The

Transistor
Amplifier
Home

Save as:
.doc (1MB) .pdf (780KB)
See: 1- 100 Transistor Circuits
101 - 200 Transistor Circuits

P1 P2 P3

A simple explanation of how a transistor works in a circuit, and how to

connect two transistors to create a number of different circuits. No
mathematics and no complex wording.
Just a completely different approach you can understand . . .

TOPICS:
Adjusting The Stage Gain
AF Detector
A "Stage"
Blocking Oscillator
Bridge - the
Bootstrap Circuit
Colpitts Oscillator
Common Base Amplifier
Connecting 2 Stages
Constant Current Circuit - the
Coupling Capacitor - the
Current
Darlington - and the Sziklai Pair
Design Your Own Transistor Amplifier
Differential Amplifier
Digial Stage - the
Gates
Hartley Oscillator
Impedance Maching
Input and Output Impedance
Interfacing
Long Tailed Pair
NPN Transistor
NPN/PNP Amplifier
Oscillators Oscillators
Phase-Shift Oscillator
PNP Transistor
Regulator - transistor
Schmitt Trigger - the
Sinewave Oscillator
Sinking and Sourcing
Square Wave Oscillator
Stage Gain
Time Delay
1 watt LED - driving a high-power LED

This eBook starts by turning ON a single transistor with your finger

(between two leads) and progresses to describing how a transistor can be
connected to the supply rails in 3 different ways.
Then it connects two transistors together DIRECTLY or via a capacitor to
produce amplifiers and oscillators.
As you work through the circuits, the arrangement of the parts are
changed slightly to produce an entirely different circuit with new features.
This way you gradually progress through a whole range of circuits (with
names you can remember) and they are described as if the parts are
"moving up and down" or "turning on and off."
Even some of the most complex circuits are described in a way you can see
them working and once you get an understanding, you can pick up a text
book and slog though the mathematics.
But before you reach for a text book, you should build at least 50 circuits
. . . otherwise you are wasting your time.

I understand how the circuits work, because I built them. Not by reading
a text book!

Let's Start:

THE NPN TRANSISTOR

There are thousands of transistors and hundreds of different makes, styles and sizes of this amazing
device. But there are only two different types. NPN and PNP. The most common is NPN and we will
cover it first. There are many different styles but we will use the smallest and cheapest. It is called a
GENERAL PURPOSE TRANSISTOR. The type-numbers on the transistor will change according to
the country where it was made or sold but the actual capabilities are the SAME.
 Fig 1 shows an NPN transistor with the legs
covering the symbol showing the name for
each lead.
The leads are BASE, COLLECTOR and
EMITTER.

Fig 1. NPN Transistor

Fig 2 shows two "general purpose"

transistors with different pinouts.
You need to refer to data sheets or
test the transistor to find the pinout
for the device you are using.
The symbol for an NPN transistor
has the arrow on the emitter
pointing AWAY from the BASE.

Fig 2. NPN Transistor

Symbol

Fig 3 shows the equivalent of an

NPN transistor as a water valve. As
more current (water) enters the
base, more water flows from the
collector to the emitter. When no
water enters the base, no water
flows through the collector-emitter
path.

Fig 3. NPN "Water

Valve"
 Fig 4 shows an NPN transistor connected to the
power rails. The collector connects to a resistor
called a LOAD RESISTOR and the emitter connects
to the 0v rail or "earth" or "ground."
The base is the input lead and the collector is the
output.
The transistor-type BC547 means a general-purpose
transistor.
Sometime a general-purpose transistor is called TUN
- for Transistor Universal NPN.
Fig 4. NPN connected to the
power rails

Fig 5 shows an NPN transistor in SELF BIAS mode. This is called a

COMMON EMITTER stage and the resistance of the BASE BIAS
RESISTOR is selected so the voltage on the collector is half-rail
voltage. In this case it is 2.5v.
To keep the theory simple, here's how you do it. Use 22k as the load
resistor.
Select the base bias resistor until the measured voltage on the
collector is 2.5v. The base bias resistor will be about 2M2.
This is how the transistor gets turned on by the base bias
resistor:
The base bias resistor feeds a small current into the base and this
makes the transistor turn ON and creates a current-flow though the
Fig 5. NPN Transistor collector-emitter leads.
biased with a "base This causes the same current to flow through the load resistor and a
voltage-drop is created across this resistor. This lowers the voltage on
bias" resistor and a the collector.
LOAD resistor The lower voltage causes a lower current to flow into the base, via the
base-bias resistor, and the transistor stops turning on a slight amount.
The transistor very quickly settles down to allowing a certain current to
flow through the collector-emitter and produce a voltage at the
collector that is just sufficient to allow the right amount of current to
enter the base. That's why it is called SELF BIAS.

Fig 6 shows the

transistor being turned on
via a finger. Press hard
on the two wires and the
LED will illuminate
brighter. As you press
harder, the resistance of
your finger decreases.
This allows more current
to flow into the base and
the transistor turns on
Fig 6. Turning ON an NPN harder.
transistor
 Fig 7 shows a
second transistor
to "amplify the
effect of your
finger" and the
LED illuminates
about 100 times
brighter.
Fig 7. Two transistors turning ON

Fig 8 shows the effect of putting a capacitor on the

base lead. The capacitor must be uncharged and
when you apply pressure, the LED will flash brightly
then go off. This is because the capacitor gets
charged when you touch the wires. As soon as it is
charged, NO MORE CURRENT flows though it. The
first transistor stops receiving current and the circuit
does not keep the LED illuminated. To get the circuit
to work again, the capacitor must be discharged. This
is a simple concept of how a capacitor works. A
large-value capacitor will keep the LED illuminated
for a longer period of time as it will take longer to
Fig 8. Adding a capacitor charge.

Fig 9 shows the effect of putting a capacitor on

the output. It must be uncharged for this effect
to work. We know from Fig 7 that the circuit will
stay ON constantly when the wires are touched
but when a capacitor is placed in the OUTPUT,
it gets charged when the circuit turns ON and
only allows the LED to flash.

Fig 9. Adding a capacitor to the output

1. This is a simple explanation of how a transistor works. It amplifies the current going into the base
about 100 times and the higher current flowing through the collector-emitter leads will illuminate a LED
or drive other devices.
2. A capacitor allows current to flow through it until it gets charged. It must be discharged to see the
effect again.

TRANSISTOR PINOUTS:
 Just some of the pinouts for a transistor. You
need to refer to a data sheet or test the device to
determine the pins as there are NO standard pin-
outs.

Transistor Pinouts

A "STAGE"
A "Stage" is a set of components with a capacitor at the input and a capacitor on the output.
We have already seen the fact that the capacitor only has an effect on the circuit during the time when
it gets charged. It also has an effect when it gets discharged. But when the voltage on either lead
does not rise or fall, NO CURRENT flows through the capacitor.
When a capacitor is placed between two stages, it gradually charges. When it is charged, the voltage
on one stage does not affect the voltage on the next stage. That's why the capacitor is drawn as two
lines with a gap. A capacitor is like putting a magnet on one side of a door and a metal sheet on the
other. Moving the magnet up and down will move the metal up and down but the two items never
touch.
Only a rising and falling voltage is able to pass through the capacitor.

Fig 10 has a capacitor on the input and output. This

means the stage is separated from anything before it
and anything after it as far as the DC voltages are
concerned and the transistor will produce its own
operating point via the base resistor and LOAD resistor.
We have already explained that the value of the two
resistors should be chosen so the voltage on the
collector should be half-rail voltage and this is called the
"idle" or "standing" or "quiescent" conditions.
It is the condition when no signal is being processed.
When the voltage on the collector is mid-rail, the
Fig 10. This is a STAGE. transistor can be turned off a small amount and turned
A transistor, with a capacitor on a small amount and the voltage on the collector will
on the input and output. fall and rise. (note the FALL and RISE).

Fig 11 shows a small waveform on the input and a

large waveform on the output. The increase in size
is due to the amplification of the transistor. A stage
like this will have an amplification of about 70.
This is called "Stage Gain" or "Amplification
factor" and consists of two things. The output
voltage will be higher than the input voltage and the
output current will be higher than the input current.
We will discuss the increase in current in a moment.
We will firstly cover the voltage increase.
Fig 11. The Input and output
waveforms
 Fig 12 shows the signal
(the voltage waveform) as it
passes through 2 stages. Note
the loss in amplitude as the
signal passes through
capacitor C2.

Fig 12.

CONNECTING 2 STAGES
There are 3 ways to connect two stages:
1. direct coupling - also called DC coupling (Direct Coupling) - it also happens that it is the only
coupling that passes DC voltages. This type of coupling will pass both AC signals and DC voltages.
When the DC voltage moves up and down (even at a slow rate) we call it an AC voltage or AC signal
or a rising and falling voltage and when it rises and falls faster, we call it a "signal" or waveform.
2. via a capacitor - this is also called RC coupling (Resistor-Capacitor coupling) - only passes AC
signals - fluctuating signals - rising and falling signals.
3. via a transformer - called Transformer Coupling or Impedance Coupling or Impedance
Matching - only passes AC signals.

Fig 12 shows two stages with a capacitor coupling the output of the first to the input of the second.
This is called Capacitor Coupling or Resistor-Capacitor Coupling (RC Coupling).
The increase in the size of the waveform at three points in the circuit is also shown.
The waveform is inverted as it passes through each transistor and this simply means a rising voltage
will appear as a falling voltage and after two inversions, the output is in-phase with the input.
We have already explained the fact that a capacitor only works once and has to be discharged
before it works again. When the first transistor turns off a little, the voltage on the collector rises and
the resistor pulls the left lead of C2 UP. The right-hand lead can only rise to 0.7v as the base-emitter
voltage does not rise above 0.7v. This means C2 charges and during its charging, it delivers current
to the second transistor.
When the first transistor turns ON, the collector voltage drops and C2 passes this voltage-drop to the
base of the second transistor. But the transistor does not provide a path to discharge the capacitor
fully so that when the capacitor gets charged again, it is already partially charged and it cannot
activate the base of the second transistor to the same extent as the first cycle.
This means a lot of the energy available at the collector of the first transistor is not delivered to the
second stage. That's why capacitors produce losses between stages.
However enough is delivered to produce a gain in the second stage to get an overall gain in the two
stages.
The value of C2 will be from 10n to 10u, and the larger capacitance will allow low frequencies to be
passed from one stage to the other.

Fig 13.
Fig 13 provides a guide to the values of current that will be flowing at 3 important sections of the
circuit.
The input current to operate the first transistor will be about 3uA. This is worked out on the basis of
the current required to saturate the transistor with a 22k load. The collector-emitter current equals
5/22,000 = 200uA. If the gain of the transistor is 70, the input current is 3uA.
The only time when energy passes from the first stage to the second is when transistor turns OFF.
The collector voltage rises and the 22k pull the 100n HIGH.
The maximum current that can be delivered by the 22k is 5v/22,000= 200uA. This is the absolute
maximum for a very small portion of the cycle. However it is important to realise it is not the
transistor that passes the current to the next stage but the load resistor.
The gain of the second stage is not the deciding factor for the output current but the value of the 2k2
load resistor. This resistor will deliver a maximum of 2,000uA (2mA) and that is how a 3uA
requirement at the input of the circuit will deliver 2mA at the output.

You can see it is not the gain of the transistors that produce the output current but the value of the
load resistors. The transistors play a part but the limiting factor is the load resistors (and the transfer of
energy via the capacitor). This is not always the case but applies in the above circuit.

We will now explain an emitter-follower stage and show how it works.

An EMITTER-FOLLOWER is an NPN transistor with the collector connected to the positive rail. (You
can also get PNP EMITTER-FOLLOWER stages - see below). Both can be called a COMMON
COLLECTOR stage.

Fig 14 shows an Emitter-Follower.

The load is in the emitter and as the base is taken higher, the
emitter follows. But the input and output voltage signals are the
SAME amplitude!
You would ask: "What is the advantage of this?"
Answer: You only need a small amount of "lifting power" to raise
the base and the emitter rises with 100 times more strength. The
voltage waveform stays the same but the CURRENT waveform
increases 100 times.
The voltage on the emitter is always 0.7v lower than the base and
the base can be as low as 0.8v and as high as 0.5v less than the
supply voltage. This gives the possibilities of producing an
enormous "swing."
In the common-emitter stage the base rises from 0v to about
0.7v but in the Emitter-Follower stage it rises from 0.8v to nearly
rail voltage.
Fig 14. An Emitter- This means the stage does not produce a higher output voltage
Follower or but it does produce a higher output CURRENT.
Common Collector. We mentioned before the current amplification of a stage was not
dependent on the transistor characteristics but the value of the
The names are the SAME load resistor. In a common-emitter stage we may not be able to
get a current gain of 100 but in an Emitter-Follower stage we
can quite easily get a current gain of 100.
Why do we want "Current Gain?" We need current to drive a
low resistance load such as a speaker.

Fig 15 shows an 8 ohm speaker as the load in the emitter. If the

gain of the transistor is 100, the 8R speaker becomes 8x100 = 800
ohms on the base lead. In other words we see the circuit as "800
ohms."
1. For an emitter-follower circuit, we know the base can rise and fall
by an amount equal to about rail voltage.
2. For a common-emitter stage the collector rises and falls by an
amount equal to rail voltage.
3. So, why not connect the two stages together without a capacitor?
We know that a capacitor has considerable losses in transferring
energy from one stage to another and removing it will improve the
transfer of energy.
 Fig 15. A transistor
driving a speaker

Fig 16. We now have two stages directly connected

together.
The first transistor does not deliver energy to the
second stage but the LOAD RESISTOR does.
The value of the load resistor pulls the base of the
second transistor UP and this delivers current to the
second transistor and the transistor amplifies this
100 times to drive the speaker.

Fig 16. Two directly coupled stages

Fig 17. Using mathematics we can work out the effective load of
the 8 ohm speaker as 8 x 100 = 800 ohms. To put at least half rail
voltage into the speaker, (so the speaker can get the maximum
higher voltage and the maximum lower voltage without distorting)
the LOAD resistor has to be the same value as the "emitter
follower."
This is a simple voltage-divider calculation where two equal value
resistors produce a voltage of 50% at their mid-point.

This means the LOAD resistor for the first stage has to be 800
Fig 17. The load resistor ohms.
and the effective load of
the speaker

Fig 18 shows the circuit with 800R load resistor in the

collector of the first transistor.
The final requirement is to select a bas-bias resistor
for the fist stage to produce approx mid-rail voltage on
the collector.
This is generally done by experimentation.

Fig 18. The load resistor

is 800 ohms

We mentioned the capacitor separating two stages cannot be discharged fully and thus it does not
provide very good transfer of energy from one stage to the other.
An improved concept is to directly couple two stages - and remove the coupling capacitor.
This is called DIRECT COUPLING or DC coupling and the circuit will process DC voltages (the press
of your finger as shown above) and AC voltages (as shown by the sine-wave signal shown above).
When a capacitor connects two stages they will only amplify AC signals.
There are many ways to directly connect two transistors and we will cover the simplest arrangement.
It is an extension of Fig 18 above, because this arrangement has very good characteristics as the two
stages transfer 100% of the energy due to the absence of a capacitor.

Fig 19 shows the previous directly-coupled circuit with a

load resistor replacing the speaker.
We have already learnt the common-emitter stage
provides a voltage gain of about 70 but the emitter-follower
stage has a voltage gain of only 1. We can improve on this
by putting two resistors on the second transistor and
changing the stage into a common emitter arrangement.

Fig 19.

