Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

Plan for the next four weeks

W10: Multi-stage Amplifiers for Integrated Circuits

W11: Ideal Operational Amplifier Circuits

W12: Nonideal Effects in Operational Amplifiers

In-class Test (3 hours, 1:30 pm ~ 4:30 pm)

W13: Revision
Lab 2

Office: SC429
Office Hours: Thursday, 2-4 pm
Email: Xiaoyang.Chen02@xjtlu.edu.cn

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

Multi-Stage Amplifiers for

Integrated Circuits
Dr. Xiaoyang Chen

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

Part 1: Basic Building Blocks in

Multi-Stage Circuits

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
1. Basic Amplifiers
• Common Emitter

!" = $%
RC

!& = !' ||$& ≈ !'

io
,&
Ro *+ = = −./ !' !0 $& ≈ −./ !' ||!0
Ri
RL
vo ,"
vi
Usage: Gain stage

• Common Emitter with Emitter Degradation

!" = $% + 1 + 3 !4
RC
io
!& = !' ||$& ≈ !'
./ !' ||!0
Ro *+ = −
Ri vo 1 + ./ !4
vi RL
RE Usage: !4 provides feedback – gives
increased stability; Gain stage

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 Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
• Common Collector (Emitter Follower)

!" = $% + 1 + ( !) ||!+ High

io $% + !-
!, = ||!) Low
RS
Ri 1+(
Ro
vi RL
vo 01 !) ||!+
RE ./ = Low
vs 1 + 01 !) ||!+
Usage: Impedance matching; Buffer

• Common Base
$% 1
!" = ≈ = $3 Low
1 + ( 01
!, = !4 High

./ = 01 !4 ||!+ High

Usage: Impedance matching

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
2. Differential Amplifier

+VCC
RC

Q1 Q2
0V
vo
v i1 I v i2
o
0V R E 0V 0V

-VEE

• Although the diff-amp contains two transistors, it is considered as an individual module

in IC design.

• A diff-amp has characteristics very similar to a CE amplifier

• Usage: Input stage to virtually all multi-stage amplifiers and integrated circuits

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 Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
AC equivalent circuit for differential-mode input signal

• With differential-mode input, we have !" = 0, so the emitters of Q1 and Q2 remain at

signal ground

• Since !" is always at ground potential, we can treat each half of the diff-amp as a CE circuit

• The differential-mode characteristics of the diff-amp can be determined by analyzing

the half circuit

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Properties (Differential Mode)

$%
$%
!" = = 2 ⋅ 2 = 2*+
&' &'
$.
!. = = !6 ||*. Must Remember!
&.
$. $. 1 $. 1 45 !6
,- = = = − ⋅ $ = − ⋅ ,- 12 ≈
$" $% 2 − % 2 2
2

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

3. Darlington Pair Configuration

• It’s a multi-transistor configuration. In ICs, we consider the Darlington Pair as an

individual building block

• Usage: Gain stage

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Small signal equivalent circuit

We see that !"# = %& '"#, hence

()#!"# = ()#'"#%& = *#%&

Then, !"+ = %& + *#%& '"+, and we can write:

!& = !"# + !"+ = %& '"# + %& 1 + *# '"+

so that the input resistance is:

!&
.& = = '"# + 1 + *# '"+
%&

The output resistance can be easily found by:

!/
./ = = .0 ||'/ ≈ .0
%/

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Small signal equivalent circuit

For a Darlington Pair, the current gain is:

$%
!" = ≈ '(')
$"
Hence we have $% = $" ⋅ '(')

The voltage gain then can be found by:

,% $% -% $" ⋅ '(') ⋅ -.
!+ = = =
," $" -" $" (01( + 1 + '( 01))
'(') ⋅ -. '(') ⋅ -.
= ≈
01( + 1 + '( 01) 01( + '(01)

If we have two identical transistors, then

'(') ⋅ -. ' )-.

!+ = =
01( + '(01) 01( + '01)

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
4. Active Loads
• When a bipolar transistor is used as a linear amplifying device, it must be biased in
the forward-active mode.
• In discrete circuits, biasing are basically achieved with resistor biasing.
• In integrated circuits, we would like to eliminate as many resistors as possible
because they require larger surface area than transistors.
• A bipolar transistor can be biased by using a constant-current source !" .

