EC3091D Electronic Circuits Lab II, Monsoon semester 2023-2024

Differential Amplifier

Aim: To design a differential amplifier using BJT.

Objective: A differential amplifier is a fundamental building block of many integrated

circuits. The primary feature that distinguishes a differential amplifier from a single-ended
amplifier is a high common-mode rejection ratio (CMMR). The CMMR is calculated using
differential voltage gains, and common-mode voltage gains. A mini-project on op-amp
design is a part of this lab and differential amplifier is used in the input stage of an op-amp.
This lab experiment is to explore differential amplifier designs based on BJT using a
SPICE simulator software.

Experiments:

1. Design a differential amplifier as shown in Fig.1, first bias the transistors Q1 and Q2
properly, use supply voltage of ± 10 V. Calculate differential voltage gain (Adm), single-
ended voltage gain for differential input voltages of 10 mV, 15mV and 20mV at 1KHz.
Calculate the common-mode voltage gain by applying common-mode signal at the input
of transistors Q1 and Q2. After calculating differential voltage gain and common-mode
voltage gain (Adm), calculate common-mode-rejection ratio (CMRR) in dB. Increase
value of the REE and observe its impact on the CMRR, Acm, and Adm. Also, measure the
bias current IB flowing into the base of Q1 and Q2. Calculate the offset current |IB1 - IB2|.

Fig. 1:
2. In Fig. 1, replace REE with a simple current mirror circuit shown in Fig. 2 to obtain
differential amplifier shown in Fig. 3. Repeat all the analysis performed in step 1.
Assume Iref is 1.0mA.

Fig. 2:

Fig. 3:

3. In Fig. 3, replace load RC with an active load (current mirror) and perform all the
analysis listed in step 1.
4. Present a detailed discussion on design of differential amplifiers used in step-1, step-2
and step-3.

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