PHYS 162 - Chapter 9 FET Amplifiers and Switching Circuits

CHAPTER 9
FET AMPLIFIERS AND SWITCHING CIRCUITS
AMPLIFIER INTRODUCTION
- An amplifier is an electronic circuit that increases the voltage level of an AC signal.
- It is important to understand that amplifier only works for AC signal. There is no DC amplifier.
- An example of an amplifier can be found in modern audio systems. The microphone is connected to
the amplifier and the output of the amplifier goes to the speaker.
- The signal in the mic is low which is amplified by the amplifier and heard through the speaker.

NOTATION
- It important to point the difference between AC quantities and DC quantities.
- All DC quantities have subscript in capital letters e.g. VGS, VDS, ID and RD etc.
- All AC quantities have subscript in small letters e.g. Vgs, Vds, Id and Rd etc.
- The difference is not only in notation but also in values. AC quantities and DC quantities are totally
different.

AC MODELS
- Electronic devices have a mathematical model representation that can be used for analysis.
- FET can be represented as an AC equivalent circuit (AC model) in order to do its AC analysis.
- Figure 1 shows the simplified FET AC equivalent circuit.

Figure 1 FET equivalent circuit

- Notice that the quantities have small letter subscript which represents AC quantities.
- Some quantities are
𝑉𝑖𝑛 = 𝑉𝑔𝑠
𝐼𝑑 = 𝑔𝑚 𝑉𝑔𝑠
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑉𝑑𝑠
𝑅𝑑 = 𝑅𝐷 ||𝑅𝐿
- The most important analysis parameter of an amplifier is the Voltage Gain, Av.
- Voltage gain is given by

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PHYS 162 - Chapter 9 FET Amplifiers and Switching Circuits
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝑑𝑠
𝐴𝑣 = =
𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑔𝑠
𝑨𝒗 = 𝒈𝒎 𝑹𝒅
NOTE: REFER EXAMPLE 9-1 PAGE 438

9-1 THE COMMON-SOURCE (CS) AMPLIFIER

- The advantage of using an FET amplifier over BJT amplifier is that FET has extremely high input
resistance.
- A common source (CS) amplifier is an amplifier where the source is connected to both the input (gate)
terminal and output (drain) terminal.
- In CS amplifier, the AC input signal is applied to the gate and the AC output signal is taken from the
drain.
- Figure 2 shows a self-biased n-channel JFET common-source amplifier.

Figure 2 JFET common-source amplifier

- The analysis of a JFET amplifier can be divided into 2 parts.

o DC analysis – For finding Q-point, VDS, VD, VS etc.
o AC Analysis – For finding Voltage Gain Av.

9.1.1 DC Analysis
- First step of amplifier analysis is to determine the DC quantities like Q-point, VDS, VS, VD etc.
- ID determines the Q-point and can be used to find VD.
- There are 2 methods of finding ID.
o Graphical – Plotting the transfer curve, load line and finding the Q-point.
o Mathematical – Solving ID through its equation which is a quadratic.
- We will only be using the graphical method for finding ID.
- It is worth noting that VD can only be determined if ID is known. If VD is already known then there is no
need to plot the transfer curve of the transistor to get ID.
- Figure 3 shows a JFET CS amplifier and its DC equivalent circuit.
o Note that in DC equivalent circuits all the capacitors are open so they are removed.
o Note that in AC equivalent circuits all the capacitors are short.
- The circuit in Figure 3 will be used to show the graphical method for finding ID.

