1

BJT Bias Circuits

Instructor: Ismail Amin Ali
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
University of Duhok
2 DC Bias Circuit
❑ Bias establishes the dc operating point (Q-point) for proper linear
operation of an amplifier.

Properly dc biased amplifier

❑ If an amplifier is not biased with correct dc voltages on the input and output, it can
go into saturation or cutoff when an input signal is applied.

Improperly biased amplifier: output

clipped by cutoff
3 DC Load Line
❑ A dc load line is a straight line drawn on the characteristic curves from
IC(sat) on the y-axis to the cutoff value where VCE VCC on the x-axis.
❑ The load line is determined by the external circuit (VCC and RC), not the
transistor itself.
❑ IC = (VCC – VCE)/RC = -(1/RC) VCE + VCC/RC

❑ This is the equation of a straight line with a slope of -1/RC, an x intercept

of VCC, and a y intercept of VCC /RC, which is IC(sat).
4 The Q-point
❑ The point at which the load line intersects a characteristic curve
represents the Q-point for that particular value of IB.
5 Linear Operation
❑ The region along the load line including all points between
saturation and cutoff is generally known as the linear region of the
transistor’s operation.
❑ As long as the transistor is operated in this region, the output
voltage is ideally a linear reproduction of the input.

Linear operation of a transistor

6 Waveform Distortion
❑ Transistor is driven into saturation because the Q-point is too
close to saturation for the given input signal.
7 Waveform Distortion
❑ Transistor is driven into cutoff because the Q-point is too close to
cutoff for the given input signal.
8 Waveform Distortion
❑ Transistor is driven into both saturation and cutoff because the
input signal is too large.
9 Base Bias
❑ This method of biasing is common in switching circuits.

𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝐵 =
𝑅𝐵

since: 𝐼𝑐 = 𝛽𝐷𝐶𝐼𝐵 then:

𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝑐 = 𝛽𝐷𝐶
𝑅𝐵
𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶
❑ The analysis of this circuit for the linear region shows that it is directly dependent
on 𝛽𝐷𝐶 . The disadvantage of this is that a variation in 𝛽𝐷𝐶 causes IC and, as a result,
VCE to change, thus changing the Q-point of the transistor.
❑ This makes the base bias circuit extremely beta-dependent and unpredictable. For
these reasons, base bias is rarely used in linear circuits.
10 Collector-Feedback Bias
❑ The collector voltage provides the bias for the base-emitter junction.
❑ Negative feedback creates an “offsetting” effect that tends to keep the Q-point
stable.
❑ If IC tries to increase, voltage drop across RC increase, causing VC to decrease.
❑ When VC decreases, voltage across RB decreases, which decreases IB. Decrease in
IB produces less IC which, in turn, drops less voltage across RC and thus offsets VC
decrease.
−𝑉𝐶𝐶 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐶 + 𝐼𝐵 𝑅𝐵 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 = 0
𝐼𝐸
since: 𝐼𝐸 = 𝐼𝐵 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶𝐼𝐵 then: 𝐼𝐵 =
1+𝛽𝐷𝐶

𝐼𝐸
−𝑉𝐶𝐶 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐶 + 𝑅 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 = 0
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶 𝐵

𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝐸 =
𝑅𝐵
𝑅𝐶 +
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶
𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 𝑉𝐶 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐶
11 Emitter-Feedback Bias
❑ If an emitter resistor is added to the base-bias circuit, the result is emitter-feedback bias
❑ The idea is to help make base bias more predictable with negative feedback, which
negates any attempted change in collector current with an opposing change in base
voltage. Appling KVL around the base circuit:

−𝑉𝐶𝐶 + 𝐼𝐵 𝑅𝐵 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0
𝐼𝐸
since: 𝐼𝐸 = 𝐼𝐵 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶𝐼𝐵 then: 𝐼𝐵 =
1+𝛽𝐷𝐶

𝐼𝐸
−𝑉𝐶𝐶 + 𝑅 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶 𝐵

𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝐸 =
𝑅𝐵
𝑅𝐸 +
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶

𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶 −𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 ≅ 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − (𝑅𝐶 + 𝑅𝐸 )𝐼𝐸

❑ While this is better for linear circuits than base bias, it is still dependent on 𝛽𝐷𝐶 and is
not as predictable as voltage-divider bias.
12 Voltage-divider Bias
❑ A more practical bias method is to use VCC as the single bias source.
❑ A dc bias voltage at the base of the transistor can be developed by a
resistive voltage-divider that consists of R1 and R2
❑ Generally, voltage-divider bias circuits are designed
so that the base current is much smaller than the
current (I2) through R2.
❑ In this case, the voltage-divider circuit is very
straightforward to analyze because the loading
effect of the base current can be ignored.
❑ In this case, the divider is said to be a stiff voltage
divider because the base voltage is relatively
independent of different transistors and temperature.
13 Voltage-divider Bias

❑ To analyze a voltage-divider circuit for the case when IB is

small compared to I2:
𝑅2
𝑉𝐵 ≅ 𝑉𝐶𝐶
𝑅1 + 𝑅2

𝑉𝐸 = 𝑉𝐵 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸

𝑉𝐸
𝐼𝐶 ≅ 𝐼𝐸 =
𝑅𝐸

𝑉𝐶 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶
14 Voltage-divider Bias
❑ To analyze a voltage-divider circuit for any value of R1
and R2
 The Thevenin’s equivalent voltage VTH is:
𝑅2 R1
𝑉𝑇𝐻 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 R2
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 Vcc VTH

 The Thevenin’s equivalent resistance RTH is:

𝑅1𝑅2 R1

𝑅𝑇𝐻 = R2
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 RTH
15 Voltage-divider Bias
❑ Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage law around the equivalent
base-emitter loop:

−𝑉𝑇𝐻 + 𝐼𝐵 𝑅𝑇𝐻 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0 VCC

𝐼𝐸
since: 𝐼𝐵 =
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶 RC IC

𝐼𝐸𝑅𝑇𝐻 RTH
−𝑉𝑇𝐻 + + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶
IB
𝑉𝑇𝐻_ − 𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝐸 = VTH RE IE
𝑅𝐸 + 𝑅𝑇𝐻
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶

𝑉𝐶𝐸 = 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶 − 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸
≅ 𝑉𝐶𝐶 − 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐶 − 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸
16 Emitter Bias
❑ Emitter bias provides excellent bias stability in spite of
changes in 𝛽𝐷𝐶 or temperature.
❑ A positive and a negative supply voltage is used.

−𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐵 𝑅𝐵 + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0

𝐼𝐸
since: 𝐼𝐵 =
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶
𝐼𝐸𝑅𝐵
−𝑉𝐸𝐸 + + 𝑉𝐵𝐸 + 𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶

𝑉𝐸𝐸 −𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝐸 =
𝑅𝐸 + 𝑅𝐵
1 + 𝛽𝐷𝐶