Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual

American International University- Bangladesh

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
EEE 2210: Analog Electronics Laboratory
Experiment 1

Title: Familiarize with engineering software as a modern simulation tool to investigate the
fundamentals of signal and analog circuits. (Multisim Tutorial)

Abstract:
This experiment involves with simulation based laboratory work where NI Multisim software will be
introduced as a modern engineering tool for simulation. Basic Analog circuits will be constructed to
investigate the fundamentals of signals and analog circuits.

Introduction:
National Instruments’ Multisim software is a circuit teaching application software for analog, digital,
and power electronics courses and laboratories. User can visualize circuits and reinforce theory with
simulated instruments, advanced analyses, and thousands of interactive components through this
platform. This software package is easy to use and achieve real time simulation of analog circuits.
This software can be used in laboratory while exercising the simulations, measurements, and designs
of real life systems. Furthermore Multisim can be used as an excellent replacement for many
other laboratory devices, such as digital multimeters, oscilloscopes, function generators, and etc.
The objective of this experiment is to use the NI (National Instruments) Multisim for analog circuit
simulations to facilitate the analysis which enhances the understanding of various analog electric
circuits and their mode of operation. This experiment is mostly about learning Multisim software for
analyzing analog circuits and its frequency response. Furthermore, students are meant to notice that a
software simulations are sufficient compared to actual hardware implementation to facilitate the
study and understanding of the theoretical concepts of these circuits.

Theory and Methodology:

Analog signal contains information about a variety of activities and things of this physical world.
Analog values are typically represented as a voltage, electric current or electric charge around
components in the electronic devices. As an example, the voice of a radio announcer reading the news
into a microphone provides an acoustic signal that contains information about world affairs. To extract
required information the signal must first be converted into an electrical signal, that is, a voltage or a
current. However electric signal can be represented by one of the two equivalent forms shown in Fig. 1

(a) (b)
Figure: 1 Two alternative representations of a signal source: (a) Th´evenin form; (b) the Norton form.

These two representations in Fig. 1 are equivalent, their parameters are related by

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 1

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
𝑣𝑠 (𝑡) = 𝑅𝑆 𝑖𝑆 (𝑡)
An analog signal is a time-varying quantity that can be represented by a graph such as that shown in
Fig. 3. In fact, the information content of the signal is represented by the changes in its magnitude as
time progresses. Electronic circuits that process such signals are known as analog circuits. Common
analog processing elements include capacitors, resistors and inductors (as the passive elements) and
transistors or op-amps (as the active elements).

Figure: 2 An arbitrary analog voltage signal 𝑣𝑆 (𝑡).

Analog Amplifiers
The most fundamental signal-processing function is signal amplification. An amplifier that preserves
the details of the signal waveform is characterized by the relationship

𝑣𝑜 (𝑡) = 𝐴𝑣 𝑣𝑖 (𝑡) …………… [2]

Where 𝑣𝑖 and 𝑣𝑜 are the input and output signals, respectively, and 𝐴𝑣 is a constant representing the
magnitude of amplification, known as amplifier gain. Equation (2) is a linear relationship; hence the
amplifier it describes is a linear amplifier.

(a) (b)
Figure: 3 (a) A
voltage amplifier fed with a signal vI(t) and connected to a load resistance RL. (b) Transfer
characteristic of a linear voltage amplifier with voltage gain Av.

The power gain of the amplifier in Fig. 3 is defined as

𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 (𝑃 ) 𝑣𝑜 𝑖𝑜
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 (𝐴𝑃 ) = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟(𝑃𝐿) = ………………… [3]
𝐼 𝑣𝑖 𝑖𝑖

The current gain of the amplifier is defined as

𝑖𝑜
𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛(𝐴𝑖 ) = 𝑖𝑖
……………….[4]

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 2

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
From Eqs. [2] to [4] we note that
𝐴𝑃 = 𝐴𝑣 𝐴𝑖 …………[5]

Specifically the voltage, current and power gains 𝐴𝑣 , 𝐴𝑖 and 𝐴𝑃 respectively can be expressed as

Voltage gain in decibels = 20 log|𝐴𝑣 | dB ………………………[6]

Current gain in decibels = 20 log|𝐴𝑖 | dB ……………………….[7]

Power gain in decibels = 10 log|𝐴𝑃 | dB ………………………[8]

20 log|𝐴𝑣 |

Figure 4: Typical magnitude response of an amplifier

In analyzing frequency response of an amplifier circuit, single-time-constant (STC) networks will be

investigated. An STC network is one that is composed of, or can be reduced to, one reactive
component (inductance or capacitance) and one resistance.

