Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Solutions For Exercise ECE 3410
Solutions For Exercise ECE 3410
Problem 1. Complete the following review problems on Ohm’s law, voltage dividers, current di-
viders and Thévenin/Norton equivalent circuits.
(A) Measurements taken on various resistors are shown below. For each case, calcu-
late the power dissipated in the resistor and the power rating necessary for safe
operation using standard components with power ratings of 1/8 W. 1/4 W, 1/2 W,
1 W or 2 W.
i. 1 kΩ conducting 30 mA
ii. 1 kΩ conducting 40 mA
iii. 10 kΩ conducting 3 mA
iv. 10 kΩ conducting 4 mA
v. 1 kΩ dropping 20 V
vi. 1 kΩ dropping 11 V
Solution
(B) You are given three resistors whose values are 10 kΩ, 20 kΩ, and 40 kΩ. How many
different resistances can you create using series and parallel combinations of these
three? List them in value order, lowest to highest. (Hint: In your search, first
consider all parallel combinations, then all series combinations, then combined
series/parallel combinations of which there are two kinds).
Solution
Total 5.7kΩ
40kΩ
Total 23.33kΩ Total 46.67kΩ
Total 70kΩ
20kΩ 10kΩ 10kΩ 20kΩ
Total 28kΩ
(C) Consider the voltage divider shown below alongside the Thévenin equivalent circuit
seen looking into node X. Find expressions for V0 and R0 .
VDD
R1
R0
X
V0 ≡ X
+
R2 V0 −
Solution
To find the equivalent resistance seen at node X, we first zero out any DC
independent sources (i.e. VDD = 0) and then solve for the equivalent resistance
between X and ground. By visual inspection, we see that R0 = R1 k R2 . The
equivalent voltage is obtained from the voltage divider relation:
R2
V0 = VDD
R1 + R2
I0 R 1 kΩ
Solution
Problem 2. For the two circuits shown below, complete the following analyses:
Complete these tasks for the high-pass and low-pass circuits shown below.
Solution
1
H(s) = 1+sRC
|H (jω)|2 = 1
1+ω 2 R2 C 2
τ = RC = 0.01 s
1
ωc = RC = 100 rad/s
80
|H (ω)| (dB)
60
40
20
0
10−1 100 101 102 103 104 105
ω (rad/sec)
C
va vb
Solution
s
H(s) = 1+sRC
ω2
|H (jω)|2 = 1+ω 2 R2 C 2
τ = RC = 0.01 s
1
ωc = RC = 100 rad/s
80
|H (ω)| (dB)
60
40
20
0
10−1 100 101 102 103 104
ω (rad/sec)
Problem 3. A non-linear one-port device has a voltage v applied across its terminals, and the
corresponding current i is some some function of v. The device is said to have a
differential resistance defined by
∆v
req = ,
∆i
where both ∆v and ∆i are assumed to be very small so that the i, v relationship is
approximately linear. Consider the following scenarios and determine the differential
resistance in each case.
(A) Suppose a device has an exponential response i = (10 µA) exp (v/0.25 V). If the
device’s voltage is kept very close to 0.5 V, what is the differential resistance?
(Hint: apply a first-order Taylor approximation centered at 0.5 V).
Solution
d v
∆i ≈ ∆v (10 µA) exp
dv 0.25 V
v=0.5 V
10 µA
= ∆v exp(2)
0.25 V
= ∆v × 2.956 × 10−4 Ω−1
1
⇒ rd =
2.956 × 10−4 Ω−1
= 3383 Ω
(B) A temperature sensor is specified to provide 2 mV/◦C. When the sensor is con-
nected to a load resistance of 10 kΩ, and the temperature is changed by 10 ◦C, the
output voltage is observed to change by 10 mV. What is the sensor’s differential
resistance?
Solution
RS
+
+
∆vs − ∆vL = 10 mV 10kΩ
−
10 kΩ
∆vL = ∆vs
10 kΩ + RS
∆vs × 10 kΩ
⇒ RS = − 10 kΩ
∆vL
Problem 4. The differential voltage amplifier shown below has a non-linear transfer characteristic
described by a non-linear equation:
+ +
exp(kvIN )−1
vIN vOUT vOUT = VR exp(kvIN )+1
−
−
In this equation, VR is interpreted as the rail voltage, i.e. the power supplies are at +VR
and −VR . The constant k is related to the amplifier’s gain.
When dealing with a non-linear amplifier such as this, we usually approximate the
device using a first-order Taylor expansion, so that it looks like a linear amplifier:
vout ≈ Avin ,
dvOUT
where A =
dvIN vIN =0
(A) Using Matlab, Octave or other software, plot the transfer characteristic (vout on
the vertical axis and vin on the horizontal axis) over the domain vin ∈ (−2V, +2V)
in steps of 0.01V, using the parameter values VR = 10V and k = 10V−1 .