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PHYS 162 - Chapter 9 FET Amplifiers and Switching Circuits

Figure 3 JFET CS amplifier and its DC equivalent circuit

9.1.1.1 Graphical Approach

- Plot an approximate transfer characteristic curve by taking the following values:
o 𝐼𝐷 = 0𝐴 when 𝑉𝐺𝑆 = 𝑉𝐺𝑆 𝑜𝑓𝑓
𝐼𝐷𝑆𝑆
o 𝐼𝐷 = when 𝑉𝐺𝑆 = 0.5𝑉𝐺𝑆 𝑜𝑓𝑓
4
𝐼𝐷𝑆𝑆
o 𝐼𝐷 = when 𝑉𝐺𝑆 = 0.3𝑉𝐺𝑆 𝑜𝑓𝑓
2
o 𝐼𝐷 = 𝐼𝐷𝑆𝑆 when 𝑉𝐺𝑆 = 0𝑉
- The DC load line is established as follows:
o At 𝐼𝐷 = 0𝐴 find 𝑉𝐺𝑆 = −𝐼𝐷 𝑅𝑆 = 0𝑉. This gives us the first point of the load line.
o At 𝐼𝐷 = 𝐼𝐷𝑆𝑆 find 𝑉𝐺𝑆 = −𝐼𝐷 𝑅𝑆 = −𝐼𝐷𝑆𝑆 𝑅𝑆 . This gives the second point. Connecting these two
points establishes the load line.
o The point where the load line intersects the transfer curve is the Q-point.
o Note the corresponding values of ID and VGS at the Q-point.
NOTE: REFER EXAMPLE 9-2 PAGE 440

9.1.2 AC Equivalent Circuit

- An AC equivalent circuit can be made through the following process:
o Replace all the capacitor with short circuit. Any component in parallel with the short capacitor
will be removed from the equivalent circuit.
o Replace the DC source by ground.
- An AC equivalent circuit for a JFET CS amplifier (Figure 3) is shown in Figure 4.

9.1.2.1 Signal Voltage at the Gate

- An AC signal voltage is shown connected to the input in Figure 4b.
- As input resistance is very high, the input voltage to the transistor will be
𝑉𝑔𝑠 = 𝑉𝑖𝑛

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PHYS 162 - Chapter 9 FET Amplifiers and Switching Circuits
9.1.2.2 Voltage Gain
- Voltage gain for an FET amplifier is given by
𝑨𝒗 = 𝒈𝒎 𝑹𝒅
Where
𝑅𝐷 𝑅𝐿
𝑅𝑑 = 𝑅𝐷 ||𝑅𝐿 =
𝑅𝐷 + 𝑅𝐿

Figure 4 AC equivalent circuit for the amplifier in Figure 3

NOTE: REFER EXAMPLE 9-4 PAGE 442

9.1.3 Effect of an AC Load on Voltage Gain

- An AC load resistance decreases the overall voltage gain of an amplifier.
- An AC loaded JFET CS amplifier is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 JFET amplifier with AC load

NOTE: REFER EXAMPLE 9-5 PAGE 444

9.1.4 Input Resistance

- As the input to a CS amplifier is at the gate, the input resistance is extremely high.
- The input resistance of the transistor can be given as
𝑉𝐺𝑆
𝑅𝑖𝑛 = 𝑅𝐺 ||
𝐼𝐺𝑆𝑆
- Typically the term (𝑉𝐺𝑆 /𝐼𝐺𝑆𝑆 ) is much larger than RG, therefore the input resistance can be
approximated as
𝑅𝑖𝑛 ≈ 𝑅𝐺
NOTE: REFER EXAMPLE 9-6 PAGE 444

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PHYS 162 - Chapter 9 FET Amplifiers and Switching Circuits
Table 1 JFET Amplifier Formula Sheet
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝑑𝑠
𝐴𝑣 = =
Voltage Gain 𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑔𝑠
𝐴𝑣 = 𝑔𝑚 𝑅𝑑
𝑅𝐷 𝑅𝐿
𝑅𝑑 =
AC Drain Resistance 𝑅𝐷 + 𝑅𝐿
𝑅𝑑 = 𝑅𝐷 (if there is no load RL)
𝑉𝐺𝑆
𝑅𝑖𝑛 = 𝑅𝐺 ||
Input Resistance 𝐼𝐺𝑆𝑆
𝑅𝑖𝑛 ≈ 𝑅𝐺

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