Fig 20. This time we get the advantage of the base

being able to move up and down so it matches the
collector of the first transistor. It also provides a higher
voltage gain by adding a collector resistor and taking
the output from the collector. The voltage gain of the
second transistor will not be as high as the first stage
but we have added the advantage of direct coupling
(called DC coupling).
The voltage gain of the second stage is the ratio of
resistor A divided by resistor B. If resistor A is 10k
and resistor B is 1k, the voltage gain is 10,000/1,000 =
Fig 20. 10.
Fig 21 shows biasing of the first transistor has been
taken from the emitter of the second transistor. This
does not save any components but introduces a new
term: FEEDBACK (actually NEGATIVE
FEEDBACK).
Negative feedback provides stability to a circuit.
Transistors have a very wide range of values (called
parameters) such as gain and when two transistors are
placed in a circuit, the gain of each transistor can
produce an enormous final result when the two values
are multiplied together.
To control this we can directly couple two transistors
Fig 21. and take the output of the second to the input of the
first.

Fig 22. When the voltage on the base of the first

transistor rises, the voltage on the collector drops and
this is transferred to the second transistor. The voltage
on the emitter of the second transistor drops and this is
fed back to the base of the first transistor to oppose
the rise. Obviously this arrangement will not work as
the voltage being fed back is HIGHER than the signal
we are inputting, but if we add a 220k resistor we can
force against the feedback signal and produce an
output.
Fig 22.
 Fig 23. We have added a capacitor
(electrolytic) to the emitter of the
second transistor. Let's explain how
this electrolytic works.
An electrolytic is like a miniature
rechargeable battery.
It charges very slowly because it is a
large value.
Initially it has 0v.
The circuit starts to turn ON by current
flowing through the load resistor and
this turns on the second transistor.
(The first transistor is not turned on AT
ALL at the moment). The base rises
and pulls the emitter up too. And when
the emitter is about 0.7v, this voltage is
passed to the first transistor via the
Fig 23. 220k and the first transistor starts to
turn on. This causes current to flow
though the collector-emitter leads and
pulls the voltage on the base of the
second transistor down to about 1.4v
This is how the two transistors settle, with the voltages shown in Fig 23.
The electrolytic has 0.7v on it and when a signal is delivered to the base of the first transistor, it is
amplified and passed to the emitter of the second transistor. Normally the emitter would rise and fall
as explained in the above circuits and the result would be heard in the speaker. But the electrolytic
takes a long time to charge (and discharge) and it resists the rise and fall of the signal.
This means the signal cannot rise and fall at the emitter.
In other words we have placed the second transistor in a stage very similar to the first stage we
described a COMMON EMITTER.
Since the emitter voltage does not rise and fall, it does not pass a signal through the 220k to the
base of the first transistor. This means our input signal is not fighting against the feedback signal and
it has a larger effect on controlling the first transistor. This gives the first transistor a bigger gain.
A common emitter stage has a voltage gain of about 70-100 and we now have one of the best
designs. Two common-emitter stages, directly-coupled (DC) and with very HIGH GAIN. The
feedback only controls the DC voltages on the two transistors and does not have an effect on the AC
(signals).

Fig 24 shows typical values for biasing the two

transistors.

Fig 24.

From what you have learnt, you can see the mistakes and/or the voltages in the following
circuit:
 Fig 25. The two joined transistors create
a Darlington transistor and this is just a
normal transistor with a large gain.
The 330R discharges the 100u and it will
only discharge it a very small amount.
This means the electro can only be
charged a very small amount during the
next cycle and the output will be very
weak.
It is the 330R that determines how much
(little) energy gets delivered to the
speaker. The 330R has to be 15R to
discharge the 100u to about its
maximum.
Fig 25.

Fig 26. You can work out the voltage on the

various points in this circuit by referring to the
examples we have already covered.

Fig 26.

Fig 27. This is a practical example of the circuit

used as a microphone amplifier (called a pre-
amplifier stage).

Fig 27.

USING PNP TRANSISTORS

A PNP transistor can be used in the 2-Transistor DC amplifier studied above. It does not produce a
higher gain or change the output features of the circuit in any way but you may see an NPN and PNP
used in this configuration and need to know how the combination works.
Firstly we will discus how a PNP transistor works. All those things you learnt in the first set of
diagrams can be repeated with a PNP transistor. The circuits are just a mirror-image of each other
and the transistor is simply "turned-over" and connected to the supply rail.
Study the following circuits to understand how a PNP transistor is TURNED ON.

Fig 28. The symbol for a PNP transistor

has the arrow pointing towards the BASE.

Fig 28. PNP Transistor Symbol

Fig 29 shows the equivalent of a PNP

transistor as a water valve. As more current
(water) is released from the base, more water
flows from the emitter to the collector. When no
water exits the base, no water flows through
the emitter-collector.

Fig 29. PNP "Water Valve"

Fig 30 shows a PNP transistor with the emitter

lead connected to the power rail. The collector
connects to a resistor called a LOAD
RESISTOR and the other end connects to the
0v rail or "earth" or "ground."
The input is the base.

Fig 30. PNP connected to the power

rails
 Fig 31 shows a PNP transistor in SELF BIAS mode. This is called a
COMMON EMITTER stage and the resistance of the BASE BIAS
RESISTOR is selected so the voltage on the collector is half-rail voltage.
In this case it is 2.5v.
Here's how you do it. Use 22k as the load resistance.
Select the base bias resistor until the measured voltage on the collector is
2.5v. The base bias resistor will be about 2M2.
This is how the transistor gets turned on by the base bias resistor:
The base bias resistor allows a small current to pass from the emitter to
the base and this makes the transistor turn on and create a current-flow
though the emitter-collector leads.
This causes the same current to flow through the load resistor and a
voltage-drop is created across this resistor. This raises the voltage on the
Fig 31. PNP collector.
Transistor This causes a lower current to flow from the emitter to the base, via the
base-bias resistor, and the transistor stops turning on a slight amount.
biased with a "base
The transistor very quickly settles down to allowing a certain current to
bias" resistor and a flow through the emitter-collector and produce a voltage at the collector
LOAD resistor that is just sufficient to allow the right amount of current to flow from the
base. That's why it is called SELF BIAS.

Fig 32 shows the transistor being turned on

via a finger. Press hard on the two wires and
the LED will illuminate brighter. As you press
harder, the resistance of your finger decreases.
This allows more current to flow from the
emitter to the base and the transistor turns on
harder.

Fig 32. Turning ON an PNP transistor

Fig 33 shows a second transistor to "amplify

the effect of your finger" and the LED
illuminates about 100 times brighter.

Fig 33. Two transistors turning ON

Fig 34 shows the effect of putting a capacitor

on the base lead. The capacitor must be
uncharged and when you apply pressure, the
LED will flash brightly then go off. This is
because the capacitor gets charged when you
touch the wires. As soon as it is charged, NO
MORE CURRENT flows though it. The first
transistor stops receiving current and the circuit
does not keep the LED illuminated. To get the
circuit to work again, the capacitor must be
Fig 34. Adding a capacitor discharged. A large-value capacitor will keep
 the LED illuminated for a longer period of time
as it will take longer to charge

Fig 35 shows the effect of putting a capacitor

on the output. It must be uncharged for this
effect to work. We know from Fig 33 that the
circuit will stay on constantly when the wires
are touched but when a capacitor is placed in
the OUTPUT, it gets charged when the circuit
turns ON and only allows the LED to flash.

Fig 35. Adding a capacitor to the output

THE NPN/PNP AMPLIFIER

A 2-Transistor DC amplifier can be constructed using an NPN and PNP set of transistors.

Fig 36 shows how an NPN-PNP set of

transistor is turned on.
You can think of the "turning ON" this way:
The base of the NPN get "Pulled UP" and the
base of the PNP gets "Pulled DOWN."
It does not matter how you refer to the
operation of the circuit, you must be able to
"SEE" how the circuit works so you can see a
more-complex circuit working too!
Fig 36.

Fig 37 shows biasing on the base of the first transistor and

the "in" and "out" leads have been identified.
This circuit has a very high gain and if "general purpose"
transistors are used with a very high spread of gain for
each transistor, the result will be a very wide range of
voltages on the output terminal. If each transistor has a
gain of 100, a change of 1mV on the input will result is a
voltage change of 0.001 x 100 x 100 = 10v. We don't have
a 10v supply so, this type of circuit is very UNSTABLE!
We need to design a circuit that has FEEDBACK so the
output voltage will remain within the voltage of the supply.
This feedback is called NEGATIVE FEEDBACK as it
opposes an input signal to provide correction or stability.
Fig 37. Later we will talk about POSITIVE FEEDBACK and show
what an amazing difference it creates - the circuit behaves
totally differently.
 Fig 38 will not work because the base of the
NPN transistor is not turned on when the circuit
is switched on.
This is one of the things you have to look for
when designing a circuit.

Fig 38. This circuit does not work

Fig 39 has a voltage-divider network

on the base of the NPN transistor. It
turns the first transistor ON and this
turns the PNP transistor on until the
voltage at the join of the 3k3 and 1k
puts a voltage on the emitter of the first
transistor to start turning it OFF.
This is a point we have to explain.
There are two ways to turn on an NPN
transistor.
1. Hold the emitter fixed and RAISE the
base voltage.
2. Hold the base fixed and LOWER the
Fig 39. The voltages emitter voltage.
In Fig 39 the base is weakly fixed by the voltage divider made up of the 1M and 220k and even
though the base can move up and down a little bit, we will assume the voltage is constant. If we
raise the emitter voltage, the transistor will be turned off. This is what the FEEDBACK voltage via the
3k3 does. It raises the emitter voltage and turns the NPN transistor OFF slightly so an equilibrium
point is reached where the two transistors are turned on a small amount and if one gets turned on a
little more, the other sends signal to turn it OFF. This is not a practical circuit as an increase of 1mV
on the input will produce a large change on the output and this will be reflected back to the emitter of
the first transistor to cancel the input voltage.

Fig 40. By changing the value of the feedback

resistors we get Fig 40. The values are now
10k and 100R.
This gives a ratio of 10,000:100 or 100:1 and it
means the output can rise 100mV before the
emitter gets 1mv to cancel the input voltage.
This means the amplifier will have a gain less
than 100 but provides a very stable set of
voltages.

Fig 40. A practical example

 Fig 40a. Here is an amplifier with the same DC
biasing as Fig 40 but with a lower overall gain
(2,200:100 or 22:1) and high-frequency feedback
(attenuation) via the 2n2 capacitor.

Fig 40a. Another practical example

OSCILLATORS
If we remove some of the components from Fig 39 and put a LED on the emitter of the PNP transistor
we have a circuit that will illuminate the LED.
We have already talked about FEEDBACK in terns of NEGATIVE FEEDBACK to stabilize a circuit.
We will now cover a new term called POSITIVE FEEDBACK - it changes the performance of circuit
completely. It makes the circuit OSCILLATE. Negative feedback "kills" a circuits performance -
positive feedback makes it oscillate. It increases the signal so much that the circuit becomes unstable.
This is called oscillation.

Fig 41 shows a circuit using an NPN and PNP

connected via a 1k resistor and turned on via a
330k base resistor.
The LED will illuminate.
There is nothing magic about this circuit. It is
simply a HIGH-GAIN, DC-AMPLIFIER using
two transistors.
The values of current are only approximate and
show how each section allows an increasing
amount of current to flow.

Fig 41.

Fig 42. But when we connect a

capacitor, an amazing thing
happens. The high-gain amplifier
turns into an OSCILLATOR.
When the voltage on point "X" is
rising, the voltage on point "Y" is
rising TOO. But point "Y" rises
much higher than point "X."
This means that if we join point X
and Y, the voltage rise from point Y
will push point X higher and turn
the circuit ON more. This will
continue until the circuit is fully
turned ON. The two transistors are
Fig 42. called SATURATED.

This effect is called POSITIVE FEEDBACK and the circuit will get turned ON until it cannot turn on
any more.
But we haven't joined points "X" and "Y" so we have to start again and explain how the circuit works.
When the power is applied, the 10u gradually charges and allows a voltage to develop on the base
of the NPN transistor. When the voltage reaches 0.6v, the transistor turns ON and this turns on the
PNP transistor.
The voltage on the collector of the PNP transistor increases and this raises the right side of the 10u
electrolytic and it firstly pushes its charge into the base of the NPN transistor then the 330k takes
over then it continues to charge in the opposite direction via the base-emitter junction of the NPN
transistor. This causes the two transistors to turn ON more. This keeps happening until both
transistors cannot turn on any more and the 10u keeps charging. But as it continues to charge, the
charging current eventually drops slightly and this turns off the first transistor slightly. This gets
passed to the PNP transistor and it also turns off slightly. This instantly lowers both leads of the 10u
and both transistors turn OFF.
The 10u is partially charged and it gets discharged over a long period of time by the 330k resistor
and when it starts to charge in the opposite direction, the base of the first transistor sees 0.6v and
the cycle starts again.
The end result is a very brief flash and a very long pause while the capacitor starts to charge again.
As you can see, there is very little difference between the high-gain DC amplifier we described
above and the oscillator circuit just described.
That's why you have to be very careful when looking at a circuit, to make sure you are identifying it
correctly.

Fig 43 is the same circuit with the components

re-arranged. It is a high-frequency oscillator
with an inductor as the load and when the
circuit turns off, the inductor produces a high
voltage in the opposite direction to the supply
voltage and this is high enough to illuminate a
LED. The LED will not illuminate on the 1.5v
supply so when the LED illuminates, you know
the circuit is working.

Fig 43.

Fig 44 is the same arrangement of the two

transistors we have just studied, but with a
third transistor above the two.
We have already seen the importance of
charging a capacitor (and then it must be
discharged so that the re-charge will produce a
"current-flow.")
That's what the two transistors in the output are
doing.
The top transistor charges the electrolytic and
the bottom transistor discharges it.
In the process, the charging and discharging
current flows through the speaker to produce
audio.
We have already studied the two lower
transistors. The BC327 turns ON and allows
Fig 44. current to pass through the emitter-collector
leads and this discharges the electrolytic.
The top transistor is an emitter-follower and it turns ON when the bottom two transistors are
effectively "out of circuit."
The base is pulled to the supply rail by the 1k and the emitter follows. In other words the collector-
emitter leads allow current to flow and this charges the electrolytic. The charging current flows
through the speaker.

CURRENT GAIN OF AN EMITTER FOLLOWER STAGE

We have seen the need to provide current into and out of a speaker to move the cone. This is
because current produces magnetic flux and many items work on magnetic flux, such as: motors,
relays and speakers. And some items need a lot of current to be activated - especially globes.
Most transistors will provide a CURRENT GAIN of 100 when up to 25% of their rated current flows,
but only a gain of 50 for the next 25% increase in current and a gain of 30 for the next 25% increase in
current and a gain of only about 10 when the maximum allowable current flows.
There is a hidden factor with motors and globes. They take 6 TIMES more current for a globe to start
glowing or to start a motor revolving. This is because the resistance of a cold globe is only one sixth of
its glowing resistance and a motor has a very low resistance until the back emf (electro-motive force -
another name for voltage) produced by the armature, reduces the current-flow.
This means you have to design a circuit that will deliver up to 6 times the operating current, so these
items will turn on.
We explained the LOAD resistor provides the turn-on current for the speaker in the following circuit.
But we can design a circuit where this current is provided by a transistor.
This is important when we are providing high currents as a transistor can be turned on to deliver the
current and turned off when the current is not required,. This saves energy and prevents over-heating.
We will look at the following 2-Transistor DC amplifier driving a speaker (taken from Fig 18) and
modify the circuit.