Figure 5:Two examples of STC networks: (a) a low-pass network and (b) a high-pass network.

An STC network formed of an inductance L and a resistance R has a time constant τ = L/R. The time
constant τ of an STC network composed of a capacitance C and a resistance R is given by τ = CR.

Experimental Procedure:

Experimental procedure is divided into two part which are -----

(i) PART A: Multisim tutorial for DC analysis of a MOSFET based analog amplifier and

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 3

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
(ii) PART B: Multisim tutorial for AC analysis of an analog amplifiers.

PART A

Multisim tutorial for DC analysis of a MOSFET based analog amplifier.

Step 1: Generation of drain characteristic curve for the circuit given in figure 6.

RD=470Ω
ID

VDS VDD
VGS

Figure 6: Basic NMOS circuit.

To draw the given circuit following steps should be followed.

(i) Open Multisim and select the components. (see Fig.7).

Selecting transistor: Place Basic Transistor 2N7000
Selecting resistor: Place Basic Basic Resistor Take any value
Selecting DC sources: Place Basic Sources Power_Sources DC_POWER
Selecting ground: Place Basic Sources Power_Sources GROUND

Selection of transistor is shown in Fig. 7. Do same for selecting resistor, DC source and
ground.

After launching Multisim click on ‘Select a Component’ window A list will appear containing
Place and from the drop down list will appear and from their different real life model of
click on Component. click on Basic and click on transistor. Click on 2N7000
Transistor. model. The symbol will appear.
Click Ok.

Figure 7: Selection of transistor model in Multisim.

(ii) Connect components with wire. (see Fig.8).

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 4

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual

Arrange components just Take the cursor to end of Complete the circuit. Few If you want to give a name
by clicking and dragging. any component. A solid nodes appear. To change to any node double click
To rotate component right black circle will appear the name of the nodes and on the wire. Here the wire
click on it and select now click on the circuit and components click on the is marked as ‘1’. Net
‘Rotate 90˚ Clockwise’. drag that circle to the end of wire beside. Properties window will
other component to appear. Write the preferred
complete the connection. name in the box ‘VD’, tick
on ‘Show net name’ box
and click OK.

Figure 8: Complete the circuit wiring.

(iii) Assign the name and values to the sources and resistor (see Fig. 9). Follow same steps for resistor
values.

Click on value and write

Double click on component. components value in
A new window will appear. Voltage(V) box.
Click on Label and write
component name in ‘RefDes’
box.

Figure 9: Assign source and resistors values.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 5

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
Step 2: Simulate the circuit to generate drain characteristic curve.

(i) For generating drain characteristic curve we need to analyze circuit for obtaining IDS and VDS
values for different values of VGS.

Click on Simulate and click New window will appear. Click on DC Click on output. Select circuit current.
on Analyses and Simulation sweep. Assign the values for VGS and
VDS as given

Figure 10: Selecting variables for drain characteristic.

(ii) How to write an expression in Multisim.

Add expression Analysis Expression window will appear ‘-‘ under Function list Copy function to expression
Click on I(VDS) Copy variable to expression OK

After clicking ‘ok’

expression will be
available in the ‘Selected
variable for analysis’
section.

Click on output. Click Add expression to generate a new variable ‘ –I(VDS)’. Follow the steps above. Every
change will appear in Expression box. Then click Run.

Figure 11: Generate an expression in Multisim.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 6

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
(iii) The drain characteristic curve will be generated.

The output curve for resistor R=1Ω and R=100Ω respectively. Comment on the effect of R on the magnitudes of ID.

