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Presents:
BJT and FET Frequency Response
LECTURE #1
OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lessons the students should be able
to:
Learn General Frequency Considerations
Learn Low-Frequency Analysis using Bode Plot
Analyze Low-Frequency Response of BJT and FET
Amplifier
Understand Miller Effect Capacitance
Analyze High-Frequency Response of BJT and FET
Amplifier
Understand Multistage Frequency Effects SquareWave Testing
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LESSON OUTLINE:
General Frequency Considerations
Low-Frequency AnalysisBode Plot
Low-Frequency ResponseBJT
Low-Frequency ResponseFET Amplifier
Miller Effect Capacitance
High-Frequency ResponseBJT Amplifier
High-Frequency ResponseFET Amplifier
Multistage Frequency Effects Square-Wave
Testing
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General Frequency Considerations:
The frequency response of an amplifier refers to the frequency
range in which the amplifier will operate with negligible effects
from capacitors and device internal capacitance. This range of
frequencies can be called the mid-range.
At frequencies above and below the midrange, capacitance and any
inductance will affect the gain of the amplifier.
At low frequencies the coupling and bypass capacitors lower the gain.
At high frequencies stray capacitances associated with the active
device lower the gain.
Also, cascading amplifiers limits the gain at high and low frequencies.
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Bode Plot
A Bode plot indicates the
frequency response of an
amplifier.
The horizontal scale
indicates the frequency (in
Hz) and the vertical scale
indicates the gain (in dB).
Figure 11.4 Gain versus frequency: (a) RCcoupled amplifiers; (b) transformercoupled
amplifiers; (c) direct-coupled amplifiers
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Cutoff Frequencies:
The mid-range frequency
range of an amplifier is
called the bandwidth of
the amplifier.
The bandwidth is defined
by the lower and upper cutoff
frequencies.
Cutoff any frequency at
which the gain has dropped by
3 dB.
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BJT Amplifier Low-Frequency Response:
At low frequencies, coupling
capacitor (CS, CC) and bypass
capacitor (CE) reactances
affect the circuit impedances.
Figure 11.16 Loaded BJT amplifier with capacitors that
affect the low-frequency response.
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Coupling Capacitor (Cs)
The cutoff frequency due to Cs can be calculated by
f Ls =
1
2(R s + R )C
i
s
where
R =R
i
|| R
|| r
2
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Coupling Capacitor (Cc)
The cutoff frequency due to CC can be calculated with
1
f LC =
2(R o + R L)C c
where
R = R || r
o
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Bypass Capacitor (C )
E
The cutoff frequency due to CE can be calculated with
f LE =
1
2R eCE
where
= R || ( s + r )
R
Re
E
e
and
R
= R || R || R
s
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BJT Amplifier Low-Frequency Response
The Bode plot indicates
that each capacitor may
have a different cutoff
frequency.
It is the device that has
the highest lower cutoff
frequency (fL) that
dominates the overall
frequency response of the
amplifier.
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Roll-Off of Gain in the Bode Plot
The Bode plot not only
indicates the cutoff
frequencies of the various
capacitors it also indicates
the amount of attenuation
(loss in gain) at these
frequencies.
The amount of attenuation
is sometimes referred to as
roll-off.
The roll-off is described as
dB loss-per-octave or dB
loss-per-decade.
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Roll-off Rate (-dB/Decade)
-dB/decade refers to the attenuation for
every 10-fold change in frequency.
For attenuations at the lowfrequency end, it refers to
the loss in gain from the
lower cutoff frequency to a
frequency that is one-tenth
In this example:
the cutoff value.
f = 9kHz gain is 0dB
fLS
/10 = .9kHz gain is 20dB
LS
Thus the roll-off is 20dB/decade
The gain decreases by 20dB/decade
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Roll-Off Rate (dB/Octave)
-dB/octave refers to the
attenuation for every 2-fold
change in frequency.
For attenuations at the lowfrequency end, it refers to
the loss in gain from the
lower cutoff frequency to a
frequency one-half the cutoff
value.
In this example:
f = 9kHz gain is 0dB
fLS
/ 2 = 4.5kHz gain is 6dB
LS
Therefore the roll-off is 6dB/octave.
This is a little difficult to see on this graph because
the horizontal scale is a logarithmic scale.
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Example:
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Solution:
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FET Amplifier Low-Frequency Response
At low frequencies,
coupling capacitor (CG,
CC) and bypass capacitor
(CS) reactances affect the
circuit impedances.
Figure 11.32 Capacitive elements that affect the lowfrequency response of a JFET amplifier.
