CE Amplifier

The amplifier circuit that is formed using a CE configured transistor combination is

called as CE amplifier.

Construction
The common emitter amplifier circuit using NPN transistor is as shown below, the
input signal being applied at emitter base junction and the output signal being taken
from collector base junction.

The emitter base junction is forward biased by V EE and collector base junction is
reverse biased by VCC. The operating point is adjusted with the help of resistors
Re and Rc. Thus the values of Ic, Ib and Icb are decided by VCC, VEE, Re and Rc.

Operation
When no input is applied, the quiescent conditions are formed and no output is
present. When positive half of the signal is being applied, the voltage between base
and emitter Vbe is increased because it is already positive with respect to ground.
As forward bias increases, the base current too increases accordingly. Since I C =
βIB, the collector current increases as well.
The following circuit diagram shows a CE amplifier with self-bias circuit.

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The collector current when flows through RC, the voltage drop increases.
VC=ICRCVC=ICRC
As a consequence of this, the voltage between collector and emitter decreases.
Because,
VCB=VCC−ICRCVCB=VCC−ICRC
Thus, the amplified voltage appears across RC.
Therefore, in a CE amplifier, as the positive going signal appears as a negative
going signal, it is understood that there is a phase shift of 180 o between input and
output.
CE amplifier has a high input impedance and lower output impedance than CB
amplifier. The voltage gain and power gain are also high in CE amplifier and hence
this is mostly used in Audio amplifiers.

CC Amplifier
The amplifier circuit that is formed using a CC configured transistor combination is
called as CC amplifier.

Construction

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The common collector amplifier circuit using NPN transistor is as shown below, the
input signal being applied at base collector junction and the output signal being
taken from emitter collector junction.

The emitter base junction is forward biased by V EE and collector base junction is
reverse biased by VCC. The Q-values of Ib and Ie are adjusted by Rb and Re.

Operation
When no input is applied, the quiescent conditions are formed and no output is
present. When positive half of the signal is being applied, the forward bias is
increased because Vbe is positive with respect to collector or ground. With this, the
base current IB and the collector current IC are increased.
The following circuit diagram shows a CC amplifier with self-bias circuit.

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Consequently, the voltage drop across R e i.e. the output voltage is increased. As a
result, positive half cycle is obtained. As the input and output are in phase, there is
no phase reversal.
If CC configuration is considered for amplification, though CC amplifier has better
input impedance and lower output impedance than CE amplifier, the voltage gain of
CC is very less which limits its applications to impedance matching only.

Comparison between CB CE CC Amplifiers

Let us compare the characteristic details of CB, CE, and CC amplifiers.

Characteristic CE CB CC

Input resistance Low (1K to 2K) Very low (30-150 High (20-500
Ω) KΩ)

Output resistance Large (≈ 50 K) High (≈ 500 K) Low (50-1000

KΩ)

Current gain B high α<1 High (1 + β)

Voltage gain High (≈ 1500) High (≈ 1500) Less than one

Power gain High (≈ High (≈ 7500) Low (250-500)

10,000)

Phase between input and

reversed same same
output

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Direct Coupled Amplifier
As no coupling devices are used, the coupling of the amplifier stages is done
directly and hence called as Direct coupled amplifier.

Construction
The figure below indicates the three stages direct coupled transistor amplifier. The
output of first stage transistor T1 is connected to the input of second stage transistor
T 2.

The transistor in the first stage will be an NPN transistor, while the transistor in the
next stage will be a PNP transistor and so on. This is because, the variations in one
transistor tend to cancel the variations in the other. The rise in the collector current
and the variation in β of one transistor gets cancelled by the decrease in the other.

Operation
The input signal when applied at the base of transistor T 1, it gets amplified due to
the transistor action and the amplified output appears at the collector resistor R c of
transistor T1. This output is applied to the base of transistor T 2 which further
amplifies the signal. In this way, a signal is amplified in a direct coupled amplifier
circuit.

Advantages
The advantages of direct coupled amplifier are as follows.

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  The circuit arrangement is simple because of minimum use of resistors.
 The circuit is of low cost because of the absence of expensive coupling
devices.

Disadvantages
The disadvantages of direct coupled amplifier are as follows.

 It cannot be used for amplifying high frequencies.

 The operating point is shifted due to temperature variations.

Applications
The applications of direct coupled amplifier are as follows.

 Low frequency amplifications.

 Low current amplifications.

Comparisons
Let us try to compare the characteristics of different types of coupling methods
discussed till now.

Transformer
S.No Particular RC Coupling Direct Coupling
Coupling

Frequency Excellent in audio

1 Poor Best
response frequency range

2 Cost Less More Least

Space and
3 Less More Least
Weight

Impedance
4 Not good Excellent Good
matching

For amplifying
For voltage For Power
5 Use extremely low
amplification amplification
frequencies