Advantages:

• The emitter current is independent of $ and %&

• The collector current and C-E voltage are

essentially independent of $

• The value of %& can be increased, thus

increasing the input resistance at the base,
without disturbing the bias stability

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Current mirror circuits

Basic two transistor current source Widlar current source

Must Remember!

!+$, !+$,
!50 = !" = ≈ !+$, !" #$ = &' ln( )
2 !"
1+
7
#" = /"0 #" ≈ /"0(1 + 340#$ )

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Differential amplifier with active load

!" = $% ('() ∥ '(+ ∥ ,- )

Must Remember!
,( = '() ∥ '(+ ∥ ,-

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

Part 2: Multi-Stage Amplifier

Circuits Analysis

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

Main Principles

1. Perform the DC analysis of the circuit to determine the small-signal parameters of the
transistors. In most cases the base currents can be neglected. This assumption will
normally provide sufficient accuracy for a hand analysis.

2. Perform the AC analysis on each stage of the circuit, taking into account the loading
effect of the following stage.

The properties of the previous stage (gain, input/output resistance ) can be a function of the
input resistance of the next stage

3. The overall small-signal voltage gain is the product of the gains of each stage as long as
the loading effect is taken into account.

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211

Example 1

Find the mathematical expression of the overall voltage gain for the amplifier shown below
(!" = ∞).

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution:

This amplifier is composed of two stages

• A CE amplifier at the input with Q1 (stage 1)
• A CE amplifier at the output with Q2 (stage 2)

Stage 1:
According to the formula sheet, we have:
!"# = −&'#()#||(+#

In this case, (+# is just the input resistance of stage 2,

then we have:
(+# = (,- = ./-
Therefore, the overall voltage gain can be found as:
Hence: !"# = −&'#()#||./-
12 (,
!0 = = &'#&'-(()#||./-)(()-||(+ )( )
Stage 2: 13 (, + (7

!"- = −&'-()-||(+ where (, = (#| (- |./#

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Example 2

Consider the circuit shown below. Assume !"# $% = 0.7 ! for all transistors.

a) Perform DC analysis and find

the currents:
*+, *- , *.+, *./, *01, *02, *03, and *07
(Neglect base currents)

b) Determine the small signal

voltage gain of the circuit,
assuming 8 = 100 and !: = ∞

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution a):
The circuit is composed of three
stages
• A differential amplifier biased by a
Widlar current source (stage 1)
• A gain stage with a Darlington pair
(stage 2)
• An output circuit with CC (stage 3)

The reference current !" is:

$ % − 0.7 − $ *
!" = = 1 -.
+"
The bias current !/ is found by:
!" The DC voltage at the collector of Q2 is:
!/ +0 = $1 ln !/ = 0.4 -.
!/ $70 = $ % − !50+5 = 6 $
The collector currents are then: The current !9: is then determined to be:
1 $70 − 2$;< (>?)
!5" = !50 = !/ = 0.2 -. !9: = = 0.4 -.
2 +:

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution a):
Since base currents are negligible,
we have: !"# ≈ !"% = 0.4 *+

The DC voltage at the collectors of

Q3 and Q4 is then:
,-. = , / − !"#1# = 8 ,

Since 13 = 1., we have:

!"4 = !5 = 0.4 *+

The DC voltage at the base of Q6

is found to be:
,64 = ,-. − ,67 89 − !"414 = 0.7 ,

Finally, current !"; is: This produces ,- = 0 ,. This is desired as a zero

differential-mode voltage is now applied (DC analysis)
,- − , < 0 − −10
!"; = = = 2 *+
1; 5

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution b):
Taking the loading resistance into
account, the overall small-signal
gain is the product of the individual
stage gains: !" = !"$ ⋅ !"& ⋅ !"'

