SIMULATION 3

CASCODE BJT AMPLIFIER

(SIMULATION)

I. OBJECTIVES
- To study the behavior of single stage CE and CB amplifiers.
- To design and study the characteristics of the cascode amplifier using BJTs.
- To determine the upper 3dB frequency of the CE, CB and the cascode BJT amplifiers.

II. INTRODUCTION AND THEORY

a) SINGLE –STAGE BJT AMPLIFIER CONFIGURATIONS

Three different amplifier circuit configurations can be obtained by selecting one of the transistor
terminals as a common between input circuit and output circuit. In the BJT circuits, figure 3 shows
these configurations, which are known as Common Base (CB), Common Emitter (CE), and
Common Collector (CC). These amplifier circuit configurations lead to significant changes in the
amplifier characteristics. The most noticeable changes in CC (emitter follower) configurations are:
the input resistance becomes very high and the gain is close to the unity. These specific
characteristics are translated into a useful application known as buffer amplifier.

VCC VCC VCC

RL RL RL

Vo Vo Vo

Vi
Vi Vi

CE CB CC

Figure 1

Therefore amplifier configurations are employed to widen the scope of the amplifier circuit
applications. Table1 summarizes the main characteristics of each configuration. The model used
in the analysis is the T-model with transistor parameters, g m : transconductance, re : emitter

1
resistance, β ac : common-emitter current gain, and α : common-base current gain. Rc , Re , RL are
the collector, the emitter, and the load resistors
Table 1

CB CE with Re CC
Ri re ≡ ( β ac + 1)(re + Re ) ≅ ( β ac + 1) RL

Ro Rc Rc Rs
≅ re +
β ac + 1
Av ≅ g m Rc Ri ≅1
−
re + Re

Ai α − β ac ≅ β ac + 1

NOTICE THAT in CE configuration the presence of Re has a very large impact on the input
resistance and the voltage gain. Most device manufacturers specify β ac as h fe and ri as hie . From
table1 we observe that the input resistance of the CB configuration is much smaller than the input
resistance of CE or CC configuration. The input and output resistances of the above amplifier
configurations limit the use of the amplifier to certain applications. Figure 2 below shows a single
stage CE and CB amplifiers. Notice the difference between the relative positions of the input-
output signals in both configurations.

Vcc Vcc

R1 Rc R1 Rc

Cc2 Vo Cc2 Vo

Cc1
RL
CE
Vs RL
Vs
CB R2 RE R2 RE CE

CB Amplifier CE Amplifier

Figure 2

b) THE CASCODE CONFIGURATION

2
An important amplifier configuration is known as cascode amplifier. It consists of a common-
emitter (CE) stage followed by a common-base (CB) stage as shown in figure 3. The common-
emitter configuration presents a relatively high input resistance ( β ac + 1) * re to the signal source.

Vcc

R1 Rc

Cc2 Vo
CB

Q2

R1

Vs RS Vb Cc2
Q1
RL

Vs
R2

RE CE

Figure 3

The common-base configuration presents a very low input resistance, re . By replacing the
collector resistance RC in the CE amplifier stage with a common base CB amplifier stage, the CE-
CB configuration virtually eliminates the Miller effect of C u1 . This will lead to higher 3dB
frequency than is possible with a simple common-emitter amplifier. An extension in the upper
cutoff frequency is achieved without reducing the midband gain (Gain-Bandwidth rule), since the
collector of Q2 carries a current almost equal to the collector current of Q1. Another reason for
extending the upper cutoff frequency is that, in the CB configuration the Miller effect does not
exist and does not limit the high-frequency response. Notice that the effective load resistance seen
by the CE transistor Q1 is very low and equal to the input resistance re of the CB transistor Q2.
The transistor Q2 acts as a current buffer or an impedance transformer. Tables 2 and 3 show the
summary of the theoretical formulas of the gain and the 3dB frequencies for CE and Cascode
amplifiers.

3
Table 2 High-Frequency Response of the CE Amplifier

Midband Gain Lower 3dB Frequency Upper 3dB Frequency

Rin 1 1 1 1
A=− gm R'L wL ≈ + + wH ≈
Rin + RS C C1 RC1 C E R E C C 2 RC 2
'
( RS // Rin )[Cπ + Cu (1 + g m R ' L )]

Where Where Where

Rin = R1 // R2 //( rπ + rx ) RC1 = RS + [ R2 // R2 //(rπ + rx )] Rin = R1 // R2 //( rπ + rx )
R ' L = RC // RL // ro  ( R // R2 // RS ) + rπ + rx  R ' L = RC // RL // ro
R ' E = RE //  1 
 β ac + 1 
RC 2 = RL + ( RC // ro )

