ELEC 252

Introduction to Electronics

LECTURE 24

MOSFETs as Amplifiers
Small Signal Models
Amplifier Gain Example

MOSFETs as Amplifiers
- MOSFETs will work as linear (transconductance)
amplifiers when biased in the saturation mode.

DC Part:
Bias Voltage for Drain
Terminal

- This is possible since a small change in vGS(t)

produces a large change in iD(t) .
- Just like diodes, analyze in two steps:
1. DC biasing conditions (DC Part)

iD t
vDS t
iD t I D id t

DC Part:
Bias Voltage at Gate

vGS t

vGS t VGS vgs t

vDS t VDS vds t

DC Part

MOSFETs as Amplifiers
- MOSFETs will work as linear (transconductance)
amplifiers when biased in the saturation mode.
- This is possible since a small change in vGS(t)
produces a large change in iD(t) .
- Just like diodes, analyze in two steps:
1. DC biasing conditions (DC Part)
2. Small Signal Solution (AC Part)

iD t

AC Part:
- Small Signal
Output

vDS t

AC Part:
Small Signal Input, or the
Input Time Varying Signal

iD t I D id t

vGS t

vGS t VGS vgs t

vDS t VDS vds t

AC Part

DC Biasing & Small Signal Analysis

- Assuming no channel length modulation, DC current is :

- This gives the output DC voltage to be:

VDS

iD

- The total drain current becomes

vDS

with

vGS

DC Biasing & Small Signal Analysis

- Assuming no channel length modulation, DC current is :

- This gives the output DC voltage to be:

VDS
- The total drain current becomes

iD

DC Part

vDS

with

vGS
DC Part

Non-Linear
Term
AC Part

DC Biasing & Small Signal Analysis

- Assuming no channel length modulation, DC current is :

Transconductance Term:
- This gives the output DC voltage to be: output small-signal
current is proportional to
input small-small voltage
VDS
and biasing condition.
iD
- The total drain current becomes

vDS

vGS

DC Biasing & Small Signal Analysis

- Assuming no channel length modulation, DC current is :

- This gives the output DC voltage to be:

VDS

iD

- The total drain current becomes

vDS

Non-Linear Term:
Need to keep distortion small, so we want the highfrequency non-linear term much less than the DC term.
This is possible if the following conditions are satisfied.

vGS

DC Biasing & Small Signal Analysis

- Assuming no channel length modulation, DC current is :

- This gives the output DC voltage to be:

If this condition is met

then we can ignore the
non-linear term, and so.

VDS
- The total drain current becomes

Non-Linear Term:
Need to keep distortion small, so we want the highfrequency non-linear term much less than the DC term.
This is possible if the following conditions are satisfied.

Biasing, Small Signal Analysis, and the Transconductance

Small signal drain
current (AC part) is a
function of vgs

Small signal drain

current (AC part) is a
function of vgs

Output Current

Biasing, Small Signal Analysis, and the Transconductance

Define Small Signal Transconductance Near
Operating Point Q

Input Voltage

Small signal drain

current (AC part) is a
function of vgs

Output Current

Biasing, Small Signal Analysis, and the Transconductance

AC Part

Operating
Point

DC Part

Input Voltage

AC Part

The Small Signal Models for any MOSFET

Transconductance Term

Output Resistance Due to

Channel Length Modulation

Note:
-All current and voltages are
small signal (AC Part)
- Transconductance Term
dictated by DC Biasing

The Small Signal Models for any MOSFET

Transconductance Term

Output Resistance Due to

Channel Length Modulation

Note:
-All current and voltages are
small signal (AC Part)
- Transconductance Term
dictated by DC Biasing

- Similar to diodes, first solve

DC part and then make use of
the small signal model.

- In the small signal model, all

DC sources eliminated.
- Like diodes, analysis follows
superposition.

Small Signal Models :

Model :

T Model :

Small Signal Models : Basic MOSFET Amp Configurations:

Model :
Common
Source (CS)

T Model :

Common
Gate (CG)

Common
Drain (CD)

Example: For the Common Source Amplifier shown below, use the
small signal model to determine the output, open-circuit voltage gain.

iD
vDS

vGS