EXPERIMENT NO.

AC COMMON BASE AMPLIFIER

I. OBJECTIVES
1. To investigate the operation of common base amplifier.
2. To measure the loaded voltage gain.

II. DISCUSSION

The common-base configuration is characterized as having a relatively low input and high
output impedance and a current gain less than 1. The voltage gain, however, can be quite large.
The transistor output impedance ro is not included for the common-base configuration because it
is typically in the megohm range and can be ignored in parallel with the resistor Rc.

The fact that the load is connected between the collector and base terminal isolates it from
the input circuit, and Zi remains essentially the same for no-load or loaded conditions. The
isolation that exits between input and output circuits also maintains Zo at a fixed level even
though the level of Rs may change.

III. MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENTS:

2-0-15V V DC Power Supply (V CC ) 1

1-10kΩ watt resistor ( R E)
4
1-Digital Tester
1
1-1kΩ watt resistor ( Rc )
1- Oscilloscope (Dual Trace) 4

1- Signal Generator (100Hz-1MHz 1

1-10kΩ watt resistor ( Rl )
4
1-2N3904 transistor or equivalent
1
1-460kΩ watt resistor ( Rl )
1-100µF capacitor at 25V DC (c E) 4

1-2.2µF capacitor (c c )
WIRING DIAGRAM: (With Load)

WIRING DIAGRAM: (Without Load)

IV. PROCEDURES
 1. Wire the circuit as show above, omitting the signal generator and power supply.
2. Apply the 9-volt supply voltage to the breadboard. With DMM, measure the
transistor dc emitter and collector voltage with respect to the ground. Record the
result in Table 4.1.
3. Determine the expected valued of two voltage assuming a dc base-emitter voltage
drop of 0.7V and compare them with the measured values in the Table 4.1.0
4. Connect channel 1of the oscilloscope at point A (Vin) and channel 2 to point B
(Vout). Then connect the signal generator to the circuit as shown in Fig. 3. Adjust
the sine wave output level of the generator of 25m Vp-p at a frequency of 5kHz.
If you cannot reach 25mV, adjust Vin. Observe that the output signal level (Vout)
is greater than the input level. Vout is in phase with respect to the input.
5. Using the measured value for the dc-emitter voltage obtained in step-2, calculate
the dc quiescent emitter current and the resultant transistor ac emitter resistance,
re. Record these values in Table 4.2.
6. Calculate the voltage gain from emitter to collector and record the result in Table
4.3. Now, measure the actual voltage gain by dividing the peak-to-peak output
voltage (Vout) by the peak-to-peak voltage (Vin). Record the result in Table 4.3.
7. Removed RL. Observe that the output voltage level increases. It does because the
load resistance affects the voltage gain of the amplifier stage. As in step 5,
experimentally, determine the voltage gain by measuring Vout and Vin. Record
the result in Table 4.3.
V. DATA AND RESULT

TABLE 4.1

Parameters VE VC IE IC

Expected Values
Measured
Values
% Error
 TABLE 4.2

Parameters Value

I E Calculated

I C Calculated

TABLE 4.3

Load Resistance 10kΩ None 470Ω

Vin
Vout
Measured Gain
Expected Gain
% Error
WITH LOAD:

VIN
VE TOTAL
VC TOTAL
VO / RL
WITHOUT LOAD:

VIN
VE TOTAL
VC TOTAL
VO
 VI. OBSERVATION

Based on my observations, I found that if the positive terminal of the oscilloscope is

connected to the voltage input and voltage output, the waveform or graph of the
circuit is sinusoidal, with or without load. Also, if you try to connect the positive
terminal of the oscilloscope to the total voltage collector when the circuit has a
resistive load, the waveform will be sinusoidal. Ultimately, the total voltage emitter
will be a positive waveform if there is a resistive load in the circuit and will be
negative if there is no resistive load. 

VII. CONCLUSION

When doing the experiment, I found that putting a resistive load in the circuit does
not affect the input and output voltage waveforms. They stay the same unless you
change the value of the part of the circuit. On the other hand, the emitter and
collector of the total voltage are affected and the waveform changes depending on
whether the circuit is resistively loaded or not. 

VIII. QUESTIONS:
1. What are the AC characteristics of a common base amplifier?
 High voltage gain
 High current gain
 Low power gain
 Input and Output phase relation is 0o
 It has low input impedance
 It has high output impedance

2. Determine the gain of the given circuit.

The voltage gain is 27.225 mV with load and 27.273 mV without load.
Current gain is about 0.048 mV