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Coupling Capacitor (CG)
The cutoff frequency due to
CG can be calculated with
f LC =
1
2(R sig + R i)C G
where
R =R
i
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Coupling Capacitor (CC)
The cutoff frequency due to
CC can be calculated with
f LC =
1
2(R o+ R L )CC
where
Ro = R D || r
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Bypass Capacitor (CS)
The cutoff frequency due to
CS can be calculated with
f LS =
1
2R eq C S
where
1
R eq = R S ||
r
gm d
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FET Amplifier Low-Frequency Response
The Bode plot indicates that
each capacitor may have a
different cutoff frequency.
The capacitor that has the
highest lower cutoff
frequency (fL) is closest to the
actual cutoff frequency of the
amplifier.
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Example:
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Solution:
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Miller Capacitance
Any p-n junction can develop capacitance. In a BJT amplifier,
this capacitance becomes noticeable across:
The base-collector junction at high frequencies in
common-emitter BJT amplifier configurations
The gate-drain junction at high frequencies in commonsource FET amplifier configurations.
These capacitances are represented as separate input and output
capacitances, called the Miller Capacitances.
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Miller Input Capacitance (CMi)
= (1 A )C
v
Mi
Note that the amount of
Miller capacitance is
dependent on interelectrode capacitance
from input to output (Cf)
and the gain (A ).
v
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Miller Output Capacitance (CMo)
If the gain (A ) is
v
considerably greater
than 1, then
C
Mo
C
f
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BJT Amplifier High-Frequency Response
Capacitances that affect the
high-frequency response are
Junction capacitances
C ,C ,C
be
bc
ce
Wiring capacitances
C ,C
wi
wo
Coupling capacitors
CS, CC
Bypass capacitor
CE
Figure 11.44 Network of Fig. 11.16 with the
capacitors that affect the high-frequency response.
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Input Network (fHi) High-Frequency Cutoff
f Hi =
1
2R Thi Ci
where
=R || R || R
R
Thi
|| R
2
and
C =C
i
Wi
+C +C
be
Mi
= CWi + Cbe + (1 A v )
Cbc
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Output Network (fHo) High-Frequency Cutoff
f Ho =
1
2R Tho Co
where
= R || R
R
Tho
|| r
L
and
C = C
o
+C +C
Wo
ce
Mo
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h
fe
(or ) Variation
The hfe parameter (or ) of a
transistor varies with frequency
2
)
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r (C
mid
be
+C
bc
BJT Amplifier Frequency Response
Note the highest lower cutoff frequency (f ) and the lowest upper cutoff
L
frequency (f ) are closest to the actual response of the amplifier.
H
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Example:
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Solution:
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FET Amplifier High-Frequency Response
Capacitances that affect the
high-frequency response are
Junction capacitances
C ,C ,C
gs
gd
ds
Wiring capacitances
C ,C
wi
wo
Coupling capacitors
CG , CC
Bypass capacitor
CS
Figure 11.52 Capacitive elements that affect the high
frequency response of a JFET amplifier.
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Input Network (fHi) High-Frequency Cutoff
f Hi =
1
2R Thi Ci
C =C
i
+C +C
Mi
= (1 A )C
Mi
gs
Wi
Thi
=R
gd
|| R
sig
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Output Network (fHo) High-Frequency Cutoff
f Ho =
1
2R Tho Co
C =C
o
C Mo
R
Tho
+C +C
ds
Wo
Mo
Cgd
= 1 A v
= R || R || r
D
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Example:
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Solution:
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Multistage Frequency Effects
Each stage will have its own frequency response, but the
output of one stage will be affected by capacitances in the
subsequent stage. This is especially so when determining the
high frequency
response. For example, the output
will be affected by the input Miller
capacitance (Co)
Capacitance
(CMi) of the next stage.
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Multistage Amplifier Frequency
Response
Once the cutoff frequencies have been determined for each stage (taking into
account the shared capacitances), they can be plotted.
Note the highest lower cutoff frequency (fL) and the lowest upper cutoff
frequency (fH) are closest to the actual response of the amplifier.
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Square Wave Testing
In order to determine the frequency
response of an amplifier by
experimentation, you must apply a wide
range of frequencies to the amplifier.
One way to accomplish this is to apply a
square wave. A square wave consists of
multiple frequencies (by Fourier
analysis: it consists of odd harmonics).
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Square Wave Response Waveforms
If the output of the
amplifier is not a perfect
square wave then the
amplifier is cutting off
certain frequency
components of the square
wave.
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Example:
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Solution:
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