Table 3 High-Frequency Response of the Cascode Amplifier

Midband Gain Lower 3dB Frequency Upper 3dB Frequency

Rin 1 1 1 1
A=− gm R'L wL ≈ + '
+ wH ≈ '
Ri + RS CC1RC1 CE R E CC 2 RC 2 R S (Cπ 1 + 2Cu1 )
rπ
×
rπ + rx + R2 // R3 // RS

Where Where Where

R = R2 // R3 RC1 = RS + [ R2 // R2 //(rπ + rx )] Rin = R1 // R2 //( rπ + rx )
'
R L = RC // RL  ( R // R2 // RS ) + rπ + rx  R ' L = RC // RL // ro
R E = RE //  1
'

 β ac + 1 
RC 2 = RL + RC

III. INPUT AND OUTPUT RESISTANCE

All the following measurmets must be taken at the midband frequency and the output signal must
suffer no distortion.

a) Input resistance measurement

4
 vo v
Measure the small-signal voltage gains Av1 = and Av 2 = o at the input points vb and
vb vS
v S respectively. The input resistance is given by the following equation
RS
Rin = (1)
([ Av1 / Av 2 ] − 1)
b) Output resistance measurement
vo
Measure the open loop (disconnect RL ) voltage gain, Av1 = . Connect RL and measure the
vb
vo
voltage gain, Av 2 = . The output resistance is given by the following equation
vb
RO = RL ([ Av1 / Av 2 ] − 1) (2)
DOWNLOADING THE SCHEMATICS
In this lab-session, you will download the schematics from the webpage:
http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~shailesh/. Click on “ELEC-312-PSPICE-Schematics”. Download
this zipped folder (ELEC-312.zip) into your home directory (My Documents). Open this folder
under Zip File Manager. You would see all the documents. From EDIT menu click on “SELECT
ALL”. Then click on EXTRACT. A new window opens asking you where to copy these files.
Copy them in a new folder called “ELEC-312” of the directory “My Documents”. Now you are
all set. For the remainder of this semester, this is the only folder you would need for simulation.

VI. PROCEDURE

1- Open Capture Student and recall CASCODE1 circuit.

2- For the signal source V2 set the value of the VOFF=0, the VAMPL=40mV, and FREQ=10
KHz. Conduct DC analysis for this circuit.
3- Use Enable Bias Voltage and Current Display to read the following currents and voltages for
transistors Q1:

VB VE VC IB IE IC β dc

4- From Pspice menu select “New Simulation Profile” with a name “time domain parameters”.
5- Set the Simulation Settings as follows: Analysis Type to “Time domain (Transient)”. Choose
the suitable “Run to Time” to obtain 5 complete cycles of the input/output signals. Make
“Maximum step size = 1u”. Record all the necessary data to compute the gain, input resistance and
output resistance of the amplifier. Vs and Vb are shown in Fig 3.
6- From Pspice menu select “New Simulation Profile” with a name “Frequency Domain
Parameters”.
7- Delete the signal source V2 (VSIN) and replace it by (VAC) from the SOURCE library.
8- Set the Simulation Settings to the following:
Analysis Type AC Sweep/Noise

5
 Start Frequency 100Hz
End Frequency 1MEG
Points/Decade 11
AC Sweep type Logarithmic.
Place dB magnitude of voltage at the output node and observe Vo. What is the BW of the
amplifier? What is the figure of merit (Gain Bandwidth product) for this amplifier?
9- Open Capture Student and recall CASCODE2 circuit.
10- Repeat step2 and record the data in the table below.
VB VE VC IB IE IC β dc

11- Repeat steps 3-8 with frequency range 10Hz to 20MHz. Tabulate the gain, BW, input and
output resistance obtained from CASCODE1 and CASCODE2 circuits. What are the main
characteristics of each amplifier?
12- Open Capture Student and recall CASCODE3 circuit.
13- Repeat step2 and record the data in the table shown below for transistors Q1 and Q2:
VB1 V E1 VC1 VB 2 VE 2 VC 2 I B1 I C1 I B2 IC2 β dc1 β dc 2

14- Repeat steps 3-8 with input signal frequency range 100Hz to 4MHz. What is the BW of the
amplifier? What is the figure of merit (Gain Bandwidth product) for this amplifier? Compare these
values with similar values obtained for the amplifier circuit CASCODE1 and CASCODE2. Write
your explanation.

VII. QUESTIONS

1- What is the operating point (the quiescent point) of the amplifiers cascode1, cascode2 and
cascode3?
2- Conduct a dc analysis for the circuits, cascode1, cascode2 and cascode3. Compare the
theoretical and simulation values.