Solution
10
vOUT (V)
5
0
−5
−10
−2 −1 0 1 2
vIN (V)
(B) Notice that the slope is steepest near vIN = 0. In your plotting software, zoom
into the domain vin ∈ (−0.1V, +0.1V). Ideally, an amplifier’s transfer charac-
teristic should be a straight line. Comment on the straightness of the zoomed
characteristic, and how it might affect amplifier function.
Solution
Solution (cont.)
vOUT (V)
2
0
−2
−4
−0.1 −5 · 10−2 0 5 · 10−2 0.1
vIN (V)
(C) In your zoomed plot, measure the slope ∆vOUT /∆vIN for the transfer characteristic
near the point where vIN = 0.
Solution
(D) Now find the amplifier’s gain by solving an expression for the derivative dvOUT /dvIN ,
and evaluate the derivative at the point vIN = 0. Give your answer as an equation
in terms of VR and k.
Solution
The gain is
d exp (kvIN ) − 1
VR
dvIN exp (kvIN ) + 1 vIN =0
k exp (kvIN ) exp (kvIN ) − 1
= VR − k exp (kvIN )
exp (kvIN ) + 1 (exp (kvIN ) + 1)2 v IN =0
k
= VR
2
(E) Finally, evaluate your gain equation using the values specified in part (a). How
closely does it match to the numerical measure you made in part (c)?
Solution
Av (dB) = 40dB
Rin = 1MΩ
Rout = 10Ω
This amplifier is used to drive a load of RL = 100Ω. The signal source is an ideal
voltage source with no series resistance (i.e. Rsig = 0).
(A) What is the open-circuit voltage gain with the signal-source connected, but with
no load connected? (AV O , vvout
sig
, excluding the coupling divider ratios).
Solution
Since Rsig = 0, there is no coupling effect at the amplifier’s input, and since
RL is not connected, there is no coupling effect at the output. Therefore the
gain is exactly equal to the specified gain of 40 dB. Expressed in volts-per-volt,
this is AV O = 100 V/V.
(B) What is the loaded voltage gain with both the signal source connected and the
load connected? (AV L , vvout
sig
, including the coupling divider ratios).
Solution
Since Rsig = 0, there is no coupling effect at the input. Now that the load is
attached a voltage-divider will appear at the amplifier’s output, so the loaded
gain is
RL
AV L = AV O
Rout + RL
100 Ω
= (100 V/V)
100 Ω + 10 Ω
= 90.9 V/V.
The amplifier’s signal source is a sinusoid with amplitude Isig = 1mA and parallel
resistance of 100kΩ. The amplifier also drives a load resistance of RL = 100Ω.
What are the values of the current gain, the voltage gain and the power gain for this
circuit?
Solution
The unloaded (short-circuit) current gain is Ai = 100 A/A. When the signal source
and load are connected, current-divider relationship appear due to the resistive
coupling at the input and output terminals. Therefore:
iout
AIL =
isig
100kΩ Rout
= Ai = 98 A/A
100kΩ + Rin Rout + 100Ω
To obtain the voltage gain, we first solve for vin and vout :
Lastly, the power gain is the product of voltage and current gains:
AP = AIL Av
= 970 W/W
Problem 7. The circuit shown below is a transresistance amplifier used to convert a small current
signal into a voltage signal.
Amplifier Circuit
Signal Source
RF
iSIG Rsig −
vOUT
iIN +
By solving for Rin , Rout and Rm , you obtain the equivalent circuit model:
Rout
vout
+
iin
iSIG Rsig Rin − Rm iin
If the op amp is ideal, obtain expressions for the amplifier circuit’s input resistance,
the output resistance and the transconductance gain Rm = vOUT /iIN .
Solution
Since the op amp is ideal, it has infinite input resistance and zero output resistance.
Therefore:
iin = isig
vout = −isig RF
vout
⇒ Rm , = −RF
isig
Problem 8. Two amplifiers are to cascaded between a signal source and load, as shown below.
+ +
iin 1
iSIG Rsig Rin 1 − Rm1 iin 1 Rin 2 − Av2 vin 2 RL
(A) Accounting for all coupling effects, give an expression for the circuit’s overall
transresistance gain, Rtot = vout /isig . Calculate the value for this gain.
Solution
For the current signals, the resistive coupling obeys a current-divider relation.
For the voltage signals, there is a voltage-divider relation. Chaining them
together:
Rsig
iin 1 = isig
Rsig + Rin 1
Rin 2
vin 2 = Rm1 iin 1
Rin 2 + Rout 1
RL
vout = Av2 vin 2
RL + Rout 2
(C) If the amplifiers’ input and output resistances could be modified, describe the
changes that would be required to maximize the total transresistance gain. State
the value of the maximum gain that can be achieved under these modifications.
Solution
Rin 1 → 0
Rout 1 → 0
Rin 2 → ∞
Rout 2 → 0