Fig 45. This circuit drives a

speaker.

Fig 45. An emitter-follower driving a speaker

Fig 46. We replace the speaker with a motor.

Fig 46.
 Fig 47. We replace the LOAD resistor with a transistor and
add a resistor called: Current Limiting Resistor.
It is designed to limit the current between the first and
second transistors as these will turn on and allow a very
high current to flow if the resistor is not included.

Fig 47.

Fig 48. The current required by the motor is 300mA. The

emitter-follower will have a gain of 10 and the gain of the
other two transistors produces the set of conditions
shown on the diagram.
You can see that very little input current is required to
activate the motor when 3 transistors are used.

Fig 48.

Fig 49. The input current can be supplied from a voltage-

divider using a pot (to adjust the setting) and a Light
Dependent Resistor.
We cannot use only 2 transistors as the LDR cannot supply
1mA under low-level light conditions and that's why 3
transistors are needed.

Fig 49.

Fig 50. Here is a commercial version

of a 3-transistor circuit.
This circuit was taken from a dancing
flower. A motor at the base of the
flower has a bent shaft up the stem
and when the microphone detected
music, the shaft makes the flower
wiggle and move.
The circuit will respond to a whistle,
music or noise.
The circuit uses a different
arrangement to our 3-transistor design
and we will discuss the differences.
Fig 50. Dancing Flower
It is very easy to get a voltage gain or "voltage amplification" from an input device such as an LDR or
electret microphone to drive a motor using just 2 transistors, but to get CURRENT GAIN you need 3
transistors.
Both circuits (Figs 49 and 50) appear to perform the same but you need to look at the voltage drop
across the leads of the output transistors to see how the two circuits compare.
There are two important values for a FULLY-TURNED-ON transistor:

Fig 51. The characteristic voltage drops across a fully-turned-ON transistor

Fig 52. The voltage losses across the output transistor

The emitter-follower design (the first circuit) has a total voltage drop of 0.8v and the motor will see
a maximum of 2.2v. The motor in the common-emitter design will see a maximum of 2.8v.

SUMMARY
You can now see the advantages and disadvantage of each design. Because the emitter-follower
design has a 0.6v drop between base and emitter, it is generally used in a PUSH-PULL arrangement
as shown in Fig 53, to charge and discharge the electrolytic or in an H-Bridge to drive a motor
forward and reverse as shown in Fig 54. .

Fig 53 PUSH-PULL to charge/discharge the 100u electrolytic

 Fig 54 PUSH-PULL driving the motor forward/reverse

Fig 55. Here's a circuit you

can understand.
The output consists of a
directly-coupled 3-transistor
emitter-follower amplifier.
The gain is very high
because the 10k feedback
resistor connects to a 10u
electrolytic so the base of
transistor-3 in the
arrangement is getting very
little negative feedback
signal. The 220k and 330k
voltage dividers set the
biasing for the amplifier at
Fig 55 3-Transistor DC (Directly Coupled) amplifier 1.8v and the mini speaker
will see 1.2v

THE BRIDGE
Another way to connect a transistor to produce a "stage" is called a BRIDGE. It consists of 4
resistors:

Fig 56. We have already studied the purpose of Ra and Rb

to produce a voltage on the base of the transistor. If they are
the same value, the base voltage will be half the supply. We
also know the emitter voltage will be 0.7v lower than the
base.
This will produce a current through Re and the same current
will flow in Rc. We can now work out the voltages on the
three leads of the transistor.

Fig 56. A BRIDGE

arrangement
consisting of 4 resistors
But that's not the point of our discussion at the moment.
We want to know how to work out the values of Ra, Rb, Rc and Re.
There are two types of "bridges."
1. A small-signal bridge and
2. A medium or high-power signal bridge.
A small-signal bridge deals with signals that do not have much input-current capability. We have
already learnt the ability of a stage to pass a CURRENT from one stage to the next stage depends on
the value of the LOAD resistor (for the common-emitter stages we have covered).
If this current is very small, we do not want to attenuates it (reduce it) by making the input of our
bridge stage LOW IMPEDANCE (low resistance). If the values of Ra and Rb are low, any signal being
applied to this stage will be partially lost (reduced - attenuated) by the value of the voltage-divider.
That's why the resistors have to be as high as possible.
They are generally about 470k to 2M2.
Suppose we make Ra = 1M and Rb = 470k.

Fig 57. The base is biased at about 1/3 rail voltage.

The emitter will be about 0.7v below the base voltage so the
collector can produce a swing of about 50% of rail voltage.
This is the normal way to bias this type of stage.

Fig 57. Biasing the BASE

Fig 57a. In the Bridge Circuit, 4 resistors bias the transistor and Re
is the EMITTER RESISTOR.
It is also a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK resistor and works like this:
When the voltage on the base rises by 10mV, the transistor turns on
more and the current through the collector LOAD resistor Rc
increases and the same current flows through the emitter resistor Re.
This causes a slightly higher voltage to appear across this resistor
and the voltage on the emitter rises.
We have already discussed how to turn ON a transistor or turn OFF a
transistor and when the voltage on the emitter increases, the
transistor is turned OFF slightly. This means the 10mV rise on the
Fig 57a. The emitter base may be offset by a 2mV rise on the emitter and the transistor will
resistor provides not be turned on as much. This is the effect of NEGATIVE
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FEEDBACK.

STAGE GAIN
The gain of the stage is the ratio of Rc/Re If Rc=22k and Re=470R the gain is 46. It does not matter if
the transistor has a gain of 200 - the stage is limited to a gain of 46. The actual DC voltage on the
leads of the transistor depends on the quality of the transistor (its gain) and we will not be concerned
with these values as the stage will have a capacitor on the input and output and will be biased by the
4 resistors.

Fig 58. shows a stage with Rc=22k and Re=470R,

producing a stage-gain of 46. The actual voltage on the
collector will depend on the gain of the transistor.

Fig 58. A stage-gain of 46

 Fig 59. If we use the values: Rc=22k and Re=220R the gain
will be 100.

Fig 59. A stage-gain of 100

Fig 60. If we add an electrolytic across the emitter resistor,

the emitter will not move up and down when a signal is
processed and this makes the transistor similar to a
common-emitter stage. The transistor will now have a stage-
gain similar to its specification. It may be 200 or more.

Fig 60. A stage-gain of

200 or more

Fig 61. When we add the electrolytic, the gain of the stage is
not dependent on the values of Rc and Re, and we can
reduce the value Rc so the stage will pass a higher current
to the following stage.
This stage is called a medium-signal stage.

Fig 61. A medium-power

bridge circuit

ADJUSTING (SETTING) THE STAGE GAIN

Fig 61a. The gain of a stage can be adjusted (or SET) to a
particular value by adding an emitter resistor. We have seen
in Fig 58, the gain of a stage is determined by the ratio of:
the resistor in the collector/ the resistor in the emitter.
Increasing the value of the resistor in the emitter, decreases
the gain of the stage.
In Fig 57a, we saw this as NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. This
effect is also called EMITTER DEGENERATION as it
reduces the gain of the stage.
On Page 2 you will find a program where you can design
your own Transistor Amplifier:
Design Your Own Transistor Amplifier
It uses the circuit in Fig 61a to adjust the gain of the
amplifier.
The components in the red rectangle are not really needed
when the resistor called: emitter resistor is used. They only
Fig 61a. "emitter resistor" adjust the "sitting of the transistor" slightly up or down
adjusts the gain of the stage between the supply rails.

Connecting a small-signal stage to a medium-signal stage:

 Fig 62. When describing small-signal and medium-
signal stages we are referring to the size of the
waveform (voltage waveform) and also the
CURRENT they are capable of transferring. The
two values normally go together.
In most cases the voltage AND current increase as
it progresses though each stage.
Both stages in Fig 62 produce a high gain but the
final gain will depend on the amount of energy each
capacitors will transfer.
For instance, the 22k will pull the 10u high but the
47k discharges the 10u and so it will be partially
Fig 62. Connecting a small-signal charged for the next cycle. This means the energy
transfer will only be equivalent to a load resistor of
stage to a medium-signal stage 47k.

COMMON BASE AMPLIFIER

We have discussed the importance of matching the output impedance of one stage to the input
impedance of the next stage. When the two are equal, the maximum energy is transferred.
Suppose you want to match a very low resistance device (such as speaker or coil) to the input of an
amplifier. The speaker may be 8 ohms and the input impedance of the common-emitter amplifiers we
have described are about 1k to 10k. The two can be connected via a capacitor but we have already
mentioned how a capacitor transfers only a small amount of energy when the two impedances are not
equal. And when the two impedances are so mis-matched as 8:10,000, the transfer will be very poor.
The answer is to use a stage that has a very low input impedance.

That's a COMMON BASE amplifier.

Fig 63. The common-base amplifier (Common-Base

stage) accepts a low value of resistance on the input and
produces a high gain. Since the input is directly coupled
to the transistor, there are no losses.
We have already mentioned two ways to turn on an NPN
transistor.
1. Hold the emitter fixed and RAISE the base voltage.
2. Hold the base fixed and LOWER the emitter voltage.

We are using the second option. The base is held rigid

(as far as signals are concerned) and any rise or fall in
voltage on the emitter appears on the collector with an
increase of about 100.

Fig 63.

Fig 64. This circuit converts an ordinary speaker into a

very sensitive microphone.
The fact that the load resistor is 2k2, means the stage has
a good capability of driving energy to the next stage.
We have already discussed the fact that the "load"
resistor determines the capability of the stage to pass
energy to the next stage.

Fig 64. Dynamic Microphone

 Fig 64a. This circuit adds a Common Emitter stage to the
Common Base shown in Fig 64 to produce a DC coupled
(Directly Coupled) amplifier with very high gain.
The common emitter transistor can be called a BUFFER
stage as it provides a lower impedance output than the
first stage.
In Fig 71ac, (below) the output of the second transistor
has been taken back to the input to produce an
improvement called a BOOTSTRAP Circuit that creates
a higher gain.
Fig 64a. Common Base and
Common Emitter stages directly
coupled together

Fig 65. This circuit picks

up mains hum via a coil.
The common-base first
stage has very high gain.
And we can see a
common-emitter stage
plus a 3 transistor DC
amplifier driving a
speaker.
All the things we have
learnt, put into a single
circuit.

Fig 65. Hum Detector

PRACTICAL CIRCUITS
Here are a number of circuits using the stages we have covered:

Fig 66. This 4-transistor

amplifier uses the minimum of
components and has negative
feedback via the 3M3 to set the
voltages on all the transistors.
It is actually 3 stages and that is
why the feedback can be taken
from output to input.
Transistors 3&4 are equivalent
to a single transistor called a
Darlington transistor and this is
covered in Fig 71.
Fig 66. 4-Transistor Amplifier
 Fig 67. This Hearing Aid uses
the 3-transistor DC amplifier
covered above, (with some
variations).

Fig 67.

Fig 68. A 3-transistor amplifier

operating on 1.5v

Fig 68.

Fig 69. This Hearing Aid

circuit uses push-pull to
reduce the quiescent
current and also
charge/discharge the
electrolytic feeding the
speaker.

Fig 69.
 Fig 70.

Fig 70. This Hearing Aid circuit has the first transistor turned on via a 100k and 1M resistors.
Connected to this supply is a transistor that discharges the biasing voltage when it sees a signal
higher than 0.7v This reduces the amplitude of the signal being processed by the first transistor and
produces a constant volume amplifier.

How does reducing the voltage on the base of the first transistor educe the gain of the first
stage?
When the voltage delivered by the 100k and 1M resistors on the base of the first transistor is
REDUCED, the current (energy) being delivered to the base is reduced and thus more energy has to
be delivered by the 100n capacitor. This causes a larger signal-drop across the 100n coupling
capacitor (discussed in Fig 71c below) and thus the amplifier produces a reduced amplification.
This is along the same lines as changing from a "Class-A" amplifier to a "Class-C" amplifier (as
shown in Fig 107a) where a "Class-C" amplifier gets ALL its turn-on energy from the coupling
capacitor.

THE DARLINGTON
There are two types of Darlington transistors. One type is made from two NPN or PNP
transistors placed "on-top" of each other as shown in Fig 71 and Fig 71aa:
Fig 71. Two NPN transistors connected as
shown in the first diagram are equal to a
single transistor with very high gain, called a
DARLINGTON.
The second diagram shows the symbol for
an NPN Darlington Transistor and the third
diagram shows the Darlington as a single
transistor (always show a Darlington as TWO
transistors.) One difference between a
Darlington and a normal transistor is the
input voltage must rise to 0.65v + 0.6v5 =
1.3v before the NPN Darlington will turn ON
Fig 71. fully.

Fig 71aa. shows two PNP transistors

connected to produce a single transistor
with very high gain, called a PNP
DARLINGTON.
The second diagram shows the symbol
for a PNP Darlington Transistor and the
third diagram shows the Darlington as a
single transistor. The input voltage must
fall 0.65v + 0.6v5 = 1.3v before the PNP
Darlington will turn ON fully.
Fig 71aa.
The other type of Darlington transistor is called the Sziklai Pair. It has an advantage:

Fig 71ab. shows a NPN and PNP transistor

connected to produce a single transistor with very
high gain, called a Sziklai Pair.
The second diagram shows a PNP and NPN
transistor connected to produce a single transistor
with very high gain, also called a Sziklai Pair. The
advantage of this arrangement is the input voltage
only needs to be 0.6v5 for the Sziklai Pair to turn
ON fully.

Fig 71ab.

THE BOOTSTRAP CIRCUIT

Another very interesting design is the Bootstrap Circuit. It uses
positive feedback to achieve very high gain.
The two transistor circuit shown in Fig 71ac has a gain of approx
1,000 and converts the very low output of the speaker into a
waveform that can be fed into an amplifier.
The circuit is simply a common-base stage and an emitter-follower
stage.
But the output of the emitter-follower is taken back to the input of
the same stage and this is the Bootstrap feature. It is like pulling
yourself UP by pulling your shoe laces.
When the voltage from the speaker reduces by 1mV, the transistor
turns ON and a little more and pulls the collector voltage lower.
This action takes a lot of effort and to pull it lower, requires more
energy from the speaker.
In the Bootstrap circuit, the first transistor pulls the 10k down and
this pulls the emitter-follower transistor down. At the same time the
22u is pulled down and it pulls the 10k down to assist the first
transistor. In other words the first transistor finds it much easier to
Fig 71ac pull the 10k resistor down.
When the first transistor turns off, the 2k2 pulls the 10k resistor UP
and it is aided by the 22u. The end result is a very high output voltage
swing.

Fig71acc shows a Sound Activated

Switch using a BOOTSTRAP
arrangement for the first two transistors.
The first transistor is biased ON via the
3M3 and 47k. This means the
collector voltage will be very low and the
second transistor will be biased OFF and
the third transistor will also be OFF. The
relay will not be activated.
When the electret microphone receives
audio in the form of a CLAP, the peak
will not have any effect on the first
transistor as it is already saturated, but the
falling part of the waveform will reduce
the voltage on the base and allow the
transistor to turn off a small amount.
Fig 71acc
This will turn ON the second transistor and the voltage on the collector will fall.
The 4u7 is connected to this point and it will fall too and reduce the voltage on the base of the first
transistor considerably. This will turn the first transistor off more and the process will continue and
turn on the relay.
But during this time the electrolytic is discharging then charging via the 3M3 and eventually it charges
to a point where the base of the first transistor sees a voltage above 0.7v and it it turned on again.
The collector voltage of the second transistor rises and this turns on the first transistor fully and the
two transistors swap states. The relay turns off.
If the microphone continues to produce negative (or falling waveforms), the relay will continue to
remain active.

