AMPLIFIERS

Prepared Under the guidance of,

Mr. H V ravish Aradhya,
Asst. Professor,
Dept. of ECE,
RVCE, Bengaluru

Introduction to amplifiers

To amplify AC or DC signal
Amplitude level

Devices used: FET, OP-AMP, transistor, etc..

Communication systems.
Design to provide desired output voltage by designing

for desired gain.

VO/Vi
Types of gain:
Amount of amplification depends on FEEDBACK
NETWORK.
Feedback:
Types of feedback:
Positive feedback Amplifiers
Negative feedback (Regenerative circuits, (Oscillators)

CLASSIFICATION OF AMPLIFIERS
Classified based on
Based on its input:
Based on its output:
Based on its frequency range:
Based on biasing conditions:
Based on transistor configurations:

DECIBELS

Its convenient to measure the power in logarithmic

scale rather than linear graph.

(2 3)W, (10 11)W
(Ratios: 50% and
11.1%)
Ratio determines change in loudness.
Power Gain = Log(Ratio of output to input)bels
Actual unit is dB, 1/10th of bel = 10xLog(Ratio of
output to input)
PO = Power dissipating through RL and
Pi = Power dissipating through input resistance R i
P = V2/R
P = i2R

PROBLEMS
The output power from an amplifier is 50W when

the signal frequency is 5KHz. The power falls to

25mW when the frequency is increased to 20KHz.
Calculate the output power change in dB.

Advantages of representing gain in

dB
Overall gain = Product of individual gains.
Here addition of individual gains in dB.
Very small and very large value can be represented

considerably by using small figures.

0.0000001 = -140dB and
100000 = 100dB.

HALF POWER POINTS

Consider frequency response of an amplifier

Amplifier will not amplify frequency components

equally.
If amplification is not equal, output will be
distorted frequency distortion.
Max gain over a range of frequencies
Reduced gain below and above.

AMPLIFIERS
What is an amplifier?
Most common processing of analog (continuous-

time) signals is the amplification.

Amplification means an increase in the level of a
voltage or/and a current of a signal, which results in
an increase in the level of the power of the signal.
Signal amplification is achieved by amplifiers, which
are electronic circuits designed for this purpose.
The amount of increase of the signal level is
calledgainof the amplifier.
An amplifier is placed between a signal source
(vs,Rs) and a load (RL), as indicated in Figs.1 and
2.

Fig.1 An amplifier placed between a signal source and a resist

load

Fig.2 Single-stage amplifier between a signal source and a

resistive load

The input of the amplifier is driven by a signal from

the signal source and delivers the amplified signal

to the load.
At least one active element e.g. a transistor, is
necessary in order to obtain a simple, one stage
amplifier, (Fig.2).

Gaindefinitions
The signalpower gainis defined by

(1)

where, poutis the power delivered to the load and

pinis the power at the amplifier input.

Consequently, expression(1)canbe written as

(2)

(3)

where,AvandAiare thevoltageandcurrent gainsrespectively.

Why a dc power supply isneeded ?

The dc voltage Fig.3

sourceV
, is used
supply
dc amplifier
currents to
Bias cc
current
in ato
single
stage

the various branches of the amplifier tobiasthe transistors

properly(active elements in general) in the active area.
A current amplification between the output (controlled) and
the input (controlling) currents can take place, according to
the relationship,

(4)
wherehfeis the ac current gain of the transistor.In equation (4) above,icrepresents

the ac component of the dc collector currentIC,

(5)

i.e.,

Equation(5) denotes that the ac output

currenticrepresents the variations of the dc

current ICas a result of the control operation
imposed by the ac input currentib=IB.
Under this consideration the amplifier performs as
a transducer of the dc bias current to an ac output
current. The transducer power gain is defined by
(6)
.
When the signal source is properly matched to the
input of the amplifier, (
), the
transducer gain factor becomes equal to the power
gain of the amplifier.
where,P is the available power from the signal source,
out

Stages of an amplifier
The gain required from an amplifier is higher than

we can obtain with a single stage amplifier.

In such a case, several stages of amplification are
cascaded to obtain the desired result, (multistage
amplifiers).

Ri the input resistance of the

amplifier,
Ro the output resistance of
the amplifier
Avoand voltage gain of the
amplifier
Aio current gain of the
amplifier

 Amplified
Amplified signal provides a phase difference of 1800 at the collector of
transistor

CE amplifiers are very popular to amplify the small signal

ac
After a transistor has been biased with a Q point near the
middle of a dc load line, ac source can be coupled to the
base.
This produces fluctuations in the base current and hence
in the collector current of the same shape and frequency.
The output will be enlarged sine wave of same frequency.
The amplifier is called linear if it does not change the
wave shape of the signal.
As long as the input signal is small, the transistor will use
only a small part of the load line and the operation will be
linear.
On the other hand, if the input signal is too large, the
fluctuations along the load line will drive the transistor into
either saturation or cut off.
This clips the peaks of the input and the amplifier is no
longer linear.

The coupling capacitor (CC) passes an ac signal

from one point to another.

