Multistage Amplifier Frequency Response

* Summary of frequency response of single-stages:

CE/CS: suffers from Miller effect
CC/CD: “wideband” -- see Section 10.5
CB/CG: “wideband” -- see Section 10.6
(wideband means that the stage operates to near the frequency
limit of the device ... fT)

* How to find the Bode plot for a general multistage amplifier?

can’t handle n poles and m zeroes analytically --> SPICE!
develop analytical tool for an important special case:
* no zeroes
* exactly one “dominant” pole (ω1 << ω2, ω3, ... , ωn)

V out Ao
----------- = -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
V in ( 1 + j ( ω ⁄ ω1 ) ) ( 1 + j ( ω ⁄ ω2 ) ) ( … ) ( 1 + j ( ω ⁄ ωn ) )

(the example shows a voltage gain ... it could be Iout/Vin or Vout/Iin )

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 1 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Finding the Dominant Pole

* Multiplying out the denominator:

V out Ao
----------- = -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
V in 2 n
1 + b 1 jω + b 2 ( jω ) + … + b n ( jω )

The coefficient b1 originates from the sum of jω/ωi factors --

∑ ω-----i ≈ ω------1
1 1 1 1 1
b 1 = ------ + ------ + … + ------ =
ω1 ω2 ωn
i

Therefore, if we can estimate the linear coefficient b1 in the demoninator

polynomial, we can estimate of the dominant pole

Procedure: see P. R. Gray and R. G. Meyer, Analysis and Design of Analog

Integrated Circuits, 3rd ed., Wiley, 1994, pp. 502-504.
1. Find circuit equations with current sources driving each capacitor
2. Denominator polynomial is determinant of the matrix of coefficients
3. b1 term comes from a sum of terms, each of which has the form:
RTj Cj
where Cj is the jth capacitor and RTj is the Thévenin resistance
across the jth capacitor terminals (with all capacitors open-circuited)

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 2 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Open-Circuit Time Constants

* The dominant pole of the system can be estimated by:

n –1 n –1
   
   
∑ ∑
1
ω 1 ≈ ----- =
 τ j
=
b1  R Tj C j ,
 j   1 

where τj = RTj Cj is the open-circuit time constant for capacitor Cj

* This technique is valuable because it estimates the contribution of each capacitor

to the dominant pole frequency separately ... which enables the designer to
understand what part of a complicated circuit is responsible for limiting the
bandwidth of the amplifier.

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 Example: Revisit CE Amplifier

* Small-signal model:

* Apply procedure to each capacitor separately

1. Cπ’s Thévenin resistance is found by inspection as the resistance across its
terminals with all capacitors open-circuited:

R Tπ = R S r π = R in ′ --> τ C = R Tπ C π
πo

2. Cµ’s Thévenin resistance is not obvious --> must use test source and network
analysis

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 4 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Time Constant for Cµ

* Circuit for finding RTµ

vπ is given by:

v π = – i t ( R s r π ) = – i t R in ′
vo is given by:

v o = – i o R out ′ = ( i t – g m v π )R out ′ = i t ( g m R in ′ + 1 )R out ′

vt is given by:

v t = v o – v π = i t ( ( 1 + g m R in ′ )R out ′ + R in ′ )
solving for RTµ = vt / it

R Tµ = R in ′ + R out ′ + g m R in ′R out ′

τC = R Tµ C µ = ( R in ′ + R out ′ + g m R in ′R out ′ )C µ
µo

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 5 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Estimate of Dominant Pole for CE Amplifier

* Estimate dominant pole as inverse of sum of open-circuit time constants

–1
ω 1 = ( R Tπ C π + R Tµ C µ ) = R in ′C π + ( R in ′ + R out ′ + g m R in ′R out ′ )C µ

inspection --> identical to “exact” analysis (which also assumed ω 1 « ω 2 )

* Advantage of open-circuit time constants: general technique
Example: include Ccs and estimate its effect on ω1

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 6 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Multistage Amplifier Frequency Response

* Applying the open-circuit time constant technique to find the dominant pole
frequency -- use CS/CB cascode as an example

* Systematic approach:
1. two-port small-signal models for each stage (not the device models!)
2. carefully add capacitances across the appropriate nodes of two-port models,
which may not correspond to the familiar device configuation for some
models

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 7 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Two-Port Model for Cascode

* The base-collector capacitor Cµ2 is located between the output of the CB stage
(the collector of Q2) and small-signal ground (the base of Q2)

We have omitted Cdb1, which would be in parallel with Cπ2 at the output of the
CS stage, and Ccs2 which would be in parallel with Cµ2. In addition, the current
supply transistor will contribute additional capacitance to the output node.
* Time constants

τC = R S C gs1
gs1o

τC = ( R in ′ + R out ′ + g m1 R in ′R out ′ )C gd1

gd1o

where R in ′ = R S and R out ′ = r o1  --------- ≈ ---------

1 1
g  g
m2 m2

Since the output resistance is only 1/gm2, the Thévenin resistance for Cgd1 is not
magnified (i.e., the Miller effect is minimal):

 1  g m1 
τC =  R S + --------- +  --------- R S C gd1 ≈ R S ( 1 + g m1 ⁄ g m2 )C gd1
gd1o
 g m2  g m2 

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 8 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Cascode Frequency Response (cont.)

* The base-emitter capacitor of Q2 has a time constant of

=  --------- C π2
1
τC
π2o g 
m2

* The base-collector capacitor of Q2 has a time constant of

τC = ( β o2 r o2 r oc R )C µ2 ≈ R L C µ2
µ2o L

* Applying the theorem, the dominant pole of the cascode is approximately

–1
ω 3db ≈ τ C + τC + τC + τC
gs1o gd1o π2o µ2o

ω 3db ≈ R S C gs1 + R S ( 1 + g m1 ⁄ g m2 )C gd1 +  --------- C π2 + R L C µ2

–1 1
g 
m2

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 9 Week 15, Lecture 35

 Gain-Bandwidth Product

* A useful metric of an amplifier’s frequency response is the product of the low-

frequency gain |Avo| and the 3 dB frequency ω3dB
For the cascode, the gain is |Avo| = |-gm1RL| and the gain-bandwidth product is

g m1 R L
A vo ω 3dB ≈ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
R S C gs1 + R S ( 1 + g m1 ⁄ g m2 )C gd1 +  --------- C π2 + R L C µ2
1
g 
m2

* If the voltage source resistance is small, then

g m1 R L
A vo ω 3dB ≈ ----------------------------------------------------
(C ⁄ g + R C ) π2 m2 L µ2

which has the same form as the common-base gain-bandwidth product (and
which is much greater than the Miller-degraded common-source)

EE 105 Spring 2000 Page 10 Week 15, Lecture 35