THE DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER

or
LONG TAILED PAIR

The DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER is also called the "Difference

Amplifier" or long-tailed pair (LTP), or emitter-coupled pair,
because it amplifies the difference between the voltages on Input
1 and Input 2. It is called a Long Tailed Pair because the emitter
resistor has a high value. The circuit has the advantage of ONLY
amplifying the signals on the Inputs. Any noise on the power rail is
not detected on the output as both transistors will see this
fluctuation and both lines of the output will either rise or fall.
Since the Long Tailed Pair does not pick up noise from the
supply, it is ideal as a pre-amplifier as shown in the 60 watt
amplifier in Fig 71ae:

Fig 71ad

Fig 71ae

THE CONSTANT-CURRENT CIRCUIT

 Fig 71a Constant-Current Circuit
Fig 71a. We have studied the Darlington
transistor, the common-emitter stage and
how to turn off a common-base configuration by
raising the voltage on the emitter.
The first circuit in Fig 71b is a constant-current
arrangement, providing a fixed current to the
LEDs, no matter the supply voltage.
This is done by turning on the top transistor via the
2k2 resistor. It keeps turning on until the voltage-
drop across resistor R is 0.65v. At this point the
lower transistor starts to turn on and current flows
through the collector-emitter terminals and it
"robs" the top transistor of current from the 2k2
resistor. The top transistor cannot turn on any
more and the current flowing though R is the same
Fig 71b Constant-Current Circuit as the current flowing through the LEDs and does
not increase.
The second diagram in Fig 71b is also a constant-current circuit with the base fixed at:
0.7v + 0.7v = 1.4v via the two diodes.
The transistor is turned on via the 2k2 resistor and a voltage is developed across resistor R. When
this voltage is 0.7v, the emitter is 0.7v above the 0v rail and the base is 1.4v. If the transistor turns on
more, the emitter will be 0.8v above the 0v rail and this will only give 0.6v between base and emitter.
The transistor would not be turned on with this voltage-drop, so the transistor cannot be turned on
any more than 0.65v across the resistor R.

TWO TRANSISTOR REGULATOR

If we take the Constant-Current
Circuit shown in Fig 71b above,
and split resistor R into Ra and Rb,
we produce an identical circuit with
a completely different name. It is
called a TWO TRANSISTOR
REGULATOR.
The circuit will produce a smooth
voltage on the output, even though
the rail voltage fluctuates AND
even if the current required by the
output increases and decreases.
That's why it is called a
REGULATOR CIRCUIT.
The current through Ra and Rb is
"wasted current" so it does not
have to be more than 1mA -
enough to turn on the lower NPN
Fig 71bb transistor.
Ra and Rb form a voltage divider
and when the join of the two
resistor reaches 0.7v, the lower
 transistor turns ON.
The lower transistor forms a voltage-divider with the 2k2 to pull the top BC547 transistor DOWN so the
voltage on the output is kept at the "design voltage" (the top transistor is an emitter follower). If the device
connected to the output requires more current, the top transistor will not be able to provide it and the
output voltage will drop. This will reduce the voltage on the base of the lower transistor and it will turn
OFF slightly.
The voltage on the base of the top transistor will rise and since this transistor is an emitter-follower, the
emitter will rise too and increase the output voltage to the original "design value."
Regulation is also maintained if the supply decreases (or increases).
If the supply decreases, the voltage on the base of the top transistor will fall and the output voltage will
also fall.
The voltage on the base of the lower transistor will also fall and it will turn off slightly.
This will increase the voltage on the base of the top transistor and the V regulated will rise to the design
value. Both the supply and the load can change at the same time and the circuit will compensate.
All we have to do is re-draw the circuit as a standard 2-Transistor Regulator as shown in Fig 71bc and
you have covered the principle of its operation.

Fig 71bc
2-Transistor Voltage Regulator

THE TRANSISTOR AS AN AF
AND RF DETECTOR
A transistor can be used as a "detector" in a radio circuit. The Detector stage in a radio (such as an AM
receiver), is usually a crystal, but can be the base-emitter junction of a transistor.
It detects the slowly rising and falling audio component of an RF signal. This signal is further amplified
and delivered to a speaker. A single transistor will perform both "detection" and amplification.
In Fig 71bd, the first transistor provides these two functions and the output is passed to the second
transistor via direct-coupling.
The two transistors provide enormous gain and a very high input impedance for the tuned circuit made up
of the 60t aerial coil and 415p tuning capacitor.

Fig 71bd 5-TRANSISTOR RADIO

THE COUPLING CAPACITOR

We have shown the coupling capacitor transfers very little energy when it does not get fully
discharged during part of the cycle and this means it cannot receive a lot of energy to charge it
during the "charging" part of the cycle.
This is a point that has never been discussed in any text books. It is the energy (actually the current -
due to the difference in voltage between the two terminals of the capacitor) that flows into the
capacitor that creates the flow of energy from one stage to the other. It is the "magnet on the door"
analogy described above.
But the question is:
1. How much energy will a capacitor pass under ideal conditions?
2. How do you work out if a capacitor needs to be: 100n, 1u, 10u or 100u?

Without going into any mathematics, we will explain how to select a capacitor.
Many test books talk about the capacitive reactance of a capacitor. This is its "resistance" at a
particular frequency.
But an audio circuit has a wide range of frequencies and the lowest frequency is selected as the
capacitor will have the highest resistance at the lowest frequency.
We will select 200Hz as the lowest frequency for an amplifier.

A 100n will have a "resistance" of about 10k at 200Hz

A 1u will have a "resistance" of about 1k at 200Hz
A 10u will have a "resistance" of about 100R at 200Hz
A 100u will have a "resistance" of about 10R at 200Hz

A 100n capacitor at 200Hz is like putting a 10k resistor between one stage and the next.

Fig 71c

A 1u capacitor at 200Hz is like putting a 1k resistor between one stage and the next.

Fig 71d

A 10u capacitor at 200Hz is like putting a 100R resistor between one stage and the next and a 100u
capacitor at 200Hz is like putting a 10R resistor between one stage and the next.
 Fig 71e
The capacitive reactance of the 100u ranges from 10R to less
than 1R (depending on the frequency being processed).

In Fig 71d you can see the "resistance" of a capacitor is very small compared to the LOAD
resistance (the main component that determines the amount of energy that can be transferred from
one stage to another and the impedance of the receiving stage - the component that determines the
discharging of the capacitor). The "resistance" of a capacitor decreases as the frequency increases.
Thus the "capacitive reactance" of a capacitor has very little effect on the transfer of energy from one
stage to the next. The major problem is not discharging the capacitor. It only transfers the maximum
amount of energy when it is completely discharged.
When it is completely discharged, it acts like a "zero-ohm" resistor during its initial charging-cycle.
This is called INRUSH CURRENT and can be ENORMOUS. This is the "plop" you hear from some
amplifiers when they are turned ON. It is also the inrush current to a power supply. To reduce this
enormous in-rush current, a small-value resistor is included in series with the input of the
electrolytic(s) in the circuit (or power supply).

Let's go over this again:

The transfer of energy from one stage to another depends on 3 things:
1. The value of the LOAD resistor of the first stage. This resistor charges the capacitor. It's
resistance should be as low as possible to transfer the maximum energy.
2. The value of the capacitor. It should be as high as possible to transfer the maximum energy.
3. The value of the input impedance of the receiving stage. It should be as low as possible to
discharge the capacitor.

Let's take a 100n capacitor:

In the following circuit, a 100n capacitor separates an electret microphone from the input of a
common-emitter stage.

Fig 71f

The waveform on the output of the electret microphone is 20mV p-p (peak-to-peak). This amplitude
passes through the 100n capacitor, which we have drawn as a 10k resistor, (to represent the
capacitive reactance of the capacitor at 200Hz). The input impedance of the common-emitter
base current is very small).
The capacitor and the input impedance form a simple voltage-divider, as shown in Fig 71f. When a
20mV signal appears on the input of the voltage divider, the voltage at the join of the two resistors
will be about 3.3mV. This means about 16% of the waveform gets transferred to the base of the
transistor. A common-emitter stage will have a gain of about 70, so 4mV input will create 230mV
output. It's called a "swing" of 230mV or 230mV P-P (peak-to-Peak) or 230mV AC signal.
But most signals have a frequency of about 2kHz and the capacitive reactance of the capacitor will
be about 1k. In this case the transfer will be 66% or 13mV and the output of the stage will be nearly
1v.
This is an ideal situation where the capacitor is being fully discharged.
The actual transfer of energy from one stage to another is much more complex than we have
described, however you can see it involves the LOAD resistor, the size of the capacitor and the
efficiency of discharging the capacitor.
The only way to see the actual result is to view the waveforms on a CRO (Cathode ray Oscilloscope).

INPUT AND OUTPUT IMPEDANCE

Fig 71g
Fig 71g shows each transistor stage has an input and output impedance. This really means an input
and output resistance, but because we cannot measure the value with a multimeter, we have to find
the value of resistance by measuring other things such as "waveform amplitudes" and then create a
value of resistance, we call IMPEDANCE. The values shown are only approximate and apply to
transistors called SMALL SIGNAL DEVICES. The values are really just a comparison to show how
the different stages "appear" to input and output devices, such as when connecting stages together.

THE TIME DELAY

Also called the TRANSISTOR TIME DELAY or TIME CONSTANT or RC Delay Circuit or TIMING
CIRCUIT
A Delay Circuit is made with a capacitor and resistor in series.
These are the two components that create the TIME DELAY. No other parts are needed. When the value
of the capacitor and resistor are multiplied together the result is called the TIME CONSTANT and when
the capacitor value is in FARADS and resistor in OHMs, the result is SECONDS
To detect when the capacitor has reached about 63% of its final voltage, we need some form of detecting
device, such as a transistor.
But the detecting device cannot "steal" any of the current entering the capacitor, otherwise the voltage on
the capacitor will never increase.
We know a transistor requires current for it to operate but a Darlington Pair requires very little current, so
the detecting device must be something like a Darlington Pair.
The transistor plays no part in the timing (or TIME DELAY) of the circuit. It is just a detector.

The main secret behind a good TIME DELAY circuit is to allow the capacitor to charge to a high voltage
and use a large timing resistor. This reduces the size of the capacitor (electrolytic) and produces a long
time delay.
There are lots of chips (Integrated Circuit) especially made for timing operations (time delays).
Transistors (of the "normal" type - called Bipolar Junction) are not suited for long time delays.
Field Effect Transistors, Programmable Uni Junction transistors and some other types are more suited.
However a normal transistor can be used, as shown in Fig 71h.
The normal detection-point is 63% but you can make the circuit "trigger" at any voltage-level. The value
"63%" has been chosen because the voltage on the capacitor is increasing very little (each second) when
it is nearly fully charged and waiting for it to reach 65% may take many seconds. Trying to detect an extra
1% or 2% is very hard to do and since it takes a long time for the voltage to rise, the circuit becomes very
unreliable and very inaccurate. That's why 63% has been chosen.

Fig 71h shows a TIME DELAY circuit. This circuit does

not wait for the capacitor to charge to 63% but it detects a
voltage of 5v1 + 0.7v = 5v6.
The detecting circuit is made up of the 5v1 zener and
base-emitter junction of the transistor.
These two components create a high impedance until a
voltage of 5v6 because the zener takes no current until its
"characteristic voltage" has been reached.

Fig 71h

Fig 71j shows a Time Delay Circuit. The 100k is the time
delay resistor. The 1M is the "sense resistor" and the the
330k is the voltage divider resistor.
The base of the Darlington transistor detects 1.4v and the
1M/330k produces a voltage divider that requires 3 x 1.4v
= 4.2v on the electrolytic. The 1M, 330k and transistor
provide a fairly high impedance detecting circuit that does
not inhibit the charging of the capacitor.
The circuit requires a supply of 12v.

Fig 71j

THE "DIGITAL" STAGE - or Digital State

also called the DIGITAL CIRCUIT
All the circuits and stages we have discussed have been amplifiers for audio signals.
However there is another signal that can be processed via an amplifier. It is called a digital signal or
"Computer" signal. It is a signal that turns a transistor ON fully or OFF fully.
The simplest example of a digital circuit is a torch. The globe is either ON or OFF. But a torch does not
have any transistors. We can simply add a transistor and the circuit becomes DIGITAL CIRCUIT.
A Digital Circuit has 2 STATES: ON and OFF. It is never half-ON or half-OFF.

The secret to turning a transistor ON fully is base current. If you supply enough base current the
transistor will turn ON FULLY.
The Digital Circuit is the basis of all computers. It produces an outcome of "0" when not active or "1" when
active. This is called POSITIVE LOGIC.

Fig 72. A TORCH is an ON-

OFF circuit.
A Digital circuit is an ON-
OFF circuit.
 Fig 72.

Fig 73. This is the simplest DIGITAL CIRCUIT. The globe

illuminates when the switch is closed.

Fig 73.

Two reasons why a Digital Circuit was invented:

1. It produces either "0" or "1" (LOW or HIGH) and these are accurate values. By combining millions of
"digital circuits" we can produce counting and this is the basis of a computer.
2. When a circuit is OFF, it consumes no power. When a circuit is fully ON the transistor also consumes
the least power. This is because the globe is illuminated brightly and the transistor remains cool.
The "ON" "OFF" states are called LOGIC STATES or DIGITAL STATES and when two transistors are
put together in a circuit with "cross-coupling" they alternately flash one globe then the other.

Fig 74. This circuit is called a FLIP FLOP

or ASTABLE MULTIVIBRATOR.
(AY-STABLE - meaning not stable)

Fig 74.

Any circuit that operates in TWO MODES is called a DIGITAL CIRCUIT. These two modes are OFF and
ON. Each transistor in the circuit above is either OFF or ON. It is a DIGITAL CIRCUIT.

Fig 75. This circuit is a LATCH. The two

transistors instantly change from the OFF state
to the ON state.
This is also classified as a DIGITAL CIRCUIT.

Fig 75.
 Fig 76. This is a circuit of a TOUCH
SWITCH. Touching the "ON" pads turns
on the second and third transistors as
they are a SUPER-ALPHA PAIR or
DARLINGTON arrangement and have a
very high input impedance and very high
gain. The output of this pair goes to a
PNP transistor that amplifies the 5mA
current from the Darlington to deliver
250mA to the globe.
A feedback line from output to input via a
4M7 keeps the circuit ON when your
finger is removed and provides a "Keep-
ON" voltage (and current).
Fig 76. Touch Switch The first transistor removes this "Keep-
ON" voltage and current when a finger
is placed on the OFF pads. .

How can you tell a DIGITAL CIRCUIT from an ANALOGUE CIRCUIT?

1. Absence of capacitors. There are NO capacitors in a DIGITAL CIRCUIT.
2. A switch or push-button will be activating the circuit.
3. The circuit will be driving a DIGITAL or ON - OFF item such as a relay or globe.

The two states of a transistor in a DIGITAL CIRCUIT are: OFF - called "CUT-OFF" and ON - called
"'SATURATION."
To saturate a transistor the base current is simply increased until the transistor cannot turn on any more.
In this state the collector-emitter voltage is very small and the transistor can pass the highest current and
the losses (in the transistor) are the lowest.

