BJT as an Amplifier

 A transistor must be dc-biased in order to operate

as an Amplifier – Current Amplifier, Voltage
amplifier, Power Amplifier
 A dc operating point (Q-point – quiescent point)
must be set first
 An ac signal is then applied to the input to cause
an amplified output
 When a transistor is biased, certain current and
voltage conditions are established (IB, IC and VCE)

ES110 ETE Department 1

 DC Load Line
IC (mA)

IB5

IB4

IB3

IB2
IB1
VCE
0 (V)

ES110 ETE Department 2

 DC Load Line
RC
RB 200Ω IC
10kΩ
VCE
IB VC C
+ +
VBB Βdc = 100
10V
3.7V - -

Output voltage equation VCC = ICRC + VCE

This is a straight line equation
ES110 ETE Department 3
 DC Load Line
 When IC = 0 i.e. IB = 0
VCE = VCC
i.e. (VCE, IC) = (VCC, 0) = (10V, 0A)

 When VCE = 0
ICRC = VCC
i.e. IC = VCC/RC = 10V/200Ω = 50mA
(VCE, IC) = (0, 50mA)

ES110 ETE Department 4

 DC Load Line….
IC (mA)

50 IB = 500µA
DC load 40 IB = 400µA
line Q-point
ICQ 30 IB = 300µA
20 IB = 200µA
IB = 100µA
VCE
10
0 4 (V)
VCEQ
ES110 ETE Department 5
 DC Load Line
VBB  VBE 3.7V  0.7V
IB  
RB 10k
= 300uA

Therefore the intersection of the dc load line

and the transistor I-V characteristic for IB =
300uA given the dc operating point

ES110 ETE Department 6

 Linear Operation
IC (mA)

50mA IB = 500µA

Saturation IB = 400µA
Region Q-point
ICQ IB = 300µA

IB = 200µA
IB = 100µA
VCE
10V
0 VCEQ (V)
Cut-off Region

ES110 ETE Department 7

 Linear Operation
 The region along the dc load line including all
points between saturation and cut-off is know as
the linear region.
 As long as the transistor is operated in the linear
region, the output is a linear reproduction of the
input.
 Assume a sine wave is superimposed on VBB
causing the base current to vary 100uA above and
below the Q-point of 300uA

ES110 ETE Department 8

 Linear Operation….
The ac source will
cause ac base
IC
I B + ib current to flow ib
Ac source
VCE + The peak base
VCC - current is given
by:
+
VBB

I B  iˆb
-

ES110 ETE Department 9

 Linear Operation…
Input Current
IC (mA)

50 IB = 500µA
40
IB = 400µA
Q-point
30 IB = 300µA
20 IB = 200µA
IB = 100µA
VCE (V)
2 4 6 10
0
Output Current Current 20mA
Gain = = 100
200uA

ES110 ETE Department 10

 Linear Operation…
 The variation of base current will cause the
collector current to vary 10mA above and below its
Q-point value of 30mA.
 As a result of the variation in collector current, the
collector-emitter voltage varies 2V above and
below its Q-point value of 4V.
 The Q-point values varies because of the applied
ac signal

ES110 ETE Department 11

 DC Biasing a BJT
 We shall look at various methods dc biasing a
transistor circuit without using separate base bias
dc source
 Base Bias
 In the previous discussion, a separate battery,

VBB was used to bias the base-emitter junction

 A more practical method is to use VCC as a

single bias source

ES110 ETE Department 12

 Base Bias
VC C

RC RC IC
IC
RB
+ RB
VCE - VC C VCE
IB IB
Βdc Βdc

ES110 ETE Department 13

 Base Bias
 If the transistor is operated in linear region
IC = βdcIB ……………………………….(1)
VCE = VCC - ICRC
= VCC - βdcIB RC ……………..….(2)
Notice that equation (1) and (2) include βdc
The disadvantage of this is that a variation of βdc causes
both IC and VCE to change, thus changing the Q-point
Bdc is temperature dependant. Hence base-biased
circuit is beta-dependent
ES110 ETE Department 14
 Collector Feedback Bias
VC C The resistor RB is connected to collector

RC This is a negative feedback connection

RB

IC Provides relatively stable Q-point by

reducing the effect of variation of beta
VCE
IB Βdc
It is a simple circuit in terms of the
number of components required

ES110 ETE Department 15

 Collector Feedback Bias….
 Beta increases with temperature, which causes IC
to increase.
 An increase in IC produces more voltage drop
across RC, lowering the collector voltage
 This in turn, reduces IB, which tends to offset the
original increase in IC

 The result is that the circuit tends to maintain a

stable collector current, keeping the Q-point fixed

ES110 ETE Department 16

 Collector Feedback Bias….
 The Base current is given by:
VC  VBE IC
IB  IB 
RB  dc
VC  VCC  I B  I C RC

Solve for IC then calculate VCE

VCE = VC

ES110 ETE Department 17

 Voltage Divider Bias
 This uses a voltage divider made of two resistors
(R1 and R2)
 This is the widely used biasing method
VC C

R1 RC IC

VCE
IB Βdc
R2 RE

ES110 ETE Department 18

 Voltage Divider Bias….
VC C VC C

RC IC
R1 R1 Looking at the base

dc
IB
R2 VB R2
IE RE RIN(base)

ES110 ETE Department 19

 Voltage Divider Bias….
 DC input resistance at the base is given by
Ohm’s Law:
VB
RIN (base ) 
IB
 Kirchhoff’s Law applied to the base emitter circuit
gives:
VB  VBE  I E RE

ES110 ETE Department 20

 Base Bias
 With assumption that VBE << IERE , then
VB  I E RE
 Since IE ≈ IC , then
DC input
Resistance
VB   dc I B RE
 dc I B RE
 Hence RIN (base )    dc RE
IB
ES110 ETE Department 21
 Voltage Divider Bias….
VC C VCC R2  dc RE 
VB 
R1  R2  dc RE 
R1

VB VB 
VCC R2  dc RE  If dcRE >> R2
R1  R2  dc RE 

R2  dcRE VCC R2
VB 
R1  R2
ES110 ETE Department 22
 Voltage Divider Bias….
 Once the base voltage is known, the Emitter
voltage VE is:
VE  VB  VBE
 And IE is calculated as follows:
VE
IE 
RE
 And IC  IE

ES110 ETE Department 23

 Voltage Divider Bias….
 Therefore IC can be calculated as follows:
Vcc R2
 VBE
R1  R2
IC 
RE
 And VCE is calculated as follows:

VCE  VCC  I C RC  I E RE  VCC  I C RC  RE 

ES110 ETE Department 24

 Stability of Voltage Divider Bias
VC C VC C

RC IC RC IC
R1 RTH

 dc +  dc
R2 IE RE VTH RE
- IE

ES110 ETE Department 25

 Stability of Voltage Divider Bias..
 Applying Thevenin’s Theorem
R1 R2 VCC R2
RTH  VTH 
R1  R2 R1  R2
 Writing Kirchhoff’s equation around the
base-emitter loop

VTH  I B RTH  VBE  I E RE

ES110 ETE Department 26
 Stability of Voltage Divider Bias..
VTH  VBE
VTH  I E  RE  RTH  V IE 
  BE  R  RTH 
 dc   E  
 dc 

VTH  VBE
If RE >> RTH/  IE 
dc
RE
IE is essentially independent of  dc. This is easy
to achieve in practice by selecting RE at least ten
times the value of RTH/  dc

ES110 ETE Department 27