Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

On completion of this chapter you should be able to predict the behaviour of given transistor amplier circuits by using equations and/or equivalent circuits that represent the transistors a.c. parameters.

Reasons for Adopting this Technique

The gains of an amplier circuit may be obtained by drawing the load lines on the plotted output characteristics. However, for a number of reasons, this is not a truly practical method. (a) Manufacturers do not provide graphs or data to enable the characteristics to be plotted. (b) Even if such data were available, the process would be very time consuming. (c) Obtaining results from plotted graphs is not always very accuratemuch depends upon the skill and interpretation of the individual concerned. For these reasons an alternative method, which involves the use of equations and/or simple network analysis, is preferred. This method involves the use of the transistor parameters, the data for which is provided by manufacturers. This information is most commonly obtained from component catalogues produced by suppliers such as Radio Spares and Maplin Electronics.

2 BJT Parameters
You should already be familiar with the d.c. parameters such as input resistance (RIN), output resistance (ROUT), and current gain (hFE), and their relationship to the transistors output characteristics. In addition, an a.c. amplier circuit may be redrawn in terms of the appearance of the circuit to a.c. signals. This is illustrated in Fig. 1.

67

68

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

VCC
C b

RB RS

RC RS
b

Vce RB Vbe

RC

RL

Vce VS Vbe

RL

VS

R (a) circuit (b) a.c. equivalent

Fig. 1

The a.c. equivalent circuit of Fig. 1(b) is useful in that the current ow paths of the a.c. signal and the effective a.c. load can be appreciated, but in order to analyse the complete amplier circuit the load lines would still need to be drawn on the characteristics. What is required is a simple network representation of the transistor itself, which can then be inserted into Fig. l(b) in place of the transistor symbol. There are a variety of transistor parameters that may be used in this way. Amongst these are Z-parameters, Y-parameters, hybrid parameters, and h-parameters. For the analysis of small-signal audio frequency ampliers the use of h-parameters is the most convenient, and will be the method adopted here. Provided that the transistor is correctly biased and the input signal is sufciently small so as to cause excursions of currents and voltages that remain within the linear portions of the characteristics, then the transistor itself may be considered as a simple four-terminal network as shown in Fig. 2.

i1 1 Linear network

i2 2

Fig. 2

The relationships between the four quantities of a linear network can be expressed by a number of equations, two of which are:
1

i2

Ai1 C i1

B D

2 2

..................[1] ..................[2]

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

69

Examination of the units involved in these two equations reveals that A must be an impedance (ohm), B and C are dimensionless (ratios), and D must be an admittance (siemen). Since there is a mixture or hybrid of units involved, they are known as the hybrid or h-parameters, having the following symbols: A hi ohm; B hr ; C hf ; D ho siemen

If the transistor is conected in common emitter conguration the two equations would be written as follows
1

i2

hie i1 h fe i1

hre 2 hoe 2

If the transistor is connected in common base conguration then the parameters would be hib, hrb, hfb and hob respectively. The h-parameters are dened as follows: hi: is the input impedance with the output short-circuited to a.c. Thus, hi
1

i1

ohm

hr: is the reverse voltage feedback ratio with the input open-circuited to a.c. Thus, hr
1 2

ho: is the output admittance with the input open-circuited to a.c. Thus, h0 i2 siemen v2

hf: is the forward current gain with the output short-circuited to a.c. Thus, h f Notes: 1 In modern transistors hr is very small ( 10 4) so this parameter will be ignored. 2 Just as conductance G 1/R siemen, so admittance, Y 1/Z siemen. 3 The h-parameters will vary with temperature, ageing and frequency. For the analysis at this level we shall consider that they remain constant. 4 Since the transistor is a current-operated device it is convenient to represent its collector circuit as a current generator with its internal impedance (1/ho) in parallel. i2 i1

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Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

Considering the amplier circuit of Fig. 1, the complete h-parameter equivalent circuit would be as shown in Fig. 3.
c hie hfei1 1/hoe R 2 i2

b i1 RS RB 1 S

Fig. 3

For practical purposes it may be assumed that the h-parameters will have the same numerical values as their d.c. counterparts i.e. hi RIN ; hf hF ; 1 / ho ROUT

3 h-parameter Equations
Ignoring hr the original two equations may be written as:
1

i2

hi i1...........[1] h f i1 ho 2 [2]

and using these equations the following results can be obtained. Amplifier current gain, Ai hf 1 ho RL h f RL hi (1 ho RL ) Ai RL hi (1)

Amplifier voltage gain, A

(2)

Thus, knowing the values for a transistors h-parameters, the prediction of amplier gains can simply be obtained by either using the above equations or by simple network analysis using the h-parameter equivalent circuit.

