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ANALOGUE

ELECTRONICS


Frequency Response of
BJT Amplifiers (Part 1)
The Decibel (dB)
A logarithmic measurement of the ration of power or voltage
Power gain is expressed in dB by the formula:



where a
p
is the actual power gain, Pout/Pin

Voltage gain is expressed by:



If a
v
is greater than 1, the dB is +ve, and if a
v
is less than 1, the
dB gain is ve value & usually called attenuation

v dB V
a A log 20
) (
=
P P
a A log 10 =
Amplifier gain vs frequency
Midband range
Gain falls of due to the
effects of C
C
and C
E
Gain falls of due to the effects
of stray capacitance and
transistor capacitance effects

L H BW
f f f =
Definition
Frequency response of an amplifier is the graph of its gain versus
the frequency.
Cutoff frequencies : the frequencies at which the voltage gain
equals 0.707 of its maximum value.
Midband : the band of frequencies between 10f
L
and 0.1f
H
where
the voltage gain is maximum. The region where coupling &
bypass capacitors act as short circuits and the stray capacitance
and transistor capacitance effects act as open circuits.
Bandwidth : the band between upper and lower cutoff frequencies
Outside the midband, the voltage gain can be determined by
these equations:
( )
2
1
/ 1 f f
A
A
mid
+
=
( )
2
2
/ 1 f f
A
A
mid
+
=
Below midband
Above midband
Lower & Upper Critical
frequency
Critical frequency a.k.a the cutoff frequency
The frequency at which output power drops by 3
dB. [in real number, 0.5 of its midrange value.
An output voltage drop of 3dB represents about a
0.707 drop from the midrange value in real
number.
Power is often measured in units of dBm. This is
decibels with reference to 1mW of power. [0 dBm
= 1mW], where;



. dBm 0
mW 1
mW 1
log 10 =
|
.
|

\
|
Gain & frequencies
Gain-bandwidth product : constant value
of the product of the voltage gain and
the bandwidth.
Unity-gain frequency : the frequency at
which the amplifiers gain is 1
BW A f
mid T
=
LOW FREQUENCY
At low frequency range, the gain falloff due to
coupling capacitors and bypass capacitors.
As signal frequency , the reactance of the
coupling capacitor, X
C
l - no longer behave
as short circuits.
Short-circuit time-constant method
(SCTC)
To determine the lower-cutoff frequency having n
coupling and bypass capacitors:

=
~
n
i
i iS
L
C R
1
1
e
R
iS
= resistance at the terminals of the ith capacitor C
i
with all
the other capacitors replaced by short circuits.
Common-emitter Amplifier
30 kO
V
CC
= 12V
10 kO
R
S
C
1

2 F
C
2

C
3

10 F
0.1 F
1 kO
1.3 kO
4.3 kO
R
1

R
C

R
E

R
2
v
S

v
O

R
L

100 kO
Given :
Q-point values :
1.73 mA, 2.32 V
| = 100, V
A
= 75 V
Therefore,
r
t
= 1.45 kO,
r
o
=44.7 kO
Common-emitter Amplifier
- Low-frequency ac equivalent circuit
R
S
R
B
R
C R
L
R
E
C
1
C
2
C
3
v
s
v
o
In the above circuit, there are 3 capacitors (coupling plus bypass
capacitors). Hence we need to find 3 resistances at the terminals of the
3 capacitors in order to find the lower cut-off frequency of the amplifier
circuit.
Circuit for finding R
1S
( ) ( ) ( ) O = + = + = + = 2220 1450 7500 1000
1 t
r R R R R R R
B S inCE B S S
O = = 7500 where
2 1
R R R
B
( )( )
s rad
F k C R
S
/ 225
00 . 2 22 . 2
1 1
1 1
=
O
=

R
S
R
B
R
1S
R
C
R
L
R
inCE

Replacing C
2

and C
3
by
short circuits
Circuit for finding R
2S
( ) ( ) ( ) O = + = + = + = k k k k r R R R R R R
o C L outCE C L S
104 7 . 44 3 . 4 100
2
( )( )
s rad
F k C R
S
/ 1 . 96
100 . 0 104
1 1
2 2
=
O
=

R
L
R
S
R
B
R
2S
R
C
R
outCE

Replacing C
1

and C
3
by
short circuits
O = k r 7 . 44 where
0
Circuit for finding R
3S
O =
+
=
+
+
= = 7 . 22
101
882 1450
1300
1
3
|
t TH
E outCC E S
R r
R R R R
( )( )
s rad
F C R
S
/ 4410
10 7 . 22
1 1
3 3
=
O
=

Replacing C
1

and C
2
by
short circuits
R
S
R
B
R
3S
R
E
R
C
||R
L
R
outCC

R
TH

O = = 882
B S TH
R R R
Estimation of e
L
s rad
C R
i
i iS
L
/ 4730 4410 1 . 96 225
1
3
1
= + + = ~