Coupling Capacitorblocks dc to pass through it.
Hence it is also called blocking capacitor.

the ac voltage at point A is transmitted to point B.

For this series reactance X Cshould be very small

compared to series resistance R S

As frequency increases,

decreases, and current increases until it

reaches to its maximum value vin / R

The size of the coupling capacitor depends upon

the lowest frequency to be coupled

for lowest frequency X C<0.1R is taken as design
rule.

The coupling capacitor acts like a switch, which is

open to dc and shorted for ac.

The bypass capacitor Cbis similar to a coupling
capacitor, except that it couples an ungrounded
point to a grounded point
The Cbcapacitor looks like a short to an ac signal
and therefore emitter is said ac grounded
A bypass capacitor does not disturb the dc voltage
at emitter because it looks open to dc current.
As a design rule XCb < 0.1REat lowest frequency.

Analysis of CE amplifier:

the dc source sets up quiescent current and

voltages.
The ac source then produces fluctuations in these
current and voltages.
The simplest way to analyze this circuit is to split
the analysis in two parts: dc analysis and ac
analysis.

AC & DC Equivalent Circuits:

For dc equivalent circuit, reduce all ac voltage

sources to zero and

Open all ac current sources and all capacitors.
With this reduced circuit shown infig. 3dc current
and voltages can be calculated.

For ac equivalent circuits reduce dc voltage

sources to zero and

Open current sources and short all capacitors.
This circuit is used to calculate ac currents and
voltage as shown infig. 4.

The total current in any branch is the sum of dc

and ac currents through that branch.

The total voltage across any branch is the sum of
the dc voltage and ac voltage across that branch.

Phase Inversion:

Because of the fluctuation is base current; collector current and

collector voltage also swings above and below the quiescent

voltage.
The ac output voltage is inverted with respect to the ac input
voltage, meaning it is 180oout of phase with input.
During the positive half cycle base current increase, causing the
collector current to increase.
This produces a large voltage drop across the collector resistor;
therefore,
the voltage output decreases and negative half cycle of output
voltage is obtained.
on the negative half cycle of input voltage less collector current
flows and the voltage drop across the collector resistor
decreases, and hence
collector voltage increases we get the positive half cycle of
output voltage as shown infig. 5.

EMITTERAMPLIFIERS

Fig.1Typical configuration of a CommonEmitter amplifier

The simplest amplifier consists of one transistor

and two resistors

This amplifier can be used only in applications with
loose specifications.
Understanding of its operation is fundamental for
the understanding of single stage amplifier.

DESIGN STEPS
A)DCANALYSIS
The first step for the design of the amplifier is the determination of the biasing of

the transistor.
Given theof the transistor we should determine:
i)The quiescent pointQ(IC,VCE)of the transistor, and
ii)The values of resistorsRBandRC
Location Q depends on the application.
This location determines the maximum swing of the output voltage and current

and, consequently, the maximum power delivered to the load

For maximum output voltage swing, we must take into consideration the relative

value of the load resistanceRLin comparison to the value ofRC

Basic Kirchoff's equations describing the circuit

for the inputcircuit

for the output circuit

where,

and

for a Sitransistor

quiescent point Q for almost

symmetrical output clipping

CASE A:RL>>RC

We set

(VCE=5.2 V)

(IC=1.25 mA)

Consequently, the bias pointQis located

at(IC=1,25mA, VCE=5.2V)

the maximum output voltage swing is,

CASE B: RL=RC

Fig:A CE amplifier withRL

We set,

(VCE=3.5 V)
And
(IC=1.60 mA)
bias point Q is located at(IC=1.60mA, VCE=3.5V)
the maximum output voltage swing is,
Where,

CASEC:RL<<RC
the amplifier operates as a voltage controlled

current amplifier, (transconductance amplifier) and

thus,
maximum output voltage swing is of no interest.

Drawbacks of single stage

amplifier

1)The thermal stability factor of the quiescent

point has a high value given by,

Practically acceptable values are, usually,SI<30
2)
The input resistance of the amplifier is,
i.e., for a particular bias point there is no free
circuit parameter for adjusting somehow the input
resistance
3)There is no common path between the
output and the input of the amplifier (feedback),
in order to moderate the operation of the amplifier
at both the DC and AC

CALCULATION OF Q-POINT

Determine the Q-point for the CE amplifier given infig. 1, if R1=

1.5KWand Rs= 7KW. A 2N3904 transistor is used with = 180,
RE= 100Wand RC= Rload= 1KW. Also determine the Pout(ac) and
the dc power delivered to the circuit by the source.

We first obtain the Thevenin equivalent.

Note that this is not a desirable Q-point location since VBB is very close to VBE.
Variation in VBE therefore significantly change IC.We find Rac = RC || Rload= 500 W and
Rdc = RC + RE =1.1K. The value of VCE representing the quiescent value associated with ICQ
is found as follows,

the maximum possible symmetrical output voltage swing is,

AC Power O/P is PAC

Power drawn from the DC source, PVCC(DC)
Power Loss in the transistor, Ptransistor