Fig 77. This circuit has only two states. ON and OFF.
The ON button turns off the first transistor so the
second transistor turns the globe ON.
This is called a TOGGLE ACTION and the circuit is a
BINARY CIRCUIT or BISTABLE CIRCUIT called a
BISTABLE SWITCH or a bistable of the
MULTIVIBRATOR family (BISTABLE
MULTIVIBRATOR).
It can also be called a LATCH as it stores one bit of
information and is the basis of a COMPUTER.
Fig 77.

Fig 77a. This is part of a counting circuit

and since it takes many transistors to
create a circuit to count to "2" it is not
practical to make it using discrete
components. That's why INTEGRATED
CIRCUITS were invented where dozens,
then hundreds then thousands then
millions of transistors are connected to
produce counting chips and "bit-storing
chips" and many other requirements.
Fig 77a.

Before we cover our next type of circuit, we will explain a 2-transistor directly-coupled arrangement from
Figs 52 and 66. It is interesting as it can be used as a digital circuit or an analogue circuit.
 Fig 78.
Fig 78. Two facts to note:
1. Point "A" never rises above 0.6v as it is connected to the base of the second transistor.
2. When the first transistor is turned ON, the collector-emitter voltage is 0.3v and the second
transistor is OFF - this is because the base of the second transistor needs 0.6v to turn ON.
In other words, when one transistor is ON the other is OFF. There is a very brief change-over point
where the first transistor turns ON a little more and the second transistor turns OFF a very large
amount. If you can find and maintain this change-over point, the two transistors will work in analogue
mode with high gain but if you pass this point very quickly, the two transistors will operate as a switch
in DIGITAL MODE.
We can turn this circuit into a DIGITAL CIRCUIT. The secret to doing this is FEEDBACK and the
name of the circuit is a SCHMITT TRIGGER:.

THE SCHMITT TRIGGER

Fig 79a. A Schmitt Trigger takes a slowly
rising or falling voltage and turns it into a fast-
acting ON-OFF signal. The secret is the
feedback line shown in red.
The circuit can also be called a
"sinewave-to-squarewave generator."
When the input is LOW the output is LOW.
It is a form of bi-stable multivibrator.
The distance between the lower voltage and
the upper voltage (at which the circuit changes
state) is called the HYSTERESIS. This can be
widened or narrowed via the 1k resistor (the
100k pot needs to be re-adjusted when the 1k
Fig 79a. Schmitt Trigger Circuit is changed).

Fig 79. This circuit takes a slowly rising

or falling voltage and turns it into a fast-
acting ON-OFF signal to operate a LED
or relay.
This is done via the positive feedback
line shown in red. It is called positive
feedback because it ADDS to the
change to speed it up.
This circuit is fully explained in the:
Talking Electronics website CD.

Fig 79. Schmitt Trigger Circuit

 Fig 79aa is a Schmitt Trigger made from NPN and PNP
transistors.
As the voltage on the input rises, the first transistor is
turned on slightly and a small voltage is developed across
the 100k emitter resistor that reduces the "turn-on" effect
slightly. This means the input voltage must rise more. As
the input voltage rises more, the second transistor starts to
turn on and the collector voltage rises. This voltage is
passed to the base of the first transistor to assist the input
voltage and because the collector voltage of the output
transistor rises considerably, it has a large effect on turning
ON the first transistor. They turn each other ON until they
Fig 79aa. A Schmitt Trigger are both fully turned ON.
The 2M2 has taken over from the 470k and made the base of the input transistor slightly higher. The
input voltage has to drop a small amount before the pair will start to turn off.
The circuit has created a small gap between the low and high input voltage (and between the HIGH
and LOW input voltages) where the circuit does not change from one state to the other. This gap is
called the HYSTERESIS GAP.
The output of the Schmitt Trigger in Fig 79aa is classified as "high impedance" (due to the value of
the 100k on the output) and this must be connected to a stage with a high input impedance so that
the voltage on the output of the Schmitt Trigger is not affected.

Fig 79ab. Before we leave the MULTIVIBRATOR

family, the third type of Multivibrator is the
MONOSTABLE MULTIVIBRATOR.
It is only stable in ONE state. This is called the "rest"
state. The other state is "timed" via a capacitor.
The circuit is triggered and it changes to the other
stage and a TIMING CAPACITOR C charges via a
resistor R (called a TIMING CIRCUIT) and a
multiplication of the two produces a value call the
time constant. When it is charged, the circuit drops
back to the rest state.
While the output is high, input pulses (trigger pulses)
have no effect on the circuit. Also, if the input is
triggered and kept high longer than the time
constant of C and R, the output will NOT stay high
Fig 79ab. The Monostable or for longer than the time constant.
"Pulse Extender." This circuit is also called a PULSE EXTENDER.

GATES
We have described the transistor as an amplifier and the fact that POSITIVE FEEDBACK can turn a
transistor ON more and more, so it changes from: "not-turned-ON" to "fully-turned-ON" in a very short
period of time. When a transistor is operating in this mode, it is said to be in DIGITAL MODE. We saw the
effects of DIGITAL MODE in Figs 74, 75, 76, 77 and 78. The advantage of digital mode is the transistor
dissipates the least heat in either state.
The transistor can be put into a chip (IC - Integrated Circuit) and used in Digital Mode. When this is done,
the transistor is put into a circuit called a GATE. A Gate is simply a BUILDING BLOCK in which the
output changes from LOW to HIGH or HIGH to LOW very quickly. The simplest GATES are called AND,
OR, NAND, NOR and NOT. In general a GATE operates on a 5v supply and the input has to change from
LOW to HIGH or HIGH to LOW very quickly and the output will change from LOW to HIGH or HIGH to
LOW very quickly. You may think the gate is NOT achieving anything, but most gates have 2 or more
inputs and the output is "more powerful" than the input. The introduction of GATES revolutionised the
introduction of the computer and was the beginning of the DIGITAL AGE.
 Fig 79ac shows AND, OR, NAND, NOR and
NOT gates produced with transistors.

Fig 79ac.

We have shown circuits with the load (such as a speaker or LED) above the transistor or below (it cannot
be in both places at the same time). The position of the LOAD introduces two new terms:

SINKING AND SOURCING

Fig 79b. When the speaker (LOAD) is placed above

the transistor, the circuit is said to be SINKING the
current.

Fig 79b.
There is no advantage in either placement. If the load is connected to "chassis" such as a globe in a car,
the circuit will need to source the current.

Fig 79c. When the speaker (LOAD) is below the

transistor, the circuit is said to be SOURCING the
current.

Fig 79c.

INTERFACING
Interfacing simply means: "Connecting." When a circuit connects a device (such as a microphone), to
an amplifier, it is called INTERFACING. The characteristics of the microphone are matched to the input
requirements of the amplifier. Or a relay may need to be connected to the output of an amplifier (that
does not have the current to turn the relay ON).
In most cases, the output of a circuit (or device - sometimes called a TRANSDUCER) does not have
enough VOLTAGE or VOLTAGE-SWING or AMPLITUDE to drive the next circuit or device.
And sometimes the output of a circuit (or device) does not have enough CURRENT to drive the device
(such as a relay or speaker).
That's why we have to add a circuit between.
The circuit we add has a number of names:
When it increases the CURRENT, we call it a BUFFER.
When it matches a high impedance to a low impedance or a low impedance to a high impedance, we call
it IMPEDANCE MATCHING.
Or when we need an increase in voltage, it is called an AMPLIFIER.
In ALL "stages" (common-base, common-collector and common-emitter) the current is increased.
Interfacing can be as simple as adding a resistor or capacitor, but this is usually called "connecting."

We have learnt that all devices and circuits have an ability to deliver a "waveform" or "amplitude" or
"voltage" and this can be weak or strong according to the amount of current it can deliver.
We have also learnt that this current may be delivered from the load resistor or from the device itself. It
does not matter how the current is delivered; the size of the current (the amount of current) is important.

We have also covered the fact that the input to a circuit (or "stage") requires current and when these two
are equal, the matching is ideal.
But this rarely happens.
If the input requires more current, the voltage (or voltage-swing) from the previous circuit or device will be
reduced. If the input requires less current, the voltage-swing will be affected a very small amount. But in
ALL cases the voltage-swing will be reduced - because you ARE supplying SOME energy to the stage
that follows.

Interfacing is not easy.

You have to know the output voltage of the device and the current it can supply.
The current it can supply is related to its OUTPUT IMPEDANCE.
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE basically means its output resistance. A low resistance or LOW IMPEDANCE
means it is capable of delivering a HIGH CURRENT. A high-impedance device cannot deliver very much
current. A stage with a high output impedance cannot deliver very much current.
All these terms are relative. When we say: "cannot deliver much current" the value of current can be less
than 1uA or "only about 50mA." It depends on the circuit we are discussing.
We have also learnt that the input impedance of a stage can be high or low and the voltage-swing it will
accept can be small or large.
This gives us a wide range of values (parameters) that may need to be joined together - INTERFACED.
In some cases the output voltage of a device or circuit will be HIGH and by connecting a capacitor
between the two stages, the output voltage will be "absorbed" in the capacitor and the energy from the
output stage will be transferred. The "energy" is a combination of the voltage-swing and the current.
But if the output voltage is very small, we may need to amplify it to deliver a high voltage to a device.

This is the case in the following requirement.

A piezo diaphragm or microphone is required to be interfaced to the input of a microcontroller.
The output of these devices is about 10mV and the input of a microcontroller requires about 3.5v
(3,500mV)
This involves an amplification (gain, amplification factor) of 10:3500 = 350 and requires two stages of
amplification.
The output of a piezo and microphone are classified as high impedance and the input of a microntroller is
also high impedance.
This means the two amplifying stages can be low-current stages (also called high-impedance stages) and
the load resistors can be high-value (about 22k - 100k).
The following two circuits have been designed for this application:
 Fig 79d. In this circuit the first transistor is
self-biased and the 2M2 base bias resistor
turns the transistor on and the voltage on
the collector is only about 1.8v.
This means the collector has to drop by
only 1.2v for the second transistor to turn
off and the 100k will produce 5v on the
input to the microcontroller.
If the transistor has a gain of 100, the
electret mic or piezo has to produce a
12mV signal to activate the circuit.
When the load resistor is increased to
100k, the collector has about 850mV on it,
and it only has to drop 300mV for the signal
to enter the microcontroller. This makes the
100k load resistor produce a more-
sensitive circuit. When no audio is being
Fig 79d. detected, the output of the two stages is
zero (silence)

Fig 79e. This circuit has been taken from Fig 71acc.
It is a bootstrap circuit and produces a very clever
"switch."
The circuit sits with the first transistor turned ON and
the second turned OFF as can be seen in the first line
at the top of the output waveform - up to the red dot.
When a signal is picked up by the microphone (this is
the red dot on the waveform),
a negative-going signal of about 100mV will turn the
transistor off slightly and the second transistor will
turn ON. The 4u7 will be "pulled down" and
completely take over from the signal from the
microphone. It will turn the transistor off more and
the second transistor will be turned ON more. This
will continue until both have completely changed
states.
Fig 79e.
They will stay like this until the 4u7 is charged in the opposite direction and the base of the first
transistor sees 0.7v. This causes the second transistor to turn off and the 4u7 rises and turns the first
transistor ON more. The 4u7 gets slowly discharged and the circuit remains in this state.
The circuit produces a very clean output every time it detects audio.

OSCILLATORS
There are over 100 different types of oscillators and many more variations. We cannot cover them
all - so we will concentrate on the most often-used and explain how they work.

Oscillators consist of one or two transistors. They start-up by one or more components in the circuit
producing "noise" and the rest of the circuit amplifies it. In most cases the noise comes from the
circuit being turned ON but it can also come from the noise generated within the junction of a transistor.
This noise is random and of little use, but it is fed to components such as coils and capacitors as they
have the ability to produce a waveform that rises and falls smoothly and this is amplified to produce the
output.
When coils, crystals, capacitors and resistor are combined with transistors, many different effects and
waveforms can be created and this all comes under the heading of OSCILLATORS. And the circuits are
all amplifiers.
An amplifier can be turned into an oscillator by providing POSITIVE FEEDBACK.
The purpose of providing NEGATIVE FEEDBACK is to prevent oscillation.
The purpose of providing POSITIVE FEEDBACK is to create oscillation.
Positive feedback is when you take a point that is rising a large amount and pass it to a point that is also
rising at the same time but is rising only a small amount.
In other words, the feedback line must be able to help or assist the small-signal line. If it does not assist
the small-signal line, NO oscillation will occur.
Some oscillators have a name - either after their inventor, by the way they are configured or by the shape
of the wave. Some are simply feedback oscillators without a particular name. Some have 5 names.
Some have no particular name and are just called Feedback Oscillators (positive feedback).

Fig 80. The 10n

capacitor provides the
positive feedback to
keep the circuit
oscillating.

Fig 80. A Feedback Oscillator

Fig 81. The 10n capacitor

provides the positive
feedback to keep the circuit
oscillating.

Fig 81. A feedback oscillator

Fig 82. The positive feedback line creates the CALL tone
 Fig 83. When the third
transistor is turning OFF, the
collector voltage is rising and
this is passed to the base of the
first transistor, to turn it ON.
This is how the circuit keeps
"cycling" or oscillating.

Fig 83.

Fig 83a. The high-gain amplifier we studied in Fig 66,

for example, has negative feedback to prevent
oscillation.
By using positive feedback we can turn the high-gain
amplifier into an oscillator.
This circuit is simply a high-gain amplifier with both
transistors turning on via the 1k and 100k resistors. This
makes the voltage on the collector of the BC557 rise
and the 22u and 4k7 pass this rise to the base of the
BC547 to turn both transistors on more and more until
they are fully turned on.
The 22u charges a little more and this reduces the
current into the base of the BC547 to turn it off a little.
This effect is passed to the collector of the BC557 and
Fig 83a. Globe flashes at 1Hz the two transistors start to turn OFF. When they are
fully turned off, the cycle repeats by the transistors
being turned on via the 1k and 100k.

The 2-transistor amplifier we studied in Fig 42 can be

changed slightly to drive peaker. The two common-
emitter transistors turn on together and the 22u is "lifted"
to turn on the NPN transistor harder.
Both transistors turn on until fully saturated and this puts
current though the speaker.
The 22u charges a little more and this reduces the
current into the base of the NPN transistors, turning it off
a slight amount. The PNP is turned off a small amount
and they both keep turning off until fully turned off.
The 10k and 50k start to charge the 22u to repeat the
cycle. The 22u produces positive feedback. It can be
replaced by values from 100n to 22u to change the
frequency of the tone.
Fig 83aa. Simple Tone Oscillator

You can see the importance of FEEDBACK in a circuit. Some circuits will not work without feedback and
some will distort. Sometimes the feedback is POSITIVE and sometimes NEGATIVE. The trick to
understanding a circuit is to locate the feedback (component or "line") and work out what it is doing.
 Fig 83b. Here's an oscillator circuit. We
know it must have feedback to operate, but
where is the feedback?
In this circuit the 4 electrolytics are
equivalent to miniature rechargeable
batteries.
When the circuit is turned on, they all get
charged to a voltage according to the
surrounding components but the 22u is the
important component. The base of the
BC557 sits at 4v and the emitter must rise
to 4.6v for the PNP transistor to turn on.
When it does, it turns on the BC547 and
this transistor puts a load of 220R across
the circuit. This reduces the voltage across
the 470k/1M voltage divider and the base if
the BC557 sees a lower voltage. During this
time the 22u is acting a miniature supply
Fig 83b. Positive feedback comes from the and maintaining the voltage of 4.6v on the
emitter.
22u electrolytic.
The BC547 turns ON more and more and
This is a very unusual circuit. even though the voltage on the 22u drops,
Normally the feedback is obvious. the circuit turns ON and this takes more
current from the 6v battery and produces a
click in the speaker.