=
e
Hz f
L
L
753
2
= =
t
e
Common-base Amplifier
Given :
Q-point values : 0.1
mA, 5 V
| = 100, V
A
= 70 V
Therefore,
g
m
= 3.85 mS, r
o
= 700 kO
r
t
= 26 O
R
E
R
S
R
C
R
L
C
1
C
2
v
O
v
S
22 kO

100 O

43 kO

75 kO

1 F

4.7 F

+V
CC
-V
EE
Common-base Amplifier
- Low-frequency ac equivalent circuit
R
E
R
S
R
C
R
L
C
1
C
2
v
o
v
s
Circuit for finding R
1S
Replacing C
2

by short
circuit
( ) ( ) O ~ + =
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
+ ~ + = 100 26 . 0 4300 100
1
1
|
t
r
R R R R R R
E S inCB E S S
( )( )
s rad
F C R
S
/ 10 13 . 2
7 . 4 100
1 1
3
1 1

=
O
=

R
C
|| R
L
R
1S
R
E
R
S
R
inCB
Circuit for finding R
2S
( ) O = + = + ~ + = k k k R R R R R R
C L outCB C L S
97 22 75
2
( )( )
s rad
F k C R
S
/ 309 . 10
1 97
1 1
2 2
=
O
=

Replacing C
1

by short circuit
R
S
|| R
E
R
2S
R
C R
L
R
outCB
Estimation of e
L
s rad
C R
i
i iS
L
/ 309 . 10 309 . 10 10 13 . 2
1
3
2
1
~ + = ~

=

e
Hz f
L
L
64 . 1
2
= =
t
e
Common-collector Amplifier
R
B
R
S
R
E
R
L
C
1
C
2
v
S
v
O
-V
EE
+V
CC
100 kO

1 kO

3 kO

47 kO

100 F

0.1 F

Given :
Q-point values : 1 mA, 5 V
| = 100, V
A
= 70 V
Therefore,
r
t
= 2.6 kO, r
o
=70 kO
Common-collector Amplifier
- Low-frequency ac equivalent circuit
R
B
R
S
R
E
R
L
C
2
C
1
v
o
v
s
Circuit for finding R
1S
Replacing C
2

by short circuit
( ) ( ) | ( )| ( )
L E o B S inCC B S S
R R r r R R R R R R 1
1
+ + + = + = |
t
( )( )
s rad
F k C R
S
/ 18 . 136
1 . 0 43 . 74
1 1
1 1
=
O
=

O = k 43 . 74
R
B
R
S
R
E
|| R
L
R
1S
R
inCC
Circuit for finding R
2S
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
+
+ = + =
o
TH
E L outCC E L S
r
r R
R R R R R R
1
2
|
t
( )( )
s rad
F k C R
S
/ 213 . 0
100 038 . 47
1 1
2 2
=
O
=

Replacing C
1

by short circuit
O = k 038 . 47
R
E
R
L
R
TH
= R
S
|| R
B
R
2S
R
outCC
Estimation of e
L
s rad
C R
i
i iS
L
/ 393 . 136 213 . 0 18 . 136
1
2
1
= + = ~

=
e
Hz f
L
L
7 . 21
2
= =
t
e
Example
v
S

62 kO
V
CC
= 10V
22 kO
R
S
C
1

0.1 F
C
2

C
3

10 F
0.1 F
600O
1.0 kO
2.2 kO
R
1

R
C

R
E

R
2

v
O

R
L

10 kO
Given :
Q-point values : 1.6
mA, 4.86 V
| = 100, V
A
= 70 V
Therefore,
r
t
= 1.62 kO, r
o
= 43.75 kO, g
m

= 61.54 mS
Determine the total low-
frequency response of the
amplifier.
Low frequency due to C
1
and
C
2
C
3
( ) ( ) O = + = + = k k k r R R R
B S S
07 . 2 62 . 1 24 . 16 600
1 t
O = = k R R R
B
24 . 16
2 1
( )( )
Hz Hz
F k C R
f
S
C
769 86 . 768
1 . 0 07 . 2 2
1
2
1
1 1
1
~ =
O
= =
t t
( ) ( ) O = + = + = k k k k r R R R
o C L S
09 . 12 75 . 43 2 . 2 10
2
( )( )
Hz Hz
F k C R
f
S
C
132 64 . 131
1 . 0 09 . 12 2
1
2
1
2 2
2
~ =
O
= =
t t
Low frequency due to C
1
Low frequency due to C
2
O =
+
=
+
+
= 32 . 21
101
58 . 0 62 . 1
1
1
3
k k
k
R r
R R
TH
E S
|
t
( )( )
Hz Hz
F C R
f
S
C
747 5 . 746
10 32 . 21 2
1
2
1
3 3
3
~ =
O
= =
t t
O = = k R R R
B S TH
58 . 0
Low frequency due to C
3
Low frequency due to C
3

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