Differential Amplifier
Modes of operation of
Differential Amplifier (DA)
There are two modes of operations of DA
Differential mode
Common mode
Differential mode:
Two input signals are of same
magnitude but opposite polarity are
used (1800 out of phase)
Common mode
Two input signals are of equal in
magnitude and same phase are used
Differential mode
Assume sine wave on base of Q1 is
+ve going signal while on the base of
Q2 ve going signal
An amplified ve going signal will appear at
collector of Q1
An amplified +ve going signal will appear at
collector of Q2
Due to +ve going signal of base of Q1, current
increases in RE & hence a +ve going wave is
developed across RE
Due to -ve going signal of base of Q2, -ve going
wave is developed across RE because of emitter
follower action of Q2
So, signal voltages across R E, due to effect
of Q1 &Q2 are equal in magnitude &180 0
out of phase- due to matched transistors
Hence the two signals cancel each other &
there is no signal across R E
No AC signal flows thro it
Vo= +10-(-10)= 20
Vo is difference voltage in two signals
Common Mode Operation
Two input signals are of equal in
magnitude and same phase are used
In phase signal develops in phase signal
voltages across RE
Hence RE carries a signal current & provides
-ve feedback
This ve f/b decreases AC
In signal voltages of equal magnitude will
appear
across two collectors of Q1 &Q2
Vo= 10-10=0 Negligibly small
Ideally it should be zero
Analysis of evaluating Ac
To evaluate Ac we set VS1=VS2=Vs
On bisecting the Diff. amp. Ckt., we get the
equivalent ckt. As shown in Fig. below
It is nothing but CE amplifier with un bypassed
emitter resistor 2RE
For calculation of Ac we assume that, 2RE connected
in parallel
ie 2RE 2RE/ 2RE +2RE= RE
Hybrid parameters equations are taken
directly for CE amplifier with un
bypassed emitter resistor but value of
emitter resistor can taken as 2RE
AI = (hoe RE-hfe)/ (1+hoe(RC + RE))
= ( hoe (2RE)-hfe)/ (1+hoe(RC + 2RE))
Ri= (1- AI)RE+ hie+ hre AI RL
= (1- AI) 2RE + hie+ hre AI RL
Where RL = RC +(AI 1/AI )RE
RL = RC +(AI 1/AI ) 2RE
AC = AI Rc/ Ri+Rs
(Since AV = (AI Rc)/Ri)
In Ri expression neglecting the term hre AI RL
and substitute AI and Ri we get,
AC =((2hoe RE - hfe)Rc)/(2 RE(1+ hfe)+(Rs+hie)
(2hoe RE +1))
Provided that hoe Rc<<1
If we use approximate model we get simpler
expression
AC = - hfe Rc/Rs+hie+ (1+hfe)2RE
Evaluating Ad
We set VS1= -VS2= Vs/2
ie magnitude of AC I/P voltages is set as above
Ie1= -Ie2 ,
Io= 0 (They cancel each other to get
resultant ac current thro RE as I0=o)
Hence for ac analysis emitter terminal can be
grounded
Bisecting the ckt with RE = 0
We get equi. Ckt which is conventional CE amplifier
Ac small signal Diff.Amp.
ckt with grounded emitter
is shown here
As two trs. are matched
ac equi. Ckt of the other
Ckt is identical
Approximate hybrid model for the
above ckt is shown here
-ve sign indicates phase difference
between I/P &O/P
Here Vs difference I/P
Mod of Ad is
CMRR is =
Method of improving
CMRR
Effect of R :
E
To improve CMRR, Ac must be reduced
Ac approaches zero as RE tends to infinite
Because RE introduces ve feedback which
reduces Ac
Higher value of RE, lesser the Ac, higher
the value of CMRR
Ad is independent of RE
But practically RE cannot be selected
very high due to some limitations
Large RE needs higher biasing
voltage to set Q-pt
( Under Dc cond Ic=IB but IE=IC IB=IE/
IE depends on
To make Q-pt stable IE should be constant
irrespective of
For constant IE emitter R should be very
So various methods are used
which provide increased effect of
RE without any limitations
1. Constant current bias
method
2. Use of current mirror
method
Another method to improve
Ad to increase CMRR is
Active load
Differential Amplifier with constant
current circuit
Here RE is replaced by constant current
source circuit
It provides increased
effect of RE without
physically increasing
value of RE
R1, R2, R3 are selected to give
the same operating point for
Q1&Q2
Let current thro R3 is IE3 and
Current R1 is I
Neglect base current(Because of
large )
Thus as VEE, R1, R2, R3 & VBE are
constant, Current IC3 is almost equal
to IE3and also constant.
Thus ckt with Tr Q3 acts as a constant
current source.