Worked Example 1 Q
For the amplifier circuit of Fig. 4, (a) sketch the h-parameter equivalent circuit and, (b) determine the amplifier current and voltage gains using (i) network analysis, and (ii) h-parameter equations. The h-parameters are hie 1.5 k ; hfe 90; hoe 50 S

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

71

VCC

12 V

RB 68 k RS VS 600

RC 2.2 k

RL

10 k

100 mV rms

Fig. 4

A
hie 1.5 k ; hfe 90; hoe 50 10
6

(a) The h-parameter circuit will be as shown in Fig. 5.

iS RS 600 S 0.1 V rms 1 i1 90i
RB hie 68 k 1.5 k 1/hoe 20 k RC 2.2 k RL 10 k

i2

iL

Rin

Fig. 5 10 6 50 RC RL ohm RC RL 68 68 1.5 1.5 2.2 2.2 10 k 10

(i)

1/hoe

20 k ; RL

1.8 k

Input circuit: Rin

hie RB hie RB Rin Rin

1.47 k

Using potential divider technique: v1 v1 i1 v1 hie Rs v s volt 1.47 1.47 0.6 0.1 V

71 mV 47.3 A 10
6

71 10 3 amp 1 .5 1 03 90

Output circuit: 90i1

47.3

4.26 mA 20 20 1.8

Using current divider technique: i2 i2 1 / hoe 1 / hoe RL 3.91 mA 90i1 amp 4.26

72

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

v2 v2 Ai Av Ai Ai Av Av

i2 RL volt 7.2 V

10 10 10
3 3 6

1.8

103

i2 i1 v2 v1 1

3.91 47.3

82.7 Ans 99 Ans 90 10

7.04 71 10 hfe hoe RL 1

(ii)

(50

1800 )

90 1.09
Ai RL hie

82.6 Ans 82.6 1.8 1.5

99 Ans

Thus, allowing for the cumulation of rounding errors in part (i), the results from the equations agree with those from the network analysis.

The actual current that will ow in the load of the previous example will not in fact be i2, but only a fraction of that, and is shown in Fig. 5 as iL. Thus the power delivered to the external load will be less than the maximum possible. This problem may be minimised by the use of a matching transformer connected between the load and the amplier circuit output terminals.

Worked Example 2 Q
The transistor used in the circuit of Fig. 6 has the following h-parameters hie 2 k ; hoe 60 S; hfe 100. Calculate (a) the amplifier current gain, (b) the actual power delivered to the external load, and (c) the turns ratio required for a matching transformer in order to maximise the power delivered to the load.
VCC RC 4.7 k

R1 120 k

RS 600 VS 0.2 Vp-p

R2 20 k

RE 1 k

RL 5 k

Fig. 6

A
hie 2 k ; hoe 60 10
6

S; hfe

100

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

73

(a) The h-parameter equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 7.

iS Rs 600 1 S 0.2 Vp-p Rin

i1 100i1
R1 120 k R2 20 k hie 2 k 1/hoe 16.7 k

i2

iL

RC 4.7 k

RL 5 k

Fig. 7

Input circuit:

1 Rin 1 Rin

1 R1 1

1 R2 6 60 120

1 siemen hie 67 mS 120

1 120

1 20

1 mS 2

so, Rin v1 v1 i1

1.79 k Rin Rs Rin vs 1.79 0.6 1.79 200 mV pk-pk

150 mV pk-pk v1 amp hie RC RL RC RL 2.42 k 7.5 mA pk-pk 1 / hoe 1 / hoe RL 100i1 16.7 16.7 2.42 7.5 mA pk-pk 0.15 2000 4.7 4.7 75 A pk-pk 5 k 5

