Chapter 6

BJT Amplifiers
 Objectives

 Understand the concept of amplifiers

 Identify and apply internal transistor parameters
 Understand and analyze common-emitter,
common-base, and common-collector amplifiers
 Discuss multistage amplifiers
 Troubleshoot amplifier circuits.
 Introduction

One of the primary uses of a transistor is to

amplify ac signals. This could be an audio
signal or perhaps some high frequency radio
signal. It has to be able to do this without
distorting the original input.
 Amplifier Operation
Recall from the previous chapter that the purpose of dc
biasing was to establish the Q-point for operation. The
collector curves and load lines help us to relate the Q-
point and it’s proximity to cutoff and saturation. The Q-
point is best established where the signal variations do
not cause the transistor to go into saturation or cutoff.
What we are most interested in is the ac signal itself.
Since the dc part of the overall signal is filtered out in
most cases, we can view a transistor circuit in terms of
just its ac component.
 Amplifier Operation
For the analysis of transistor circuits from both dc and ac
perspectives the ac subscripts are lower case and italicized.
Instantaneous values use both italicized lower case letters
and subscripts.
 Amplifier Operation
The boundary between cutoff and saturation is called the
linear region. A transistor which operates in the linear
region is called a linear amplifier. Note that only the ac
component reaches the load because of the capacitive
coupling and that the output is 180º out of phase with
input.
 Transistor Equivalent Circuits
We can view transistor circuits by use of resistance
or r parameters for better understanding. Since
the base resistance, rb is small it is normally is not
considered and since the collector resistance, rc is
fairly high we consider it as an open. The emitter
resistance, rc is the main parameter that is viewed.

You can determine rc

from this simplified
equation.
rc = 25 mV/IE
 Transistor Equivalent Circuits
The two graphs best illustrate the difference
between DC and ac. The two only differ slightly.
 Transistor Equivalent Circuits
Since r parameters are used throughout the rest of the
textbook we will not go into deep discussion about h
parameters. However, since some data sheets include or
exclusively provide h parameters these formulas can be
used to convert them to r parameters.

r’e = hre/hoe
r’c = hre + 1/hoe
r’b = hie - (1+ hfe)
 The Common-Emitter Amplifier
The common-emitter amplifier exhibits high voltage and
current gain. The output signal is 180º out of phase with the
input.
Now lets use our dc and ac analysis methods to view this type
of transistor circuit.
 The Common Emitter Amplifier
DC Analysis
The dc component of the
circuit “sees” only the part
of the circuit that is within
the boundaries of C1, C2,
and C3 as the dc will not
pass through these
components. The equivalent
circuit for dc analysis is
shown.
The methods for dc analysis
are just are the same as
dealing with a voltage-
divider circuit.
 Common Emitter Amplifier
AC Equivalent Circuit
The ac equivalent circuit basically replaces the capacitors
with shorts, being that ac passes through easily through
them. The power supplies are also effectively shorts to
ground for ac analysis.
 Common Emitter Amplifier
AC Equivalent Circuit
We can look at the input voltage in terms of the equivalent
base circuit (ignore the other components from the previous
diagram). Note the use of simple series-parallel analysis skills
for determining Vin.
 Common Emitter Amplifier
AC Equivalent Circuit
The input resistance as seen by the input voltage
can be illustrated by the r parameter equivalent circuit.
The simplified formula below is used.
Rin(base) = acr’e

The output
resistance is
for all practical
purposes the
value of RC.
 Common Emitter Amplifier
AC Equivalent Circuit

oltage gain can be

sily determined by
viding the ac output
ltage by the ac input
ltage.
= Vout/Vin = Vc/Vb
ltage gain can also be
termined by the
mplified formula below.
= RC/r’e
 Common Emitter Amplifier
AC Equivalent Circuit
Taking the attenuation from the ac supply
internal resistance and input resistance into
consideration is included in the overall gain.
A’v = (Vb/Vs)Av or A’v = Rin(total)/Rs + Rin(total)
 The Common-Emitter Amplifier
The emitter bypass capacitor helps increase the gain
by allowing the ac signal to pass more easily.
The XC(bypass) should be about ten times less than RE.
 The Common-Emitter Amplifier
The bypass capacitor makes the gain unstable since
transistor amplifier becomes more dependant on IE.
This effect can be swamped or somewhat alleviated by
adding another emitter resistor(RE1).
 The Common-Collector Amplifier
The common-collector amplifier is usually referred
to as the emitter follower because there is no phase
inversion or voltage gain. The output is taken from the
emitter. The common-collector amplifier’s main
advantages are it’s high current gain and high input
resistance.
 The Common-Collector Amplifier