Internal Resistance of a cont. current
source is very high, ideally infinite
Hence this ckt makes the value of RE
ideally infinite which reduces Ac
ideally to zero
Current mirror circuit
Current mirror circuit:
It is a ckt in which O/P current is
forced to equal the I/P current
O/P current is the mirror image of I/P
current
Ckt consists of two macthed transistors
Q3 &Q4
Their base-emitter voltage and base
currents are same
and IB3=IB4
VBE3= VBE4
Similarly collector currents are same
IC3=IC4
Apply KCL at node a
I2= IC4 +I
Apply KCL at node b
I= IB3+IB4 = 2 IB4 = 2 IB3
Now IB3 = IC3/
Therefore I2= IC3 + 2 IC3/ = IC3 + IC3(2/ )
Generally is very large 2/ is negligible small
Therefore I2=IC3
Thus collector current of Q3 is nearly
equal to I2
Once current mirror ckt is set for I2, it
provides constant current bias to
Diff.Amp
Therefore I2 can be obtained by
writing KVL for base emitter loop of
Q3
-I2R2- VBE3+VEE=0
Therefore I2=VEE - VBE3 /R2
Selecting R2 ,the appropriate I2
can be set for current mirror ckt
Advantages current mirror
circuit
Provides very high RE
Required less no of components than
constant ct source
Simple to design
Easy fabrication
So mostly widely used in IC OP-Amp
Use of active load to improve
CMRR
From equation of Ad
Thus Ad increases as Rc must be
high as possible
But there are limitations in increasing
Rc
Limitations :
For large Rc, requires high biasing
voltage to maintain Quiescent Ic
Higher Rc requires large chip area
So it is not possible to increase Rc
beyond a particular limit
Actually a current mirror ckt has
Low DC resistance and high AC
resistance
To increase Ad we need a ckt to have
high AC resistance
It should not disturb DC conditions
Current mirror ckt can be used as
collector load instead of Rc
Such a load is called an active load
Basically it act as a current source
& provides large AC resistance
Under DC conditions VS1=VS2=0 and
Q1, Q2 are matched trs.
Hence I1=I2=IEE/2 where IB1 &IB2 are
neglected
Q3 &Q4 form a current repeater or
current mirror ckt hence I=I1=I2
Load ct IL is the current entering to
next stage
IL = I - I2 = 0
But when VS1 increases over VS2, the I1
increases whereas I2 decreases as I1+ I2= IEE
Constant
Due to ct mirror action I always equal to I1
Thus active load provides high ac resistance
and hence high Ad
Ad becomes high, CMRR gets improved
Transfer characteristic of
Differential Amplifier
Its a graph of Differential I/P Vd
against IC1&IC2
Used to analyze the large signal
behaviour of DA
Used to identify the range of Vd
over which the ckt operation is in
linear region
To obtain transfer curve we use the
following assumptions:
Current source ckt used with current
IEE has infinite O/P resistance
Rs of Q1 &Q2 are neglected
O/P resistance of each transistor is
infinite
Assumptions are valid for low frequency
For a Tr, we can write equation for Ic
IC= Is e VBE/VT
Where Is- Reverse saturation current
VBE- base emitter voltage
VT- voltage equvalent of Temp.
For two trs. IC1&IC2 are written as
IC1= Is e
/V
BE1
T
IC2= Is e
/ V
BE2
T
where IS1=IS2= IS as Tr are mathced
This equation is called Ebers-Moll
equation for Tr
ln IC1/Is= VBE1 / VT
ln IC2/Is= VBE2 / VT
Therefore VBE1 = VT In (IC1/Is)
VBE2 = VT In (IC2/Is)
Consider the loop including two I/Ps & two
base
emitter junctions neglect Rs
Apply KVL to loop shown
VS1-VBE1+VBE2-VS2=0
Sub VBE1 &VBE2 in above equation
VS1- VT In (IC1/Is)+ VT In (IC2/Is)
-VS2=0
VT [In (IC2/Is)- In (IC1/Is)] = VS2
VS1
(or) VT [In (IC1/Is)- In (IC2/Is)] = VS1
VS2
IC1/IC2 = e
[VS1-VS2/VT]
VS1 VS2 = Vd- Differential I/P
IC1/IC2= e
Vd/ V
(A)
Currents thro current source IEE is
additive of two emitter currents
(B)
IEE= IE1+IE2
IE = IC/
IE1 = IC1/
IE2 = IC2/
IEE= 1 (IC1+IC2)/
Solving (A ) & (B) we get,
IC1= IEE/ (1+ e( -Vd/ VT ))
(C)
IC2= IEE/ (1+ e( Vd/ VT ))
(D)
From equations (C) & (D) transfer
curve can be obtained
Let IEE be constant, for various
values of Vd we can obtain IC1 &IC2