THE SQUARE-WAVE OSCILLATOR

Fig 84. When two transistors are cross-
coupled as shown in Fig 84, you can
safely assume the circuit will oscillate.
The frequency of oscillation will depend
on the value of the components but the
oscillator is known as a FREE-
RUNNING OSCILLATOR or ASTABLE
(ay-stable) MULTIVIBRATOR and the
output is a square wave. It will have an
equal-mark-space ratio if the
components are the same value.
This circuit is also called a FLIP-FLOP.

Fig 84.

Fig 85. By rearranging the components in Fig 84, we

can draw the circuit as one common-emitter stage
driving another common-emitter stage with a 100u
providing positive feedback.
The circuit relies on the power being turned on
quickly. Both transistors will turn on but one will turn
on faster than the other and prevent the other turning
on.
The 100u connected to the turned-on transistor will
start to charge in the opposite direction and the
second transistor will start to turn ON. This will pull
the 100u lower and the first transistor will start to turn
Fig 85. OFF. This will continue until both transistors have
changed states.
 Fig 86. Here is the ASTABLE MULTIVIBRATOR with
the LEDs in the emitters instead of collectors (as is
normal). The frequency of oscillation is approximately 1
second. The 330 ohm resistors set the LED current to
12mA for a 6v supply.

Fig 86.

Fig 87. The ASTABLE ("ay" - meaning not-stable)

MULTIVIBRATOR circuit is rich in harmonics and is ideal
for testing amplifier circuits. To find a fault in an amplifier,
connect the earth clip to the 0v rail and move through
each stage, starting at the speaker. An increase in volume
should be heard at each preceding stage. This Injector will
also go through the IF stages of radios and FM sound
sections in TV's.

Fig 87.

Fig 88. The astable multivibrator can be made with PNP

transistors.

Fig 88.

Fig 89. A circuit can be made with one NPN and one
PNP transistor. It ceases to be a FLIP FLOP or
Multivibrator as both transistor turn on at the same time
and the circuit becomes a Relaxation Oscillator.

Fig 89.

THE SINE-WAVE OSCILLATOR - also called the

PHASE-SHIFT OSCILLATOR
A Sine-wave Oscillator can be made with a single transistor.
 Fig 90. This circuit produces a sinewave very
nearly equal to rail voltage.
The important feature is the need for the emitter
resistor and 10u bypass electrolytic. It is a most-
important feature of the circuit. It provides reliable
start-up and guaranteed operation. For 6v
operation, the 100k is reduced to 47k.
The three 10n capacitors and two 10k resistors
(actually 3) determine the frequency of operation
(700Hz).
The 100k and 10k base-bias resistors can be
replaced with 2M2 between base and collector.
This type of circuit can be designed to operate
Fig 90. The Sinewave Oscillator from about 10Hz to about 200kHz.

Fig 91.
Fig 91. The phase-shift oscillator has 3 "sections" made up of a 10n capacitor and 10k resistor. This
"section" is shown above and each "section" produces a delay or "phase-shift" of about 60° but the
total must be 180°. The base and collector of a common-emitter stage are 180° out-of-phase, so the
signal entering the base is 360° (IN-PHASE with the output). This creates POSITIVE FEEDBACK.
This concept is very hard to understand so we need to explain it in simple terms.
Points Y and Z are the ends of a long piece of rope and the three resistors are weights tied to the
rope.
You shake the rope up and down at Y and Z moves up and down at a later time in the cycle. You
know this because you can make a wave travel down a rope. Exactly the same thing happens with a
signal that enters at Y. It takes time for the peak to reach Z.
Now consider the circuit at switch-on. The caps are uncharged and 10k collector resistor pulls the
three capacitors high. Taking into account the voltage-dividing effect of the three lower 10k resistors,
the collector is possibly at about 2v. The three 10k resistors start to charge the three 10n caps and
the voltage on the base falls. This makes the collector voltage rise. This continues until the collector
cannot rise any further and the capacitors continue to charge and the voltage on the base drops. The
100k base resistor takes over and starts to discharge the 3rd capacitor and turn the circuit on. The
collector voltage drops and the energy in the three capacitors get passed into the base to fully turn
the transistor ON.
This all happens in a "sliding motion" that produces a sweeping output called a SINEWAVE. It is a
very "delicate" oscillator and any change to the LOAD (10k) may stop its oscillation.

How to read the Graph: Get a ruler and hold it "up and down" the page (or on the screen) so you
view the right-hand edge of the ruler and can only see the word "phase" and "60° " Now slide the
ruler to the right and you will see the graph "A" gradually rising. Keep moving the ruler to the right
and you will see graph "B" gradually rising.
This is how you "interpret" the graph and see how graph "B" lags (is behind) graph "A." If you don't
read the graph correctly, it looks like graph "B" is in front of graph "A" - but this is not the case.

THE BLOCKING OSCILLATOR

 Fig 92. The BLOCKING OSCILLATOR circuit uses a transformer to
produce POSITIVE FEEDBACK to the base.
The circuit starts by Rbias charging Cbb to deliver voltage to the base
of the transistor via Rb. The transistor turns on and produces
expanding magnetic flux in the primary of the transformer. This flux
cuts the turns of the secondary (or feedback) winding and increases
the base voltage and CURRENT. The voltage out of the top of the
secondary winding is prevented from "disappearing" by Cbb.
The transistor keeps turning ON until it cannot turn on any more. At
this point, the current through the primary is a maximum but it is not
expanding flux and its effect is not passed to the secondary winding.
The base ceases to see its turn-on current and the transistor turns off
Fig 92.
abruptly. The heavy current through the primary is producing a very
strong flux and it collapses, producing a voltage in both windings of
opposite polarity and very high amplitude.

Fig 92a shows the base being "capacitor injected." This saves one
capacitor and can produce a higher output. All the values and the
transformer needs adjusting for the performance required. The start of
each winding is shown with a dot. This assumes the windings are
wound in the same direction.

Figs 92b,c shows alternative ways to produce a blocking oscillator.

Fig 92a. The difficulty with producing a Blocking Oscillator is getting a suitable
transformer.

Fig 92b. Fig 92c

Fig 93. A simple BLOCKING OSCILLATOR circuit can be

made with a 10mH inductor and 80turns of very fine wire
wound on top.
The piezo diaphragm reacts to the very high "FLYBACK
VOLTAGE" produced by the primary when the transistor turns
off. This type of circuit is often used to produce very high
voltages.

Fig 93.
 Fig 94. This LED Torch circuit uses the
"flyback" voltage of a BLOCKING
OSCILLATOR to illuminate a 3.6v super-
bright LED from a 1.5v supply.
Note: the 10n capacitor prevents the energy
from the feedback winding being lost. All
the energy from the feedback goes into the
base of the transistor to turn it on hard.

Fig 94.

Fig 95 shows a Blocking Oscillator

producing a regulated 5v from a
1.2v supply.

Fig 95.

Fig 96. A simple extension of the Blocking Oscillator

in Fig 92c above, is shown in this diagram. It
consists of two BLOCKING OSCILLATOR
transistors that are turning each other off. The circuit
starts by one transistor being slightly faster than the
other. It turns ON and produces magnetic flux that
cuts the turns of the other half of the primary winding
to increase the voltage from the battery and at the
same time it reduces the voltage to the base of the
other transistor - because the transistor allows only a
very small voltage to appear across the collector-
Fig 96. 2-transistors in emitter terminals when it is turning ON. It keeps
turning on until it is fully ON.
PUSH-PULL - as a Blocking At this point the flux is no longer expanding and the
Oscillator circuit generated voltage in the winding that supplies the
base voltage (and current) ceases. This turns it off a
small amount and the magnetic flux starts to
 collapse and produce voltages in the opposite
direction. The voltage (and current) to the base is
less than before and this turns the transistor off
more. The voltage to the base of the other transistor
starts to rise and that transistor takes over. The two
transistors operate in PUSH-PULL mode.

To reduce the wasted power in the 220R resistors,

Fig 96a uses Darlington transistors and 2k2 0.5watt
resistors. The circuit is used to drive a CFL lamp
Fig 96a. from a 12v battery.

The difficulty with producing a Blocking Oscillator is getting a suitable transformer. A similar "flyback
voltage" can be obtained from an inductor. This will need an oscillator made up of two transistors to drive
the inductor.

Fig 97.
Fig 97. This circuit is a "Buck Converter" meaning the supply is greater than the voltage of the LED. It will
drive one high-power white LED from a 12v supply and is capable of delivering 48mA when R = 5R6 or
90mA when R = 2R2. The LED is much brighter when using this circuit, compared with a series resistor
delivering the same current.
But changing R from 5R6 to 2R2 does not double the brightness. It only increases it a small amount.
The inductor consists of 60 turns of 0.25mm wire, on a 15mm length of ferrite rod, 10mm diameter.
Frequency of operation: approx 1MHz. This circuit draws the maximum current for a BC 338.
When the circuit is turned on the 330p gets charged. This turns on the BC547 and keeps the BC338 off.
When the 330p is charged the BC547 is not turned on as much and the 2k2 can start to turn on the
BC338. It pushes the charge on the 330p into the base of the BC547 to keep it off. The 330p gets
discharged by the 330R and the voltage across the *R resistor turns on the BC547 to turn off the BC338.
The 1N4148 absorbs the high-voltage flyback pulse. The circuit is only active for a very short period of
time and off for a longer period of time. This delivers a small amount of energy to the high powered LED
and allows the LED to be connected to a 12v supply (via the circuitry).

MORE OSCILLATORS
The Armstrong, Clapp, Colpitts, Hartley, Wien Bridge and even unknown oscillators like the one below all
use capacitors, resistors and coils to create a circuit called a RESONANT CIRCUIT and these two
components produce a sinewave when they receive a pulse of energy.
 Fig 98.

We are going to lump all these oscillators together as they are variations on a similar design. There are
two common oscillators that can be recognised by the layout of the circuit. The Colpitts oscillator has 2
capacitors across the coil with the signal taken from the join or it may have a tuned circuit with the signal
taken from the active end. The Hartley Oscillator has a tapped coil. The Hartley Oscillator has a tapped
coil and these are difficult to obtain.

Fig 99.
Fig 99a

Fig 100. Colpitts Oscillator Fig 101. Colpitts Oscillator

 Fig 102. Hartley Oscillator

Fig 103. Hartley Oscillator

Fig 103a. Door Knob Alarm

DOOR-KNOB ALARM
This circuit can be used to detect when someone touches the handle of a door. A loop of bare wire is
connected to the point "touch plate" and the project is hung on the door-knob. Anyone touching the
metal door-knob will kill the pulses going to the second transistor and it will turn off. This will activate
the "high-gain" amplifier/oscillator.
The circuit will also work as a "Touch Plate" as it does not rely on mains hum, as many other circuits
do.
The first transistor is a Colpitts Oscillator and the feedback is via the 47p. Explain the operation of
this oscillator could take a page of discussion. We are only going to explain one amazing feature -
how the oscillator creates the second half of its cycle. We know how the stage turns on (via the base-
bias resistor) - but how does it turn OFF to create the other half of the waveform. Here's how:
We know that when a transistor turns ON, the collector voltage falls and the emitter voltage rises.
Simply joining these two points with a resistor or capacitor will not produce feedback and one is
falling and the other is rising. We need to join two points that are rising AT THE SAME TIME.
The secret comes from the inductor. The 16 turns of wire produces a voltage in the opposite direction
when the transistor is turned off.
In the fist diagram of fig 103b we see the transistor turned ON and current flows through the coil. The
voltage at the bottom of the coil will be slightly lower than the supply voltage. When the transistor is
turned off, it is effectively out of the circuit and the current flowing through the coil produces magnetic
flux that will collapse very quickly and produce a voltage across the ends of the coil that will be
OPPOSITE to the applied voltage. This means the voltage at the bottom of the coil will be HIGHER
than rail voltage and we can think of the coil rising above the power rail and producing a voltage 2, 5,
10 or even 100 times higher than the power-rail voltage.
This is the amazing fact about a coil (inductor) and is the secret behind the operation of this circuit.
 Fig 103b.
In circuit 103b, this high voltage is produced at some point in the cycle and it pulls the emitter UP a
small amount via the 47p and this turns the transistor OFF. We are not going into what part of the
cycle produces the high voltage via the inductor but it DOES. That's how the circuit produces the
second part of its cycle. The inductor produces a high voltage that starts to turn off the transistor and
this allows the inductor to produce a higher voltage and the transistor is turned off even more. During
this time the 47p feedback capacitor is charging and RISING.

Fig 103c.

Most oscillators are described on the web and you can decide which type you need for your particular
application.

OSCILLATOR SUMMARY
Look for a TUNED CIRCUIT and feedback line. It will be an oscillator.
Most have a high-impedance output and must be connected to a circuit that will not "load" them (and
reduce the amplitude of the output) or prevent them oscillating. But some oscillators have a very low
output impedance and can drive a low-impedance device. You have to be aware of these features.

IMPEDANCE MATCHING
Every electronic component has a value of resistance. You can measure this value with a multimeter. But
sometimes the value changes according to the light it receives, the frequency it is operating-at, or the
voltage it is connected-to, or the sound it receives, or its temperature or many other influences.
Sometimes the output from a circuit might be 2v, but if you put a speaker on the output, it "kills" the
sound.
Or you may have a nearly flat 9v battery. It measures 5v with a multimeter but when you connect a 3v
motor, it does not work.
These are both examples of poor IMPEDANCE MATCHING - yes, the battery has a HIGH Impedance
and that's why it cannot deliver the current required by the motor.

What is IMPEDANCE MATCHING?

Impedance Matching is is connecting two items together so: "THEY WORK."

Some devices PRODUCE or DELIVER a signal or a voltage or a current.

Some devices ACCEPT a signal or voltage or current.
We need to connect these types of devices together.

Let's start with those that DELIVER:

An amplifier may be able to produce an output of 2v, but when a low-impedance device (low resistance
device) such as a speaker is connected, it cannot deliver the CURRENT needed to drive the speaker.
The same with a flat 9v battery. It cannot deliver the CURRENT needed to drive a 3v motor.
You cannot "test" or measure the output capability of a device. You must connect it to the input of the
project you are designing and measure the waveform or voltage being delivered (or transferred).
If the voltage or waveform is considerably less than when it is not connected, you have decide if the
attenuation (reduction) is acceptable. The ideal situation is NO attenuation - but in nearly all cases you
will get some attenuation.

There are no "rules to follow" and every case is different. However when the output of a device is NOT
reduced when it is connected to a circuit, the two items are said to be IMPEDANCE MATCHED.

There are three ways to "Match Impedances:"

1. via a resistor. This is generally a poor way to match impedances and is very inefficient. But it may be
the only way to connect two devices.
2. via a capacitor. This can be a very good way to match impedances.
3. via a transformer. Generally the most efficient way to match impedances but requires a lot calculation
and expense in getting the transformer designed and manufactured.

Impedance Matching can also be referred to as "MATCHING" and the simplest example is connecting a
6v globe to a 12v battery. This is called "Resistance Matching" or "Current Matching" or "Voltage
Matching" because the resistance, voltage and current are known quantities. But when when a device
produces a signal; the voltage, resistance and current changes during the production of the signal and
because these values are not constant, we use the term IMPEDANCE MATCHING.
Impedance really means "resistance that changes during the production of the waveform."