ecause of it’s high input

esistance the common-
ollector amplifier used as a
uffer to reduce the loading
ffect of low impedance
oads. The input resistance
an be determined by the
implified formula below.

Rin(base)  ac(r’e + Re)

 The Common-Collector Amplifier

The output resistance is very low. This makes

it useful for driving low impedance loads.
The current gain(Ai) is approximately ac.
The voltage gain is approximately 1.
The power gain is approximately equal to
the current gain(Ai).
 The Common-Collector Amplifier
e darlington pair is
ed to boost the input
pedance to reduce
ading of high output
pedance circuits. The
llectors are joined
gether and the emitter
the input transistor is
nnected to the base of
e output transistor. The
put impedance can be
termined the formula
low.
Rin = ac1ac2Re
 The Common-Base Amplifier
he common-base amplifier has high voltage gain with a
urrent gain no higher than 1. It has a low input resistance
making it ideal for low impedance input sources. The ac
ignal is applied to the emitter and the output is taken from
he collector.
 The Common-Base Amplifier

he common-base voltage gain(Av) is

proximately equal to Rc/r’e
he current gain is approximately 1.

he power gain is approximately equal to the voltage gain.

he input resistance is approximately equal to r’e.

he output resistance is approximately equal to RC.
 Multistage Amplifiers

Two or more amplifiers can be connected to increase the

gain of an ac signal. The overall gain can be calculated by
simply multiplying each gain together.
A’v = Av1Av2Av3 ……
 Multistage Amplifiers

Gain can be expressed in decibels(dB).

The formula below can be used to
express gain in decibels.
A v(dB) = 20logAv

Each stage’s gain can now can be

simply added together for the total.
 Multistage Amplifiers

The capacitive coupling keeps dc bias voltages separate

but allows the ac to pass through to the next stage.
 Multistage Amplifiers
The output of stage 1 is loaded by input of stage 2. This
lowers the gain of stage 1. This ac equivalent circuit helps
give a better understanding how loading can effect gain.
 Multistage Amplifiers
Direct coupling between stage improves low frequency gain.
he disadvantage is that small changes in dc bias from
emperature changes or supply variations becomes more
ronounced.
 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting techniques for transistor

amplifiers is similar to techniques covered in
Chapter 2. Usage of knowledge of how an
amplifier works, symptoms, and signal tracing
are all valuable parts of troubleshooting.
Needless to say experience is an excellent
teacher but having a clear understanding of
how these circuits work makes the
troubleshooting process more efficient and
understandable.
 Troubleshooting
he following slide is a diagram for a two stage common-
mitter amplifier with correct voltages at various points.
tilize your knowledge of transistor amplifiers and
oubleshooting techniques and imagine what the effects
ould be with various faulty components, for example, open
sistors, shorted transistor junctions or capacitors. More
mportantly how would the output be effected by these faults.
troubleshooting it is most important to understand the
peration of a circuit
What faults could cause low or no output?
What faults could cause a distorted output signal?
Troubleshooting
 Summary
 Most transistors amplifiers are designed to operate
in the linear region.

 Transistor circuits can be view in terms of it’s ac

equivalent for better understanding.
 The common-emitter amplifier has high voltage and
current gain.
 The common-collector has a high current gain and
voltage gain of 1. It has a high input impedance and low
output impedance.
 Summary
 The common-base has a high voltage gain and a
current gain of 1. It has a low input impedance and
high output impedance

 Multi-stage amplifiers are amplifier circuits cascaded to

increased gain. We can express gain in decibels(dB).

 Troubleshooting techniques used for individual

transistor circuits can be applied to multistage amplifiers
as well.