Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 1 of 8

Lecture 29: MOSFET Small-Signal

Amplifier Examples.
We will illustrate the analysis of small-signal MOSFET
amplifiers through two examples in this lecture.

Example N29.1 (text Example 7.3). Determine Av (neglecting

the effects of RG), Rin, and Rout for the circuit below given that
Vt  1.5 V, kn W L  0.25 mA/V2, and VA = 50 V.

(Fig. 7.15)
The first step is to determine the DC operating point. The DC
equivalent circuit is:

© 2016 Keith W. Whites

Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 2 of 8

IG  0 ID

Since VGD  0  Vt the MOSFET is operating in the saturation

mode if I D  0 . Assuming operation in the saturation mode the
DC drain current from (5.23) is
1 W
I D  kn VGS  Vt  1  VDS 
2
(5.23)
2 L
Notice in the circuit that VGS  VDS , so we will eventually create
a triatic equation in VGS for ID.

However, the last factor in (5.23) will be quite small for large VA
(small ). So, for simplicity we will neglect ro in (5.23) giving
1 W
I D  kn VGS  Vt 
2
(7.44)
2 L
For this DC circuit
1
I D   0.25  103 VGS  1.5   1.25  104 VGS  1.5 
2 2

2
Notice in the circuit that VGS  VDS so that this last equation
becomes
I D  0.125 VDS  1.5  mA
2
(1)

Also, by KVL
Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 3 of 8

VDS  15  RD I D  15  10,000 I D (7.43),(2)

Substituting (2) into (1)

I D  1.25  104 15  10,000 I D  1.5 
2

Solving this equation gives

I D  1.06 mA  VDS  4.4 V( VGS )
or I D  1.72 mA  VDS  2.2 V( VGS )
This latter result is not consistent with the assumption of
operation in the saturation mode since VGS  Vt  1.5 V. So the
proper solution for ID is the first ( I D  1.06 mA).

Next, we construct the small-signal equivalent circuit. We’ll use

the  small-signal model of the MOSFET with ro included:

(Fig. 7.15c)
W
 g m  k nVGS  Vt   0.25 103  4.4  1.5  0.725 mS
L
V 50
 ro  A   47.2 k
I D 1.06 mA

Recall from the previous lecture that the proper ID in the ro

calculation is that with  = 0, which is what we ended up
calculating earlier.
Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 4 of 8

To compute the small-signal voltage gain, we start at the output

(assuming RG is extremely large RG  ro || RD || RL )
vo   g m vgs  ro || RD || RL 
At the input notice that vgs  vi . Therefore
v
Av  o   g m  ro || RD || RL    g m (4,521)  3.28 V/V
vi
Notice that the assumption RG  ro || RD || RL is met and hugely
exceeded since 10 M >> 4,521 .

For the input resistance Rin calculation, we cannot set vgs  0 –

and subsequently open circuit the dependent current source –
since this would artificially force Rin  0 . Rather, we need to
determine ii as a function of vi and use this in the definition:
v
Rin  i
ii
The dependent current source will remain in these calculations.

Proceeding, at the input of the small-signal equivalent circuit

shown above
v v v  v  v
ii  i o  i 1  o   i 1  Av 
RG RG  vi  RG
v
Therefore, ii  i (1  3.28)
RG
Consequently, using this expression we find that
v R
Rin  i  G  2.34 M
ii 4.28
Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 5 of 8

Lastly, to determine the output resistance, we can set vgs  0 in

the small-signal equivalent circuit above, which will open circuit
the dependent current source leading to the equivalent circuit:

from which we see that

Rout  RG || ro || RD  8.24 k

Example N29.2 (text Exercise 7.6). Determine the following

quantities for the conceptual MOSFET small-signal amplifier of
Fig. 7.4 given that VDD = 5 V, RD = 10 k, and VGS = 2 V.

0.2sin t  V 

2V
(Fig. 7.4)
The MOSFET characteristics are Vt  1 V, kn  20 A/V2, W/L
= 20, and = 0.
Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 6 of 8

(a) Determine ID and VD. We see from the circuit that VGS  Vt .
Therefore, the MOSFET is operating in the saturation or
triode mode. We’ll assume saturation. In that case
1 W 1
I D  kn VGS  Vt    20  106  20(2  1) 2  0.2 mA
2

2 L 2
and VD  VDD  I D RD  3 V

Let’s check if the MOSFET is operating in the saturation

mode:
VGD  2  3  1  Vt
Therefore, the MOSFET is indeed saturated, as assumed.

(b) Determine gm. Using (7.32)

W
g m  kn VGS  Vt   20  106  20  (2  1)  4.0 mS
L

(c) Determine the voltage gain Av. We begin by first

constructing the small-signal equivalent circuit

vgs g m vgs vo

Directly from this circuit,

vo   g m vgs RD
Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 7 of 8

vo
so Av    g m RD  0.4  103 10  103  4 V/V
vgs

(d) If vgs  0.2sin t  V, find vd and the max/min vD.

v
Av  o  vd  Av vgs  4  0.2sin t 
vgs
Therefore, vd  0.8sin t  V

Hence, vD max  VD  Vd  3  0.8  3.8 V

while vD min  VD  Vd  3  0.8  2.2 V

(e) Determine the second harmonic distortion. From (7.28) or

(6) in the previous lecture notes, the drain current is given as
W 1 W
iD  I D  kn VGS  Vt  vgs  kn vgs2
L 2 L
1
or iD  I D  20  106  20(2  1)vgs   20  106  20vgs2
2
3 3 2
 I D  0.4  10 vgs  0.2  10 vgs

Substituting vgs  0.2sin t  into this equation gives

iD  I D  80  106 sin t   8  106 sin 2 t 
Using the trigonometry identity
sin 2 t   1 2  1 2cos  2t 
this last expression becomes
iD  200  80sin t   4  4cos  2t  A
or iD  204  80sin t   4cos  2t  A
Whites, EE 320 Lecture 29 Page 8 of 8

The first term in iD is ID, the DC current. We see that there is

a slight shift upward in value by 4 A.

The third term in iD is the second harmonic term because it

varies with time at twice the frequency of the input signal.
The second harmonic distortion is
4
 100%  5 %
80