Ex.No.

7
ASTABLE MULTIVIBRATOR
Date:

Aim:

To design and set up an astable multivibrator using transistors and observe the waveforms at
collector of transistors Q1 and Q2.

Components required:

Transistors BC 107 - 2 Nos

Resistors : 4.7KΩ -2Nos, 82KΩ -2 Nos
Capacitors : 0.01µF – 2Nos
DC source : 0-15 V
Bread board
DSO

Design:

Output requirements

A square wave of amplitude 9V, frequency 1kHz, and duty cycle =1/2 (50% duty cycle).

Take Vcc = 9 V. Assume Ic1 = Ic2 = 2 mA. Let hFE (min) = 20 for BC107

Design of resistors

Rc1 = Rc2 = Rc
Rc = Vcc – VCE (sat) / Ic
= (9 – 0.3) / 2mA
= 4.3 kΩ .
Take nearest standard value of 4.7 kΩ.

IB1 = IB2 = IB

IB = Ic /hFE (min) = 2mA/20 = 0.1 mA. This ensures that transistors will go into saturation.

R1 = R2 = Vcc – VBE(sat) / IB
= (9 -0.7) /0.1mA
= 83 kΩ
Take nearest standard value of 82 kΩ.
Design of C1 and C2

Frequency = 1 kHz. Hence time period T = 1 ms

T = T1+T2 and duty cycle = T1 /(T1 + T2) = ½ = 0.5

From this, T1 = 0.5 ms and T2 = 0.5 ms

T1 = 0.5ms = 0.69R1C1
R1 = 82 kΩ, hence C1 = 8800 pF or nearest value of 0.01 µF. C2 = 8800pF or 0.01 µF

Circuit Diagram

Procedure:

1. Test all components and rig up the circuit as given in the diagram.

2. Observe the collector and base waveforms of both transistors. Plot the waveform and note
down all details.

Result:

Frequency of the output waveform = -------------------

Duty cycle = ------------------