MULTISTAGE AMPLIFIERS

PART I - BJT AMPLIFIERS

DR. CHANDRIMA MONDAL

JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY

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⮚ Many applications cannot be handled with single-
transistor amplifiers in order to meet the
specification of a given amplification factor, input
resistance and output resistance

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 Introduction
⚫ Typical spec for a general purpose operational amplifier
⚫ – Input resistance ~ 1MΩ
⚫ – Output resistance ~ 100Ω
⚫ – Voltage gain ~ 100,000
⚫ No single transistor amplifier can satisfy the spec
⚫ As a solution – multiple transistor amplifier circuits can
be connected in series to meet the spec
⚫ Usually
⚫ – An input stage to provide required input resistance
⚫ – A middle stage(s) to provide gain
⚫ – An output stage to provide required output resistance
⚫ It is important to note that the input resistance of the next
stage becomes the load of the previous stage
 Multistage Amplifiers
Multi-stage amplifiers are amplifier circuits cascaded to
increased gain. We can express gain in decibels(dB).
Two or more amplifiers can be connected to increase the gain of
an ac signal. The overall gain can be calculated by simply
multiplying each gain together.
AVTOT= Av1Av2Av3 ……AVN
 Multistage Amplifier Cutoff Frequencies
and Bandwidth
• When amplifiers having equal cutoff frequencies are cascaded, the
cutoff frequencies and bandwidth of the multistage circuit are found
using

Ex. n=3, fC1= 1KHz, fC2=1MHz

fC1(T) =1.96 KHz
fC1(T) =509 KHz 5
Summary of Single stage BJT Amplifiers

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Multistage amplifier configuration
Cascade RC coupling

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Multistage amplifier configuration
Cascade Direct coupling

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Multistage amplifier configuration
Transformer coupling

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Multistage amplifier configuration
Cascode

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Multistage amplifier configuration
Darlington

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i) Cascade connection

- The most widely used method

- Coupling a signal from one stage to the

another stage and block dc voltage from one
stage to the another stage

- The signal developed across the collector

resistor of each stage is coupled into the
base of the next stage

- The overall gain = product of gains of the

individual stages (ideally)
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Example 1

Draw the AC equivalent circuit and calculate Av,

Ri and Ro.
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Solution

DC analysis

The circuit under DC

condition (stage 1 and
stage 2 are identical)

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Applying Thevenin’s theorem, the
circuit becomes;

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AC analysis

The small-signal equivalent circuit (mid-band);

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The small-signal voltage
gain;

Substituting
values;

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The input
resistance;

The output
resistance;

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Example:
R1=47 k, R2=10k Rc=4.7k, RE=1k, VCC=10V
VB=1.7V, IE=1mA, re=25 Ω, Av=-Rc/re=-188,
Avtot=12400

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Example 2

Assuming β1 = 170, β2 = 150 and VBE(ON) = 0.7 V,

calculate the voltage gain Av where;

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DC analysis

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The base-emitter loop of
Q1

Substituting
values;

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For the RC1 – collector of Q1 – base of Q2 – RE2
loop

an
d

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Substituting
values;

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AC analysis

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Substituting values;

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ii) Cascode connection

- A cascode connection has one transistor on top of (in

series with) another- current through two stages are
equal

- The i/p applied to a C-E amp. (Q1) whose output is

used to drive a C-B amp. (Q2)

- The o/p signal current of Q1 is the i/p signal of Q2

- The advantage: provides a high i/p impedance with

high voltage gain to ensure the i/p Miller capacitance
is at a min. with the C-B stage providing good high
freq. operation 35
Cascode amplifier
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DC analysis

E2

E1

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The equations are (assuming VBE = 0.7 V for both
BJT’s);
Applying KVL in the loop VCC, P, Q, Gnd

Applying KVL in the loop P, E1, Gnd

The above equations may solved for the two unknown

currents namely I1 and IB1.
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AC analysis

The equivalent circuit under AC condition

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The ac equivalent circuit using hybrid-π model for
BJT
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At node
E2;

Or
;

Substituting in
(1);

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The small-signal voltage gain;

When β2 >>
1

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Example 3 Compute the
approximate small-
signal voltage gain

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 SOLUTION

DC analysis

The circuit under DC condition

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Substituting values;

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Or;

Substituting values;

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Substituting for I1 in (1)

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AC analysis

Small-signal equivalent circuit using hybrid-π

model
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At node E2;

Hence;

Substituting for vπ2 in (1);

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Or;

The voltage gain;

When β2 > > 1;

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Substituting values;

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iii) Darlington connection
Darlington pair

Internal connection;
• Collectors of Q1 and
Q2;
• Emitter of Q1 and
base of Q2.

