1. A bipolar junction transistor has three terminals.
In an amplifier, a coupling capacitor should appear ideally
2. The three regions of a BJT are base, emitter, and cathode.
3. For operation in the linear or active region, the base-
emitter junction of a transistor is forward biased.
4. Two types of BJT are npn and pnp.
5. The base current and collector current are approximately
equal.
6. The dc voltage gain of a transistor is designated bDC.
7. Cutoff and saturation are the two normal states of a linear
transistor amplifier.
8. When a transistor is saturated, the collector current is
maximum.
9. bDC and hFE are two different transistor parameters.
10. Voltage gain of a transistor amplifier depends on the
collector resistor and the internal ac resistance.
11. Amplification is the output voltage divided by the input
current.
12. A transistor in cutoff acts as an open switch.
1. T 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. F 8. T 9. F 10. T 11. F 12. T
1. DC bias establishes the dc operating point for an
amplifier.
2. Q-point is the quadratic point in a bias circuit.
3. The dc load line intersects the horizontal axis of a
transistor characteristic curve at VCE _ VCC.
4. The dc load line intersects the vertical axis of a transistor
characteristic curve at IC _ 0.
5. The linear region of a transistor’s operation lies between
saturation and cutoff.
6. Voltage-divider bias is rarely used.
7. Input resistance at the base of the transistor can affect
voltage-divider bias.
8. Stiff voltage-divider bias is essentially independent of base
loading.
9. Emitter bias uses one dc supply voltage.
10. Negative feedback is employed in collector-feedback
bias.
11. Base bias is less stable than voltage-divider bias.
12. A pnp transistor requires bias voltage polarities opposite
to an npn transistor.
1. T 2. F 3. T 4. F 5. T 6. F 7. T 8. T 9. F 10. T 11. T 12. T
1.
as a short to the signal.
2. r parameters include
3. h parameters are never specified on a datasheet.
4. The r parameter is the same as the h parameter hfe.
5. A bypass capacitor in a CE amplifier decreases the voltage
gain.
6. If RC in a CE amplifier is increased, the voltage gain is
reduced.
7. The load is the amount of current drawn from the output
of an amplifier.
8. In a CE amplifier, the gain can be stabilized by using a
swamping resistor.
9. An emitter-follower is a CC amplifier.
10. A CC amplifier has high voltage gain.
11. A Darlington pair consists essentially of two CC
amplifiers.
12. A CB amplifier has high current gain.
13. The overall voltage gain of a multistage amplifier is the
product of the gains of each stage.
14. A differential amplifier amplifies the difference of two
input signals.
15. CMRR is the common-mode resistance ratio.
1. T 2. T 3. F 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. T 8. T 9. T 10. F
11. T 12. F 13. T 14. T 15. F
1. The JFET always operates with a reverse-biased gate-to-
source pn junction.
2. The channel resistance of a JFET is a constant.
3. The gate-to-source voltage of an n-channel JFET must be
negative.
4. ID becomes zero at the pinch-off voltage.
5. VGS has no effect on ID.
6. VGS(off ) and VP are always equal in magnitude but
opposite in polarity.
7. The JFET is a square-law device because of the
mathematical expression of its transfer characteristic
curve.
8. Forward transconductance is the change in drain voltage
for a given change in gate voltage.
9. The parameters gm and yfs are the same.
10. The D-MOSFET can be operated in two modes.
11. An E-MOSFET operates in the depletion mode.
12. A D-MOSFET has a physical channel and an E-MOSFET
has an induced channel.
13. ESD means electronic semiconductor device.
14. MOSFETs must be handled with care.
1. T 2. F 3. T 4. F 5. F 6. T 7. T
8. F 9. T 10. T 11. F 12. T 13. F 14. T
1. A common-source (CS) amplifier has a very high input
resistance.
2. The drain current in a CS amplifier can be calculated using
a quadratic formula.
3. The voltage gain of a CS amplifier is the transconductance
times the source resistance.
4. There is no phase inversion in a CS amplifier.
5. A CS amplifier using a D-MOSFET can operate with both
positive and negative input voltages.
6. A common-drain (CD) amplifier is called a drain-follower.
7. The input resistance of a CD amplifier is very low.
8. The input resistance of a common-gate (CG) amplifier is
very low.
9. A cascode amplifier uses both a CS and a CG amplifier.
10. The class D amplifier always operates in the linear
region.
11. The class D amplifier uses pulse-width modulation.
12. An analog switch is controlled by a digital input.
13. The purpose of a switched-capacitor circuit is to emulate
resistance.
14. CMOS is a device used in linear amplifiers.
15. CMOS utilizes a pnp MOSFET and an npn MOSFET
connected together
1. T 2. T 3. F 4. F 5. T 6. F 7. F 8. T
9. T 10. F 11. T 12. T 13. T 14. F 15. F
Amplification The process of increasing the power, voltage,
or current by electronic means.
Base One of the semiconductor regions in a BJT. The base is
very thin and lightly doped compared
to the other regions.
Beta ( ) The ratio of dc collector current to dc base current
in a BJT; current gain from base to
collector.
BJT A bipolar junction transistor constructed with three
doped semiconductor regions separated
by two pn junctions.
Collector The largest of the three semiconductor regions of
a BJT.
Cutoff The nonconducting state of a transistor.
Emitter The most heavily doped of the three semiconductor
regions of a BJT.
Gain The amount by which an electrical signal is increased
or amplified.
Linear Characterized by a straight-line relationship of the
transistor currents.
Phototransistor A transistor in which base current is
produced when light strikes the photosensitive
semiconductor base region.
Saturation The state of a BJT in which the collector current
has reached a maximum and is independent
of the base current.
DC load line A straight line plot of IC and VCE for a transistor
circuit.
Feedback The process of returning a portion of a circuit’s
output back to the input in such a way as
to oppose or aid a change in the output.
Linear region The region of operation along the load line
between saturation and cutoff.
Q-point The dc operating (bias) point of an amplifier
specified by voltage and current values.
Stiff voltage divider A voltage divider for which loading
effects can be neglected.
ac ground A point in a circuit that appears as ground to ac
signals only.
Attenuation The reduction in the level of power, current, or
voltage.
Bypass capacitor A capacitor placed across the emitter
resistor of an amplifier.
CMRR (common-mode rejection ratio) A measure of a
differential amplifier’s ability to reject
common-mode signals.
Common-base (CB) A BJT amplifier configuration in which
the base is the common terminal to
an ac signal or ground.
Common-collector (CC) A BJT amplifier configuration in
which the collector is the common terminal
to an ac signal or ground.
Common-emitter (CE) A BJT amplifier configuration in which
the emitter is the common terminal
to an ac signal or ground.
Pinch-off voltage The value of the drain-to-source voltage
of a FET at which the drain current
becomes constant when the gate-to-source voltage is zero.
Source One of the three terminals of a FET analogous to the
emitter of a BJT.
Transconductance (gm) The ratio of a change in drain
current to a change in gate-to-source voltage
in a FET.
Analog switch A device that switches an analog signal on