Stage 1:
The differential-mode voltage gain is:
() (+, ||+.$)
!"$ =
2
In this case,
+.$ = +1& = 23' + 1 + 6 237
8"9
where 237 = :;<
= 6.5 @Ω
8C"9
The gain of stage 1 is therefore:
and 23' ≈ = 650 @Ω
:;< 7.7
!"$ = 20 1307 = 75.8
Therefore, +1& = 1307 @Ω 2
:
The transconductance is () = &"G = 7.7 H!/J
9

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution b):

Stage 2:
For the Darlington pair, the voltage
gain is:
, #(!)||!"#)
A2# =
'(& + ,'(D
In this case,
!"# = !%& = '() + 1 + , (!.+!%/.)

and !%/. = '(. + 1 + , !0

We find that
123 123
'() = = 6.5 :Ω and '(. = = 1.3 :Ω
456 45<
Hence,
Therefore, !%& = 52.8 @Ω
A2# = 38.5
The input resistance of CC is very large,
so the loading effect can be ignored

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution b):

Stage 3:
The output stage is a CC formed
by Q5 and Q6, whose gain is:
!"# ≈ 1

CC acts like a good buffer to

isolate two stages

The overall small-signal voltage

gain is therefore:

!" = !"' ⋅ !") ⋅ !"# = 2918

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Example 3
Consider the multi-stage voltage amplifier shown below (labelled by 5 stages):

a) Briefly describe the function of

each of the 5 stages

b) If !" = 0.1 mA, make

reasonable approximations to
estimate the total current
drawn by the circuit from the
± 15 V DC voltage supply
when the amplifier is biased so
that the DC value of )*+, = 0 V
and the ac input signals are
zero ()-. /0 = 0.6 V).

c) Assuming !" = 0.1 mA, make reasonable approximations to estimate the overall
small signal voltage gain of the circuit. Assume all transistors have a current gain
2 = 100 and Early voltage -100 V.

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution a):

Stage 1 is the bias current section,

which forms a Widlar current mirror
with Q2 and a basic current mirror
with Q9

Stage 2 is a differential amplifier

with active load. It forms the input
of the circuit and provides the first
voltage gain

Stage 3 is an emitter-follower (CC) circuit forming an impedance matching buffer between

stages 2 and 4. It also reduces the loading effect.

Stage 4 is a CE amplifier with current mirror as load that significantly contributes to the
overall voltage gain.

Stage 5 is a CC circuit forming the output stage and reducing loading effect.

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Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution b):
At stage 1, we have:
$ % − 0.6 − $ *
!" = = 0.653 ./
45
From the current mirror, we have:
!0 = !" = 0.653 ./

0.6
!1 = = 0.012 ./
50
Since we have $456 = 0 $, we have:
0 − −15
!7 = = 3 ./
5

Therefore, the total current drawn from the source is:

!64689 = !" + !; + !1 + !0 + !7 = 4.42 ./

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 Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution c):
Stage 1:
Stage 1 is a bias reference, and
will not contribute to the overall
voltage gain

Stage 2:
For a differential amplifier with active
loads, we have:
!"# = %&'()*' )*+ ,-#)
100
where )*' = )*+ = = 2000 CΩ Therefore:
0.5:# 5
,-# = ,/0 = )12 + 1 + 5 50||,-0 ,-0 = )19 = ≈ 4 CΩ
5 5 40:+
)12 = = = 208 CΩ
and ,-0 = ,/' = )19 %&2 40:' ,-# ≈ 582 CΩ
Then we have: At the base of Q10, we have:
and
:;<' :# :2
%&' = = = 2 @!/= :+ = :G − = 0.623 @! !L# ≈ 736
=> 2=> 5

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 Electronic Circuits and Systems EEE211
Solution c):
Stage 3:
Stage 3 is a CC circuit with !"# = 1
Stage 4:
For a CE amplifier, we have:
!"& = −()*(,-& ./* ./0)
(Here ,2 = ./0)

where ,-& = ,34

9
and ,34 = .567 + 1 + 9 ⋅ 5 with .567 = = 0.83 CΩ Stage 5:
40>?
Hence ,34 ≈ 505 CΩ Stage 5 is a CC circuit with !"4 = 1
677
We have ./* ≈ ./0 = = 153 CΩ
FG Finally we have:
and ()* = 40>M = 25 N!/P |!H = |!HR×!H#×!H&×!H4 = 1.2×10M
Then !H& = −25×153 ∥ 153 ∥ 505 ≈ −1660

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See you in the next lecture...

The End

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