Output circuit: RL RL

100i1 i2 i2 Ai Ai Check: Ai (b) iL iL PL so, I L RC RC RL 1

6.55 mA pk-pk i2 i1 6.55 10 3 75 10 6

87.3 Ans 1 (60 100 10 6 2420 ) 87.3

hfe hoe RL i2 4.7 9.7

6.55 mA pk-pk

3.17 mA pk-pk 2 I L RL watt, where I L is the r.m.s. value iL 2 2 3.17 mA 2 2 1.12 mA

74

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

PL PL

(1.12

10

3 )2

5000

6.3 mW Ans

(c) For maximum power transfer, RL must match the parallel combination of 1/hoe and Rccall this Rp. Rp Rp so, Np Ns Np Ns 16.7 16.7
2 Np

4.7 k 4 .7

3.67 k

Ns

RL ohm 3.67 5

Rp RL

0.856 : 1 Ans

4 FET Parameters and Equivalent Circuits

Since a FET has an extremely high input impedance then its input circuit may be represented simply as an open circuit. Also, being a voltage operated device it is convenient to represent the output circuit as a voltage source with the internal resistance (rds) in series with it. The small-signal equivalent circuit will therefore be as shown in Fig. 8. The FET parameters rds and gm should already be familiar to you. From Fig. 8: Vo Vo Vi but in practice, rds
 RL  RL

rds

gm rdsVi volt (3)

 gm rds RL  RL rds

RL , so Vo Vi gm rds RL rds gm RL
d

and, A
G

(4)

rds Vi gmrdsVi V0 RL

Fig. 8

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

75

Worked Example 3 Q
The FET used in the amplifier circuit of Fig. 9 has parameter values of rds 80 k and gm 4 mS. Calculate (a) the amplifier voltage gain, and (b) the effective input resistance of the amplifier circuit.

VDD R1 56 k RG 1 M RL 3 k RD 2 k

Vi

R2 4.6 k

RS 1 k

V0

Fig. 9

A
rds 80 103 ; gm 4 10
3

S; RL

3k 3 5 2 k

(a) For this circuit, the effective a.c. load, RL

RL and since rds

RD RL ohm RD RL 1.2 k

RL , then equation (4) may be used so, Av Av gmRL 4 10

3

1.2

1 03

4.8 Ans

In order to check the validity of using the approximation of equation (4), we can also calculate the gain using equation (3) and compare the two answers. Thus, Av Av
gmrds RL rds R L

10 3 80

80 1 03

1 03 1.2

1.2 0 103

1 03

384 000 81 200

a 4.73, which confirms the validity of equation (4)

Note that a FET amplifier provides very much less voltage gain than a comparable BJT amplifier. (b) Looking in at the input terminals, for a.c. signals, the gate resistor RG is in series with the parallel combination of R1 and R2, as shown in Fig. 10. Rin Rin RG R1 R2 ohm R1 R2 106 56 4.7 60.7

1.0043 M

Ans (say 1 M )

76

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

G RG Rin R1 R2

Fig. 10 Thus, the inherently high input resistance of the FET is preserved in the amplifier circuit by the inclusion of RG.

5 Practical Implications
It should be borne in mind that when designing an amplier circuit, the results of the equations as shown in this chapter give only theoretical answers. If an amplier circuit thus analysed is then constructed and tested, the actual gain gures achieved may well be different to those predicted. There are a number of reasons for this: the resistors will have actual values depending upon how close to tolerance they are, and the transistor parameters cannot be guaranteed to be exactly those quoted by the manufacturer. Indeed, manufacturers recognise this by quoting minimum, maximum and typical values for such parameters as hf. In calculations the typical value is normally used. Thus the mathematical analysis should be considered as only the rst step in the design process, and component values will then need to be adjusted in the light of practical tests.

Summary of Equations
BJT amplier: Current gain, Ai hf 1 ho RL

Voltage gain, Av Power gain, Ap

Ai RL hi Ai Av gmRL gm rds RL rds RL

FET amplier: Approx. voltage gain, Av or, more accurately, Av

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

77

Assignment Questions
1 The h-parameters for the transistor used in the circuit of Fig. 11 are hfe 250, hie 5 k , and hoe 40 S. (a) sketch the h-parameter equivalent circuit and hence, or otherwise, (b) calculate the amplifier current, voltage and power gains.
VCC 120 k 4.7 k
0.2 V V 1 pk-pk 4.7 k 500 7.5 k
VCC