Provides high current

gain : IC ≅ β2IB

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Currents in darlington pair

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If β1 = β2 = β and assuming β is large;

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Hybrid-π model (assuming ro1 = ro2 = ∞);

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Darlington configuration provides;

• Increased current;
• High input resistance.
• Low output impedance

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Small-signal equivalent circuit

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Input voltage source
is transformed into
current source

Ii

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The current gain is;

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The input resistance is;

EXERCISE 1

Show that the approximate expression for the input

resistance of the darlington configuration above is;

Hints: use the relationships:

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Example 4

Determine the;
(a) Q-point for Q1 and Q2;
(b) voltage gain vo/vs;
(c) input resistance Ris;
(d) output resistance Ro

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(a) Determination of Q-points

Using Thevenin’s theorem;

DC equivalent circuit
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The circuit becomes;

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Substituting values;

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(a) The Q-points are;

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(b) The small-signal voltage gain (mid-band);

The equivalent circuit under AC condition

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Using the hybrid-π model of transistor, the equivalent
circuit becomes;

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Substituting for Vπ2 in the expression for vo and
simplifying;

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Substituting for Vπ2;

Simplifying;

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Substituting values;

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Substituting values;

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Bogart

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 High Input Resistance circuits:
The ideal voltage amplifier should have infinite input impedance and zero output impedance.
The CC and CE with RE basic amplifiers have these properties.
– The Input impedance of these amplifiers is
– Ri = hie+(1+hfe)RE using the simplified model (assuming that hoeRE<< 0.1)
– As RE increases this equation suggests that Ri increases more
However, as RE→∝ the assumption hoeRE >>1 is no longer valid. And the more accurate equation is
Ri = hie + (1+hfe)RE / (1+hoeRE) which Ri → hfe/hoe →theoretical limitation on Ri.
There are other practical limitations also.
1. As RE increases the bias current causes a larger voltage drop across it. For middle of operating range
VCE = VRE = VCC/2. We thus require larger power supply voltage
2. In integrated circuits RE occupies chip area. Larger the value, greater is the chip area occupied, leaving
less for other components.
3. Bias resistance appear in parallel with the Ri and with typical values of a few 100K the parallel
combination is now decided by the bias resistance, and is hence lower.
Solutions:
The DARLINGTON PAIR circuit increases the input resistance but biasing of 2nd stage is difficult and should
be a power transistor .
The bias resistance problem (3) may be solved by the BOOTSTRAPPING technique.
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Cancelling the effect of the bias resistance by Bootstrapping:

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 ⮚ Here R1 and R2 are the bias resistances.
⮚ Base bias through R3. C2 short-circuits the output to point Y at the
junction of the bias resistance.
⮚ Thus signal voltage at Y = Vout and at Base signal voltage is Vin.
⮚ Then iR3 = (Vin - Vout ) / R3
⮚ So effective resistance of the combination seen by the source is
Reff = Vin /iR3= Vin R3/(Vin - Vout ) = R3 / (1 – Av) where Av = voltage gain
Vout/Vin
for the CC and Darlington circuits, Av< ≈1, 1 – Av and is a very small
number.
This means effective resistance of the bias combination is increased greatly.
If Av is 0.95 and R3 is 50K , R1 = 100K and R2 = 100K then without bootstrapping,
bias combination would give
Ri= (hie + AI2Ri2) || (R1||R2) =(1+hfe)2 RE/(1+hoehfeRE) || 50 K = 50 M ||50K=50K

With Bootstrapping, the resistance is 50K / (1 – 0.95) = 50K *20 = 1000K = 1M.

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Find; (a) ICQ1 and ICQ2 (b) Av = vo/vs (c) Rib and Ro

Answers:
(a) 2.08 mA & 69.9 mA
(b) 0.99 V/V
(c) 480 kΩ & 0.469 Ω
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Advantages of Transformer Coupled Amplifier
⮚ The following are the advantages of a transformer coupled amplifier −
⮚ An excellent impedance matching is provided.
⮚ Gain achieved is higher.
⮚ There will be no power loss in collector and base resistors.
⮚ Efficient in operation.
Disadvantages of Transformer Coupled Amplifier
• The following are the disadvantages of a transformer coupled amplifier −
• Though the gain is high, it varies considerably with frequency. Hence a poor
frequency response.
• Frequency distortion is higher.
• Transformers tend to produce hum noise.
• Transformers are bulky and costly.
Applications
✔The following are the applications of a transformer coupled amplifier −
✔Mostly used for impedance matching purposes.
✔Used for Power amplification.
✔Used in applications where maximum power transfer is needed.

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