Impedance matching can be worked out mathematically, but you need to know all the parameters of the
device and the circuit you are connecting together. This is rarely possible to obtain.
Rather than calculate the result, it is much easier and more-accurate to connect the two items and view
the result on a CRO (Cathode ray Oscilloscope). But if you cannot do this, simply connect them and listen
or view the output from a speaker, relay or LED etc.

We have already studied "Impedance Matching" in the circuits above, but did not identify the concept.
We will now go over some of the circuits and show where impedance matching took place:

In Fig 6, the transistor matches the HIGH IMPEDANCE of your

finger to the LOW IMPEDANCE needed to turn on the LED.
The transistor converts the 50k resistance of your finger to less
than 0.5k (due to the gain or amplification of the transistor of about
100 -200).
You can also say it matches the HIGH RESISTANCE of your finger
to the LOW RESISTANCE needed to turn on the LED.

Fig 6
 In Fig 64, the transistor matches the LOW IMPEDANCE of the
speaker to produce a HIGH IMPEDANCE output on the "out"
terminals, suitable for delivering to the input of an amplifier.
The transistor converts the 8 ohms of the speaker to more than 800
ohms (possibly 1600 ohms) due to the gain or amplification of the
transistor (about 100-200) and at the same time the 0.5mV
produced by the speaker is amplified to about 400 to 800mV.

Fig 64
The 100n capacitor in Fig
71f matches the impedance
of the electret microphone to
the input impedance of the
transistor.
The impedance of the
electret mic is about the
same as the input
impedance of the transistor
but the mic needs about
0.5mA to operate and the
voltage on the base of the
transistor needs to be very
accurately set for "self bias."
Fig 71f A capacitor separates these
slightly different DC values
while passing the AC signal..

Sometimes Impedance Matching is needed to

separate or remove the DC component of a
signal. In Fig 71e, the electrolytic matches the
LOW IMPEDANCE output of the amplifier to the
LOW IMPEDANCE of the speaker. The two
impedances are almost identical and you could
connect the speaker directly to the output of the
amplifier, but the output has a voltage of approx
mid-rail and this would enter the speaker and
shift the cone when no audio is being
reproduced. And the speaker would only be
able to amplify the negative parts of the
waveform.
To remove the DC component of the waveform,
Fig 71e an electrolytic is included.

CIRCUIT PROBLEMS:
CIRCUIT 1
The input to a microcontroller needs a HIGH when a microphone picks up audio. This is the requirement
from a customer. The circuit in Fig 104 was designed to meet the customers requirements. The 10mV
audio waveform from a microphone is converted to a 4v-5v CONSTANT HIGH. The following circuit is the
result:
 Fig 104.
The starting point is to bias the first transistor so the voltage on the base is just at the point of turning
it ON.
This allows the 47k resistor to turn on the second transistor and the diode does not see any voltage.
This means the 1u does not get charged and the input to the microcontroller sees a LOW.
This is called the QUIESCENT (standing, stand-by or idle) condition.
The gain of the electret microphone is adjusted by the 10k pot and when it receives a loud audio
signal it produces an output of about 20mV.
This signal is sufficient to turn ON the first transistor and turn OFF the second transistor so that signal
diode sees a HIGH pulse via the 4k7.
This voltage is passed to the 1u and it gradually gets charged. When the voltage on the 1u reaches
about 4-5v, the microcontroller sees a HIGH and the program in the micro produces an output.

CIRCUIT 2
How does this amplifier get biased?:

Fig 105.
One of the most difficult amplifiers to design and service is a DC (Directly-Coupled) amplifier. The
voltage on the output is fed back to the input to create the idle (quiescent) state and the biasing of
the input is created from the output. So, where do you start?
All the facts we have learnt in this discussion are needed to understand how this circuit works.
The circuit has high gain and without the 22k feedback, we would not be able to create an output
"set-point." The first transistor has no DC voltage gain as but it does have an AC voltage gain of
about 22. The BC557 provides a voltage gain of about 70-100 and the output transistors only provide
a current gain. This gives the circuit a voltage gain of about 2,000. A 50mV input will produce an
output of about 10v.
The aim is to get the output voltage near to mid-rail so it can swing both positive and negative and
create a relatively distortion-less waveform.
The starting point is the voltage divider made up of the 27k + 27k and 100k. This puts 10v on the
base.
Now we come to the 470R resistor on the base of the BD140 transistor. This resistor is a very low
value and is keeping the BD140 turned on and the emitter will be very low.
Here's the interesting part: The collector of the BC557 can pull UP without any difficulty to about 1.4v
due to the two 1N4148 diodes and also due to the base-emitter voltage-drops across the two output
transistors. But this only raises the collector about 1.4v.
To be able to pull higher, the transistor must turn on harder and since the bottom transistor is being
pulled down by 470R, the top transistor is also being pulled down via the two 1R resistors. The
BC557 sees the base of the BD139 as a 470R resistor, plus the actual 470R resistor. This make it
220R.
To raise the voltage on the base of the BD140, requires current through the 470R and the BC557
needs to be turned on a certain amount to provide current through the 470R and into the base of the
BD139 AT THE SAME TIME.
At the moment the join of the two one-ohm resistors has a very low voltage on it and the BC547 is
also an emitter-follower and the emitter is about 10v minus 0.7v.
This puts a current through the 22k resistor of less than 1mA however this current also flows through
the emitter-base junction of the BC557 and if the transistor has a gain of 100, the emitter-collector
current can be as high as 100mA.
However the 220R (470R and 470R in parallel) resistor only needs a flow of 22mA to create a
voltage of 5v across it, so we have plenty of gain to begin to turn on the circuit.
The BC557 creates a current-flow through the 470R and the BD140 starts to get pulled UP. This puts
less current though the BC547 and less current through the base of the BC557, so the BC557 starts
to turn off.
The actual settling-point has a lot to do with the 27k + 27k and 100k base-bias resistors as this puts
10v on the base and the emitter 9.3v. Suppose the output settles at 7.5v. This puts 1.8v across the
22k and creates a current-flow through this resistor. Approximately the same current flows through
the emitter-base of the BC557 and about 100 times this current is available to be divided between
the 470R and base of the BD139. This is how the output becomes biased at very nearly half-rail
voltage.

CIRCUIT 3
Select the best circuit between Figs 106 and 107:

Fig 106.
 From the theory discussed above, can
you see the problem with driving the
BC327 in Fig106.
It is being pulled HIGH via the 1k
resistor. If the transistor has a gain of
100, Q4 will effectively be equal to a
10 ohm resistor. For 100mA current
delivered to the output, 1v will be
dropped across this transistor and it
will start to get hot. This is wasted
energy.
A BC237is only capable of delivering
100mA.
A BC327 will handle 800mA.
A 1N4001 is not a high-speed diode
and using an Ultra Fast 4004 will
deliver an extra 50mA to the output.
See: 200 Transistor Circuits for details.
Fig 107.

CIRCUIT 4

Fig107a shows a 560R resistor to discharge the 47p

coupling-capacitor.
The circuit is a 27MHz transmitter with buffer. The
buffer is an amplifying stage to increase the output.
You will notice two things: the buffer stage is not
biased ON and a low value resistor is connected
between base and 0v rail. This called a "Class-C"
stage.
This resistor discharges the capacitor so it will transfer
the maximum amount of energy (on each cycle), from
the oscillator stage to the output stage.
The resistor is not needed when charging the
capacitor but it is very important to discharge the
capacitor.
Remove the resistor and the output will be nearly
ZERO!

Fig 107a. Another point to note with a "Class-C" stage is this:

All the energy to turn-on the Buffer stage comes from
the coupling capacitor.

LAB ELECTRONICS
Lab Electronics produces a "stand-alone" trainer that covers the common-base, common-emitter
and common-collector stages:
 Fig 108.

Fig 109.
Fig 109 shows the circuit for the trainer and how it can be wired to produce all the stages we have
covered in this discussion. By feeding each stage with a sinewave at the input, you can view the
output on a CRO and see how it works.
This is only part of the picture to understanding the operation of each stage as the input and output
impedances are also important and the third important thing is the effect of the capacitor(s) and/or
electrolytics that connect one stage to another and/or those connected to the emitter to provide
EMITTER BY-PASS.
We have already explained the advantage of a common-base stage (to connect a very low
impedance device to an amplifying circuit) and the advantage of a common-collector (emitter-
follower) circuit to drive a low-impedance load.
A "trainer" only provides a fraction of the knowledge needed to understand "circuit-design" - but it
helps. You must build "real-life" circuits to get a complete understanding.
The trainer above has lots of faults in its design. You cannot get a full understand of the common-
base stage with 1k in the emitter. It should be 100R or less. The 10k feeding the 33u will attenuate
the sinewave and is not needed.
The common-emitter stage does not provide any self-biasing option. The 56k base-bias is too low
and the collector and emitters resistors are the wrong values to get any appreciable gain from the
stage. When the 33u is put across the emitter resistor, the gain will increase enormously.
It would be much better to work on the circuits we have presented above and view the output on a
CRO.
This trainer does not give you a full understanding of the operation of the three stages. (33u and 15v
is rarely used) I would give it a MISS.
 Fig 110.
Fig 110 shows another trainer. It covers the common-emitter stage.
When a common-emitter stage drives a transformer or speaker as a load in the collector circuit, we
want the sound to be free of distortion and to do this this we must bias the stage so the collector is at
half-rail voltage when no audio is present.
This allows the transistor to turn ON and OFF to provide the maximum voltage-swing. If the transistor
is not sitting at mid-rail, either the positive or the negative peaks of the signal will hit either the
positive or negative rail and produce distortion - because the full excursion (height) will not be
reproduced.
But biasing the transistor at mid-rail means the current though the speaker or transformer will be
about half the peak current and this is wasted as it flows at all times, even when audio is not being
processed.
That's why this type of stage is not efficient and it heats up the output transistor considerably, even
with no audio.
This type of circuit is called "CLASS-A" and the trainer above has a "Bridge" circuit as a pre-amplifier
and is capacitor-coupled to a common-emitter stage as an output stage - driving a transformer - as a
class "A" amplifier. Since transformers are expensive, difficult to purchase and add weight to a
project, they have generally been replaced by complementary-symmetry push-pull class-B output
stages.
All the features in this trainer have been covered in the circuits above.

Which circuit is best?

Fig 111 shows four different circuits driving a speaker. Which circuit is best??

Fig 111.
The 4 circuits in Fig 111 drive an 8 ohm speaker and are called OUTPUT STAGES or DRIVER
STAGES. They are all different in performance and have different input voltage requirements.
Circuit A is really only a one transistor emitter-follower amplifier as the other transistor discharges
the electrolytic.
However it is fully discharged and represents only a few ohms resistance (impedance) in series with
the speaker. The input voltage-swing must be as large as possible (called rail-to-rail swing).
Circuit B is a two-transistor amplifier (called a Darlington Pair) and requires only a very small
current but a rail-to-rail voltage-swing. The speaker is AC coupled and only the audio current enters
the cone and it is not displaced via any DC current. However the 100u is discharged via a 330R and
the electrolytic is equivalent to a 330R in series with the speaker. The output from this circuit will be
very low.
Circuit C is a Darlington Pair directly connected to a speaker. The input is very sensitive and
requires less than 1v swing for full output. However DC flows through the speaker and will heat up
the coil as well as shift the cone and maybe reduce the output capabilities of the speaker.
Circuit D is a high gain Darlington stage and has a sensitive input and requires less than 1v for full
output. However the electrolytic is discharged via a 100R and this means it is equivalent to a 100R in
series with the speaker.
The best circuit is "A" but it needs a pre-driver transistor to achieve the gain (or amplification) of the
other 3 circuits.

DESIGN YOUR OWN TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIER

TransistorAmp software by Didaktik Software

The following software allows you to design your own single-stage Common-Emitter, Common-Base
or Common-Collector amplifier.
It has been created by Didaktik Software.
Download: TransistorAmp (.zip 520KB)
TransistorAmp unzips to TransistorAmp.msi (604KB) and will install on your computer with a
desktop icon.
Or you can download: TransistorAmp (.exe) or TransistorAmp (.rar) Unzip .rar in a folder
"TransistorAmp" and it will create TransistorAmp.exe Click on the file and the image above wil

How to use the software TransistorAmp

TransistorAmp is very easy to use. You start every design with the menu item: "New Amplifier". In
the pull-down-menu you choose your desired circuit. You can choose between common-base-circuit,
common-emitter-circuit and common-collector-circuit. After that you get a dialog, where you have to
put in all parameters of your amplifier.
The following 3 images show the layout of the circuit you will produce:
For the selection of the transistor-type you can click on the button: "Select transistor type from list",
and you will see a list of all supported transistor types. TransistorAmp supports some thousand
transistor types - even some Germanium transistors. Select your desired transistor type and click
OK. The selected transistor type will be displayed in the dialog. Both NPN and PNP transistors are
supported.

When you have completed your input in the dialog, click OK and see the result. You see a window
with your input data, the circuit, the component values and the most important parameters of the
operation point. If you want to change your design, you only need to click again on "New Amplifier"
and the circuit in the pull-down-menu. Your previous input data will be restored in the input dialog and
you can change one or more parameters.

Note: for the Common-Collector amplifier: "Collector current in A" means: "Collector current in
Amps." For 2mA, insert 0.002 etc.

Decibel (dB) Calculator

Decibels are defined as ten times the log of a power ratio. This calculator converts between
decibels, voltage gain (or current), and power gain. Just fill in one field and the calculator will
convert the other two fields.

dB= 20log(V1/V2)= 10log(P1/P2)

Decibels (dB) Voltage Gain Power Gain

When you are satisfied with the result, click on: "Result - Save". TransistorAmp saves all data in the
result window to an HTML-file. You can open this file with a browser (e.g. Firefox or Internet
Explorer), inspect it and print it.
THE FET
The Field-Effect Transistor is just like the ordinary transistors we have studied.
It has three leads and is connected just like an ordinary transistor.
The only difference is the name of the leads and the voltage on the "base."
The "base" is now called the "GATE" and nothing happens on the GATE until a higher voltage is reached.
The voltage on the BASE of an ordinary transistor needs to be 0.55v before the transistor starts to
conduct and at 0.7v it is fully turned ON (can be up to 0.9v).
For a FET, the voltage on the GATE is HIGHER. It needs to be 3.5v for some FETs and as high as 6v for
others.
There are two other slight differences between a FET and an ordinary transistor:
The voltage on a FET does not need any current. For an ordinary transistor, CURRENT is needed into
the base and the transistor will amplify this about 100 - 200 times to produce collector current.
Since NO CURRENT is needed on the GATE of a FET, the current through the source-drain can be as
high as the device will allow. This is the first advantage of a FET.
There is a very small "gap" or "range" where the voltage on the GATE starts to turn the FET ON (from
zero output current; gradually, to full output current) and if you work in this range, the FET becomes an
audio amplifying device - linear amplifying device.
Every FET is different and the voltage range is quite considerable.
Refer to the following data sheet. The red frames contain the data for the voltage on the gate to turn the
FET on. These voltages are only a guide and you need to build a circuit and test the device to determine
the actual values:

click image for enlarged view

However the FET has high losses when operating in this linear mode and the current it can handle is
limited.
When a FET is used in SWITCHING MODE (called Digital Mode) the losses in the FET are minimal and
the device can handle very high currents.

The second advantage is the voltage-drop across the DRAIN-SOURCE terminals is very low and this
means very little heat is generated (lost) in the device and they can deliver (handle) a very high current.

