Bipolar Junction Transistor

Amplifiers

Semiconductor
Elements

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What is an Amplifier?

An amplifier is a circuit that can increase the peak-to-peak voltage, current, or

power of a signal. It allows a small signal to control a much larger, high-powered
one. Definitions of voltage, current and power gain coefficients are also given in
figure. Lowercase italic letters indicate ac voltage and alternating currents.
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 Amplifier Configurations

There are three configurations of a BJT amplifier circuit: common-

emitter (CE), common-collector (CC) and common-base (CB). The
configuration is named for the electrode that is common for input and
output networks. The CE is the most widely used for amplifiers because
it has the best combination of current gain and voltage gain. In CE the
input and output voltage are 180° out of phase, called an inversion.
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Transistor Biasing

Circuit with fixed

base current

For the transistor to operate properly as an amplifier, the base-emitter junction

should be forward-biased and the base-collector junction – reverse-biased. This is
called forward-reverse bias. The three dc voltages for the biased transistor are
the emitter voltage UE, the collector voltage UC and the base voltage UB. These
voltages are measured with respect to ground.

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 Voltage-Divider Biasing (VDB)

Voltage
divider

Circuit with fixed base

voltage.

Iдел >> IB

The voltage-divider bias (VDB) configuration uses only a single dc source

to provide forward-reverse bias to the transistor. Resistors R1 and R2 form a
voltage divider that provides the base bias voltage U B. Resistor RE allows
the emitter to rise above the ground potential. 5
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Examples – Biasing

UB, IB, IC, UCE = ? IC , UCE = ? IC, UCE = ?

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 DC Load Line

EC  I C ( RC  RE )  UCE Load line equation

A straight line drawn on the collector curves between the cutoff and saturation
point of a transistor is called the load line. Notice that the load line is only
determined by the resistors RC, RE and UCC and not by the transistor itself.
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Load Line – Slope and Position

The slope and position of the load line depends only on collector circuit resistance
RC and supply voltage UCC and not on the transistor itself.
When UCC varies with constant RC value the load line moves parallel to itself.
Changing the collector resistor with the same collector supply voltage produces
load lines of different slopes but the same cutoff value.

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 Operating Point

The base current IB is established by the base bias. The intersection point
between the collector current curve (at this IB) and the dc load line is called the
quiescent or Q-point or operating point. Coordinates of the Q-point are the
values IBQ, ICQ, UCEQ.
The load line contains every possible operation point for the circuit.
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AC Operation
dc base voltage UB = const ac signal voltage ub Instant value uB = UB + ub

Coupling
capacitor

A coupling capacitor allows an ac signal to be coupled into an amplifier without

disturbing its Q point. The capacitor acts as an open to dc and as a short to ac.
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 Signal Operation on the Load Line

The input signal varies the base current above and below its dc value. This
causes much larger variation in the collector current because of the
transistor current gain. The variation in collector current produces a
corresponding variation in the voltage across RC. As a result, the collector-
emitter voltage UCE also changes.
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Waveforms & DC Levels

Input and output signal waveforms

An input signal with an amplitude of 50 mV is applied to the CE amplifier.

The output signal is with amplitude of 500 mV. The amplifier voltage gain
Au = 10.
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 Two Load Lines – DC & AC

Every amplifier has a dc equivalent circuit and an ac equivalent circuit. Because

of this, it has two load lines: a dc load line and an ac load line. The ac collector
resistance rC is less than the dc collector resistance RC. For this reason the ac
load line has a higher slope than the dc load line. The peak-to-peak sinusoidal
current and voltage are determined by the ac load line. 13
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Clipping Large Signals

An amplifier is a class A amplifier if it is biased such that it always operates in

the linear region where the shape of the output signal is an amplified copy of
the input signal.
If the Q point is not centered, the output signal is limited. If the Q-point is
moved higher or lower, a large signal will drive the transistor into saturation or
cutoff. Thus saturation or cutoff clipping occurs. Both types of clipping are
undesirable because they distort the signal.
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 CE, CB and CC Amplifier Circuits

RT RT RT

Amplifier CЕ Amplifier CB Amplifier CC

AI – high AI < 1 AI - high

AU - high AU < 1
AU - high

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