Figure 12: Drain characteristic curve and its dependency on drain terminal resistance.

Step 3: Generation of transfer characteristic curve.

(i) For generating transfer curve the value of VDS and VGS should be analyzed for the given circuit.

Go to DC sweep and uncheck the ‘Use Source 2’ Click on Output and select Circuit voltage. Click on V(d) which is the
box. Select VGS as Source 1. VDS for the circuit. and click
Add. Then click Run.

Figure 13: Selecting variables for transfer characteristic.

(ii) The transfer characteristic curve will be generated.

The output curve for resistor R=1Ω and R=100Ω respectively. Comment on the effect of R on the transfer curve.

Figure 14: Transfer characteristic curve and its dependency on drain terminal resistance.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 7

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
Step 4: (i) A common source MOSFET amplifier of Fig. 8 will be considered for DC operating point
analysis.

VDD=20V

RD=4kΩ
R1=2 MΩ
V0
C1=2.2µF C2=2.2µF

100mVp R2=1 MΩ
@ 1kHz RS=3kΩ

Figure 15: MOSFET amplifier.

Draw the circuit in Multisim Click DC Operating Point. Select V(vd), V(vg) When all the selected values will appear in the
following previous value and assign and V(vs) and -I(VDS) from the variable in ‘Selected variables for analysis’ list click Run.
values for both source and resistors. circuit list.

Figure 16: Selection of variables for DC analysis.

(ii) Output will come in a new window. From output it can also be calculated whether the MOSFET is
in the saturation region.

To calculate VDS ad VGS two expressions can be added in the output variables
as given.

Figure 17: Output for DC analysis.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 8

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual

To Check if the voltage VDS is greater than VGS then the MOSFET is in the saturation region. From the
calculation it is seen that, VDS is almost 4 times higher than VGS and hence the MOSFET is in the
saturation region. Calculation is shown below.
𝑉𝐷𝑆 = [𝑉(𝑣𝑑 ) − 𝑉(𝑣𝑠 )] = 14.00772𝑉 − 4.49421𝑉 = 9.51350𝑉
𝑉𝐺𝑆 = [𝑉(𝑣𝑔 ) − 𝑉(𝑣𝑠 )] = 6.66666𝑉 − 4.49421𝑉 = 2.17245𝑉
𝑉𝐷𝑆 ≥ [𝑉𝐺𝑆 − 𝑉𝑡 ] (Satisfied and ensures saturation region operation)

PART B

Multisim tutorial for AC analysis of analog amplifier.

Step 1: (i) Previous common source amplifier will be used to do the AC analysis. An oscilloscope will
be connected to observe input and output waveforms.

Click on the oscilloscope and connect it in the circuit.

Figure 18: Connection of Oscilloscope for AC analysis.

(ii) Select ‘Interactive Simulation’ and click Run. Double click on

The output shows the magnitudes of both input and output. Comment on the magnitude and phase of the output voltage.

D
I
S
P
L
A
Y

Reverse will make the

background white.

Time axis scale Channel A Y Channel B Y

for both channels. axis scale. axis scale.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 9

 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
Figure 19: Oscilloscope Output.

(ii) Now select AC Sweep to observe the frequency response of the amplifier.

Give the frequency specification as given.

Develop an expression to observe gain
which is Vout/Vin.

Figure 20: Selection of variables for frequency response.

(iii) Observe the frequency response.

By moving the cursors determine the cut-off frequency and bandwidth of the amplifier.

Figure 21: Frequency response curve of the amplifier.

Reports:
1. Write down the limitation of the software.
2. What are the classifications of an amplifier based on its frequency response?
3. What are the limitations of analog amplifiers?

Discussion and Conclusion:

Interpret the data/findings and determine the extent to which the experiment was successful in
complying with the goal that was initially set. Discuss any mistake you might have made while
conducting the investigation and describe ways the study could have been improved.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 1

0
 Experiment 1: Instructor’s Manual
Reference:

1. Sedra, A. S., & Smith, K. C. (2010). Microelectronic circuits. New York: Oxford University Press.

© Dept. of EEE, Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) 1

1