If you think of a FET along these lines, you will not be "mystified." (If you can achieve the relatively high
input voltage needed, you can use a FET.)

Here is a more-technical description of a FET:

The Field-Effect Transistor provides an excellent voltage gain with the added feature of a high input
impedance. There are also low-power-consumption configurations with good frequency range and
minimal size. JFETs, depletion MOSFETs, and MESFETs can be used to design amplifiers having similar
voltage gains. The depletion MOSFET (MESFET) circuit has a much higher input impedance than a
similar JFET configuration.
Whereas a BJT device controls a large output (collector) current by means of a relatively small input
(base) current, the FET device controls an output (drain) current by means of a small input (gate-voltage)
voltage. In general, therefore, the BJT is a current-controlled device and the FET is a voltage-controlled
device. In both cases, however, the output current is the controlled variable. Because of the high input
characteristic of FETs, the ac equivalent model is somewhat simpler than that employed for BJTs.
Whereas the BJT has an amplification factor, (beta), the FET has a transconductance factor gm.

The FET can be used as a linear amplifier or as a digital device in logic circuits. In fact, the enhancement
MOSFET is quite popular in digital circuitry, especially in CMOS circuits that require very low power
consumption. FET devices are also widely used in high-frequency applications and in buffering
(interfacing) applications.

Although the common-source configuration is the most popular, providing an inverted, amplified signal,
common-drain (source-follower) circuits providing unity gain with no inversion and common-gate circuits
providing gain with no inversion. Due to the very high input impedance, the input current is generally
assumed to be 0µA and the current gain is an undefined quantity. Whereas the voltage gain of an FET
amplifier is generally less than that obtained using a BJT amplifier, the FET amplifier provides a much
higher input impedance than that of a BJT configuration. Output impedance values are comparable for
both BJT and FET devices.

A MOSFET is a transistor. It is a Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor.

Here are the symbols for FETs and MOSFETs:

Here is an animation showing how to turn on an N-channel MOSFET:

MOSFET turns ON when gate-to-source

is more than about 2v (2v to 5v)
The easiest way to understand how MOSFETs work is to compare them with PNP and NPN transistors
and show them in similar circuits. The advantage of a MOSFET is this: It requires very little current
(almost zero current) into the gate to turn it ON and it can deliver 10 to 50 amps or more to a load.
A MOSFET can be used in place of an ordinary transistor (called a bipolar junction transistor, or BJT)
providing one slight difference is taken into account.
An ordinary NPN transistor will turn ON when the base voltage is about 0.65v more than the emitter but a
MOSFET needs the gate terminal to be at least 2v to 5v, (depending on the type of MOSFET) above the
source voltage.
Here is a comparison between an NPN transistor and N-channel MOSFET:

A zener must be added to the gate of a MOSFET if the gate voltage comes from a supply that is above
20v.
A normal transistor is a current amplifying device.
For a load current of 100mA, the base current for a BC547 will need to be about 1mA.
This means it has a current gain of about 100.
A MOSFET is a voltage controlled device and the current it will handle depends on its physical size and
the way it is constructed. You cannot change this parameter.
For a load current up to about 35Amp, the gate current for a IRZ40 will be less than 0.25mA. When the
gate voltage is 3v to 4v higher than the source, it turns on and the resistance between source and drain
terminals is about 0.028 ohms. It will handle up to 35 amps.
The load determines the current through the MOSFET (not the MOSFET) and if it is less than 35 amps, a
IRFZ40 is suitable for the application.

Comparison between a PNP transistor and P-channel MOSFET:

When the gate voltage is 4v LOWER than rail voltage, the MOSFET turns ON. The 10k resistor on the
base of the transistor is needed to prevent the base current exceeding the amount of current needed by
the transistor to deliver current to the load. However the 10k resistor on the gate of the MOSFET is not
needed. Providing the voltage (up to 18v) on the gate rises and falls quickly, the MOSFET will not get hot.
The critical period of time is the 0v to 3v section of the waveform as this is when the MOSFET is turning
on.

PUSH PULL
MOSFETs can be placed in push-pull mode, just like PNP and NPN transistors.
They must be connected correctly to prevent damage.
In the following circuit you can see the transistors and MOSFETs have been connected incorrectly.
For the PNP/NPN transistor circuit, as the input changes from high to low or low to high, both transistors
are turned on during the transition. Only one transistor is turned on when the line is high and only the
other transistor is turned on when the line is low, but during the transition, BOTH are turned on.
The same applies with the MOSFETs. When the input is at mid-rail, a voltage between gate and source
will be produced for both MOSFETs. Since a MOSFET can handle many amps, this will put a short-circuit
across the power rail and will cause a lot of damage.

Transistors and MOSFETs will produce short-circuit

The correct placement for the NPN and PNP transistors is shown in the diagram below. The output will
rise and fall in harmony with the input, however there will be a small 1v2 gap at mid-rail where the output
will not respond as this represents 0.6v for the base-emitter voltage of each transistor. You should not
connect two MOSFETs as shown the gap will be 6v as the gate to source voltage for each transistor is
about 3v, but you cannot connect the gates of the two MOSFETs because each MOSFET will turn off
when the gate-to-source voltage is less than about 3v across these two terminal. This means the output
will be 3v less than rail voltage and not go below 3v above 0v rail. Both MOSFETs will not turn on during
any part of the cycle and no short circuit will occur, but the output will be less than full rail-voltage swing
and the MOSFETs are not being supplied with a gate-to-source voltage that has a guaranteed fast rise
and fall time (and the MOSFETs may heat up). This is an unreliable design.

MOSFET output is less than rail voltage

The solution is shown in the diagram below. The transistor configuration will work on ANY rail voltage but
the MOSFET "totem-pole configuration" will only work up to 5v. This is due to the characteristics of a
MOSFET. The MOSFETs used in this arrangement have a gate-to-source characteristic of slightly more
than 3v and do not turn on when the voltage across these two terminals is 3v. This means the supply can
be 6v and when the input is at mid-rail, 3v will be across each gate-to-source and neither will be turned
on. That's why TTL logic is limited to 5v operation. The output will be extremely close to rail-to-rail for
the MOSFET configuration.
 Max voltage for MOSFET arrangement is 5v

For a supply greater than 5v, a different MOSFET configuration must be used to get full rail-to-rail output.
The MOSFETs must be turned on individually.

PUSH-PULL USING MOSFETS

PUSH PULL USING MOSFETS

The circuit above sinks up to 35A via the N-channel MOSFET and delivers about 18Amp via the P-
channel MOSFET. Input A must rise quickly to prevent the MOSFET heating up during the turning-on
period. Input A must rise to at least 4v to guarantee the MOSFET turns ON.
Input B must rise above 0.65v to turn the transistor ON. The voltage on the collector of the transistor will
fall and this will provide a gate-to-source voltage for the P-channel MOSFET.
Both inputs must not be HIGH at the same time as this will turn ON both MOSFETs and create a short-
circuit on the power rail.

The circuit above is much more complex than meets the eye.
To turn on the top N-channel MOSFET, the gate must be taken at least 3v higher than the source
because it is a SOURCE FOLLOWER (similar to an EMITTER FOLLOWER). This is equal to Vin + 3v.
How does pin HG get this high voltage?
It gets it from a voltage doubling circuit made up of the 0.33u, high speed diode D1 and an oscillator in
the chip.
The circuit is a buck converter and will reduce any supply voltage to a lower voltage with very high
efficiency. It allows a small "packet of energy" to flow to the Vout terminal via the inductor L1 and this
percentage determines the Vout voltage.

Here is an audio amplifier using PUSH PULL mode to drive a speaker:

The top two transistors are in push-pull mode to turn the P-channel MOSFET on and off very quickly.
They speed up the incoming waveform and prevent the MOSFET generating heat during the turning-on
process.
The two lower transistors do the same thing.
The diodes and resistors connected to the input form a voltage-divider to correctly bias the push-pull
transistors.

H-BRIDGE
An H-Bridge can be designed using MOSFETs:
Input A HIGH, Input D HIGH - forward rotation
Input B HIGH, Input C HIGH - reverse rotation
Input A HIGH, Input B HIGH - not allowed
Input C HIGH, Input D HIGH - not allowed

The H-Bridge can be designed with two more transistors so that only two input lines are needed.

PWM MOTOR SPEED CONTROLLER

Here is a circuit from a 12v drill. The MOSFET will deliver up to 30Amps.
The frequency of the oscillator is in the range 550Hz to about 6.5kHz, with an off period of about 2.6us.

PWM 12v CORDLESS DRILL MOTOR CONTROLLER

WHY MOSFETs FAIL

There are quite a few possible causes for device failures, here are a few of the most important reasons:

 Over-voltage:

MOSFETs have very little tolerance to over-voltage. Damage to devices may result even if the
voltage rating is exceeded for as little as a few nanoseconds. MOSFET devices should be rated
conservatively for the anticipated voltage levels and careful attention should be paid to
suppressing any voltage spikes or ringing.

 Prolonged current overload:

High average current causes considerable thermal dissipation in MOSFET devices even though
the on-resistance is relatively low. If the current is very high and heatsinking is poor, the device
can be destroyed by excessive temperature rise. MOSFET devices can be paralleled directly to
 share high load currents.

 Transient current overload:

Massive current overload, even for short duration, can cause progressive damage to the device
with little noticeable temperature rise prior to failure.

 Shoot-through - cross conduction:

If the control signals to two opposing MOSFETs overlap, a situation can occur where both
MOSFETs are switched on together. This effectively short-circuits the supply and is known as a
shoot-through condition. If this occurs, the supply decoupling capacitor is discharged rapidly
through both devices every time a switching transition occurs. This results in very short but
incredibly intense current pulses through both switching devices.
The chances of shoot-through occurring are minimised by allowing a dead time between
switching transitions, during which neither MOSFET is turned on. This allows time for one device
to turn off before the opposite device is turned on.

 No free-wheel current path:

When switching current through any inductive load (such as a Tesla Coil) a back EMF is
produced when the current is turned off. It is essential to provide a path for this current to free-
wheel in the time when the switching device is not conducting the load current.
This current is usually directed through a free-wheel diode connected anti-parallel with the
switching device. When a MOSFET is employed as the switching device, the designer gets the
free-wheel diode "for free" in the form of the MOSFETs intrinsic body diode. This solves one
problem, but creates a whole new one...

 Slow reverse recovery of MOSFET body diode:

A high Q resonant circuit such as a Tesla Coil is capable of storing considerable energy in its
inductance and self capacitance. Under certain tuning conditions, this causes the current to "free-
wheel" through the internal body diodes of the MOSFET device. This behaviour is not a problem
in itself, but a problem arises due to the slow turn-off (or reverse recovery) of the internal body
diode.

MOSFET body diodes generally have a long reverse recovery time compared to the performance
of the MOSFET itself.
This problem is usually eased by the addition of a high speed (fast recovery) diode. This ensures
that the MOSFET body diode is never driven into conduction. The free-wheel current is handled
by the fast recovery diode which presents less of a "shoot-through" problem.

 Excessive gate drive:

If the MOSFET gate is driven with too high a voltage, then the gate oxide insulation can be
punctured rendering the device useless. Gate-source voltages in excess of +/- 15 volts are likely
to cause damage to the gate insulation and lead to failure. Care should be taken to ensure that
the gate drive signal is free from any narrow voltage spikes that could exceed the maximum
allowable gate voltage.

 Insufficient gate drive - incomplete turn on:

MOSFET devices are only capable of switching large amounts of power because they are
designed to dissipate minimal power when they are turned on. It is the responsibility of the
designer to ensure that the MOSFET device is turned hard on to minimise dissipation during
conduction. If the device is not fully turned on then the device will have a high resistance during
conduction and will dissipate considerable power as heat. A gate voltage of between 10 and 15
volts ensures full turn-on with most MOSFET devices.

 Slow switching transitions:

Little energy is dissipated during the steady on and off states, but considerable energy is
 dissipated during the times of a transition. Therefore it is desirable to switch between states as
quickly as possible to minimise power dissipation during switching. Since the MOSFET gate
appears capacitive, it requires considerable current pulses in order to charge and discharge the
gate in a few tens of nano-seconds. Peak gate currents can be as high as 1 amp.

 Spurious oscillation:

MOSFETs are capable of switching large amounts of current in incredibly short times. Their
inputs are also relatively high impedance, which can lead to stability problems. Under certain
conditions high voltage MOSFET devices can oscillate at very high frequencies due to stray
inductance and capacitance in the surrounding circuit. (Frequencies usually in the low MHz.) This
behaviour is highly undesirable since it occurs due to linear operation, and represents a high
dissipation condition.
Spurious oscillation can be prevented by minimising stray inductance and capacitance around the
MOSFETs. A low impedance gate-drive circuit should also be used to prevent stray signals from
coupling to the gate of the device.

 The "Miller" effect:

MOSFET devices have considerable "Miller capacitance" between their gate and drain terminals.
In low voltage or slow switching applications this gate-drain capacitance is rarely a concern,
however it can cause problems when high voltages are switched quickly.

A potential problem occurs when the drain voltage of the bottom device rises very quickly due to
turn on of the top MOSFET. This high rate of rise of voltage couples capacitively to the gate of the
MOSFET via the Miller capacitance. This can cause the gate voltage of the MOSFET to rise
resulting in turn on of this device as well ! A shoot-through condition exists and MOSFET failure is
certain if not immediate.
The Miller effect can be minimised by using a low impedance gate drive which clamps the gate
voltage to 0 volts when in the off state. This reduces the effect of any spikes coupled from the
drain. Further protection can be gained by applying a negative voltage to the gate during the off
state. eg. applying -10 volts to the gate would require over 12 volts of noise in order to risk turning
on a MOSFET that is meant to be turned off !

 Conducted interference with controller:

Rapid switching of large currents can cause voltage dips and transient spikes on the power
supply rails. If one or more supply rails are common to the power and control electronics, then
interference can be conducted to the control circuitry.
Good decoupling, and star-point earthing are techniques which should be employed to reduce the
effects of conducted interference. The author has also found transformer coupling to drive the
MOSFETs very effective at preventing electrical noise from being conducted back to the
controller.

 Static electricity damage:

Antistatic handling precautions should be used to prevent gate oxide damage when installing
MOSFET or IGBT devices. But are very reliable once they are soldered in place.
For a mathematical approach to understanding the operation of a FET and some further ircuits, here are
four documents:

The FET .pdf 670KB

The FET Amplifier .pdf 310KB
MOSFET Basics .pdf 380KB
FET Principles and Circuits .pdf 1MB
This is just a start to learning about transistor circuits and more can be found on Talking Electronics
website.
We have avoided mathematics and theory for a reason. Transistors have such wide parameters that
theoretical values and "Computer models" do not work.
Most circuits have to be built and tested using transistors from different manufacturers to be sure they
work every time. The author had a batch of transistors from a different manufacturer for his FM
transmitters and THEY DID NOT WORK.
The gain at 100MHz was so poor, the FM Bug did not transmit.
The only way to learn is by "building circuits." Text books don't do this. Show me a text book that explains
the output current for a common-emitter stage is dependent on the LOAD resistor (in the circuits above).
Show me a book that explains why capacitor-coupling two stages is so inefficient.
Or why the load resistor in Fig 25 should be 15 ohms and not 330 ohms.
You can get too tied up in mathematics and theory and as the saying goes: "You can't see the wood -
(forest) - for the trees."
You have to be able to look at a circuit and see things "going up and down" or "passing energy from one
stage to the next." And that's what we have tried to do.

24/8/2011 - constantly being updated and added-to

email Colin Mitchell for any extra theory you want added.