56 k

3.9 k

Fig. 13
0.25 V V1 pk-pk V0

The parameters for the FET in Fig. 14 are rds 85 k and gm 4.1 mS. (a) calculate the amplifier voltage gain, and (b) the power dissipated in the external 15 k load.
VDD 30 V

Fig. 11 2 The circuit of Fig. 11 is now reconnected so that the transistor is connected in common base configuration. If the common base parameters hib and hob are 100 and 20 S respectively, (a) sketch the equivalent circuit, and (b) calculate the amplifier current, voltage and power gains. 3 Figure 12 shows a simply biased common source FET amplifier, where the transistor parameters are gm 3 mS, and rds 75 k . Calculate the amplifier voltage gain.

56 k 1.2 M

10 k

V1 3V pk-pk 4.7 k 4.7 k

15 k

Fig. 14 6 For the two equivalent circuits shown in Figs. 15(a) and (b), sketch the amplifier circuits that they represent, showing component values, and also identify the values for the transistor parameters in each case.
90 k 5 k

VDD 15 k

120 V1

20 k 1 M RS

V1 1.2 M 6.8 k

(a)

Fig. 12

i1 600 82 k 10 k 50i1 3 k 25 k 4.7 k 10 k

The transistor of the amplifier circuit shown in Fig. 13 has the following parameters: hie 2.5 k , hfe 120, and hoe 100 S. Sketch the equivalent circuit and determine the amplifier current and voltage gains, and the power dissipated in the external 7.5 k load.

V1

(b)

Fig. 15

78

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

Supplementary Worked Example 1 Q

Calculate the minimum value of hfe required for the transistor in Fig. 16 in order that a power of 3.5 mW is dissipated in the 10 k load resistor. The values for hie and hoe are 4 k and 50 S respectively.
VCC 100 k 4.7 k

0.25 V pk-pk

600

10 k

Fig.16

A
The h-parameter equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 17. Since RB hie then the shunting effect of RB will be negligible, and it has therefore been omitted from the calculation. hie 4000 ; hoe 50 10
i1 hfei1 RB V1 100 k hie 4 k 1/hoe 20 k RC 4.7 k RL 10 k
6

S; Vi

0.25 V pk-pk; Po

3.5

10

VS 0.25 V pk-pk

V2

Fig. 17 P0 V2 V1 V1 so, V1 V22 watt so V2 RL 5.916 V hie hie Rs Vs volt pk-pk 4 4.6 0.25 P0 RL volt 3.5 10
3

10 4

0.21 7V pk-pk 0.217 7 2 2 76.8mV r.m.s.

Voltage gain required, Av Av

V2 V1 77

5.916 0.768

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

79

Av so, hfe hie

hfe RL where RL hie (1 hoe RL ) Av {hie (1 hoe RL )} RL 112 Ans

1/hoe 1 / hoe 50

RL RL 10 6 3.2

47 14.7 3.2

3.2 k 103 )}

77{4(1

Supplementary Worked Example 2 Q

The FET in the circuit of Fig. 18 has rds 50 k and gm 5 mS. Determine the value of the output voltage, V2, and the power developed in the 25 k load.

A
rds 50 103 ; gm 5 10
3

S
VDD 39 k 40 V

100 k

V1 4V pk-pk

V2 2 M 2.2 k

25 k

Fig. 18 RD RL ohm RD RL 25 25 3.9 3.9

RL

15.2 k

RL , then the approximate equation for voltage gain Now, since rds is NOT should not be used, hence Av Av Thus, V2 so, V2 P0 P0 gmrds RL rds RL 17.48 17.48 4 V pk-pk 24.752 25 103 70 V pk-pk 1.5 10
3

50 103 65.2

15.2

1 03

24.75 V Ans V22 watt RL

0.2 mW Ans

Note that had the approximate equation Av gm RL been used in this case an error of about 22% would have resulted in the value for Av. This would be an unacceptably large error. The approximate form of the equation should be used only when rds is at least 10 times larger than RL .

80

Analysis of Small-signal Transistor Amplifiers

Answers to Assignment Questions

1 2 3 4 5 (b) Ai 210; Av 197; Ap 41 370 (b) Ai 0.91; Av 42.8; Ap 39 25.7 Ai 95.5; Av 98.1; Po 6.5 mW Av 24.6; Po 45.4 mW