, which is very close to what we got with two iterations above. In lab you should measure the of your transistor, calculate your expected value of VB and compare it with your measured value. For your calculations you should use your measured resistance values, not the nominal values. The third stage is an emitter follower. A rst approximation of VB is 5.0 V and IC = 13.0 mA. Using the formulas above assuming = 100, we nd VB = 4.6 V and IC = 11.7 mA. Remember, you should repeat these calculations with your measured value of and your measured values of resistance. Then you should compare your predicted values of voltages and currents to your measured values. The measurements should agree very well with your predictions (to within a few percent). You should use your measured value of IC for determining gm for your ac equivalent circuits.

ac Equivalent Circuit and Voltage Gain Now we are ready to predict the ac behavior of this multistage amplier. We will use the most simple version of the hybrid-pi equivalent circuit of a BJT transistor. To determine the ac equivalent circuit of our multistage amplier,
b ib + r = c gm i b = g m vbe

vbe

_ e

we short all the DC sources to ground and replace the BJTs with their hybrid-pi equivalents. The DC operation of the BJTs determines their ac parameters: gm = IC /VT (we use VT = 25 mV as usual) and r = /gm (we will assume = 100).

The ac equivalent circuit of the amplier with the ac input is shown below. The input stage of the amplier and the rst stage of the amplier associated with transistor Q1 are shown in the upper part of the Figure. The second and third stage are shown in the lower part of the Figure. The two pieces are connected at vb2 .
50 200 vb1 i b1 ac input 100 6.8k 51k r i b1 ve1 330 3.3k 6.8k 51k vc1 vb2

vb2 i b2 r i b2 ve2 330

vc2

vb3

i b3 r3 i b3

vc3

3.3k

6.8k

6.8k

ve3 ac output 330

Ultimately what we want to know is the total gain of the amplier, which is the ratio of the voltage at the emitter of the third stage, ve3 , (the output voltage) divided by the voltage at the base of the rst stage, vb1 (the input voltage): ve3 G= . vb1 This gain is the product of the gains of the individual stages: vc1 vc2 ve3 . G = g1 g2 g3 = vb1 vb2 vb3 Remember that vb2 = vc1 and vb3 = vc2 . The gain is actually a complex number; it has an amplitude and a phase. We will calculate both, and in the laboratory, you should measure both as well. You will nd that when the gain deviates from the plateaux value, the phase shift deviates from zero. To calculate the gain of each stage, we will express the voltages in terms of base currents. For example, vb1 = r ib1 + (1 + )ib1 RE1 ; vc1 = ib1 (RC1 || R12 || R22 ), where RE1 = 330, RC1 = 3.3k, R12 = 51k, R22 = 6.8k, and r = /gm . (We use the obvious general notation for the various emitter and collector resistors; again the second

subscript refers to the stage of the amplier.) We have assumed that all three transistors have the same for our calculations of our expected gain. When you make your estimates, you should use the dierent values of that you nd for your three transistors. The ac gain of the rst stage is g1 = vc1 (RC1 || R12 || R22 ) (RC1 || R12 || R22 ) = . vb1 r + (1 + )RE1 1/gm + RE1

Notice that this gain diers from the gain we calculated for the single stage common-emitter amplier in that the numerator is the parallel combination of the collector resistor and the resistors of the voltage divider supplying the DC voltage to the second stage. In calculating vc1 we have ignored the small ac base current ib2 going into the second stage of the amplier. This is a good approximation, because as we saw before, the input impedance of the common emitter amplier is large: r + (1 + )RE . The gain of the second stage is g2 = vc2 (RC2 || R13 || R23 ) (RC2 || R13 || R23 ) = , vb2 r + (1 + )RE2 1/gm + RE2

where RE1 = 330, RC1 = 3.3k, R13 = 6.8k (the only dierence with the rst stage), R23 = 6.8k, and r = /gm (same gm as rst stage as DC conditions are the same assuming nominal resistor values). The gain of the third stage is g3 = (1 + )ib3 RE3 RE3 ve3 = , vb3 ib3 r3 + (1 + )ib3 RE3 1/gm3 + RE2

where RE1 = 330 and r3 = /gm3 (This gm3 is dierent than the rst stage as DC conditions are dierent for the third stage). To get a numerical value for the gain, we will assume nominal resistor values, and assume that = 100. Remember, you should repeat these calculations with your measured values of , your measured values of resistance, and your measured values of gm . Using the values of IC we found above, gm = (21)1 and r = 2.1k; gm3 = (2.1)1 and r = 210. So the gains are g1 = 6.1 g2 = 4.8 g3 = 0.99; G = 29. The output is in phase with the input, that is, the phase shift is zero. In the plateaux region, your measured gain will be lower than your predicted gain by approximately 10%. There are at least two reasons for this discrepancy. First, when we calculated the voltage at the collector in stages 1 and 2, we neglected the output stage; for example when calculating vc1 we assumed no current was owing into base b2. You can see the eect of this approximation by disconnecting the second transistor from the output of the rst stage or the third transistor from the output of the second stage. You will nd this increases the voltage on the collector towards your predicted value. Second, our model of the BJT transistor is incomplete. For example, we did not include the output resistance r0 on the collector (this makes the calculations more complicated).