Common mode A condition where two signals applied to and off.

differential inputs are of the same phase, Class D A nonlinear amplifier in which the transistors are

frequency, and amplitude. operated as switches.

Decibel A logarithmic measure of the ratio of one voltage to CMOS Complementary MOS.

another or one power to another. Common-drain A FET amplifier configuration in which the

Differential amplifier An amplifier in which the output is a drain is the grounded terminal.

function of the difference between Common-gate A FET amplifier configuration in which the

two input voltages. gate is the grounded terminal.

Emitter-follower A popular term for a common-collector Common-source A FET amplifier configuration in which the

amplifier. source is the grounded terminal.

Input resistance The resistance seen by an ac source Pulse-width modulation A process in which a signal is

connected to the input of an amplifier. converted to a series of pulses with widths

Output resistance The ac resistance looking in at the output that vary proportionally to the signal amplitude.
Source-follower The common-drain amplifier.
of an amplifier.

Depletion In a MOSFET, the process of removing or

depleting the channel of charge carriers and
thus decreasing the channel conductivity.
Drain One of the three terminals of a FET analogous to the
collector of a BJT.
Enhancement In a MOSFET, the process of creating a
channel or increasing the conductivity of
the channel by the addition of charge carriers.
Gate One of the three terminals of a FET analogous to the
base of a BJT.
IGBT Insulated-gate bipolar transistor; a device that
combines features of the MOSFET and the
BJT and used mainly for high-voltage switching applications.
JFET Junction field-effect transistor; one of two major types
of field-effect transistors.
MOSFET Metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor;
one of two major types of FETs;
sometimes called IGFET for insulated-gate FET.
Ohmic region The portion of the FET characteristic curve
lying below pinch-off in which Ohm’s
law applies.