Frequency

Response of
Amplifier
Learning Outcome
Define Define frequency response.

Explain Explain how capacitances affect the frequency response of amplifiers.

Discuss Discuss the effect of coupling capacitors and bypass capacitor.

Discuss Discuss the effect of internal capacitance of transistors.

Define Define critical frequency.

Explain Explain midrange gain.

Equivalent circuit of capacitor during low and
high frequencies
• At low frequency At High Frequency
Effect of coupling capacitors
Coupling
capacitors
• At lower frequencies
• The voltage gain is lower compare
to that of higher frequencies
because of a higher voltage drop
develops at C1 and C3.
• A phase shift (lead) is introduce
by RC circuit formed from C1 and
Rin of the amplifier.
• A lead circuit is also formed by
Rc, C3 and RL.
Effect of by – pass Capacitor
• At lower frequencies
By pass
• The voltage gain is lower due to capacitor
higher reactance at C2.
• At higher frequencies
• The voltage gain is higher because
a large value of Xc will completely
bypass the emitter resistance.
Effect of Transistor’s internal capacitances
• Transistors has internal
capacitance because of the PN
junction formed within. The
capacitances are called junction
capacitance.
• At lower frequency
• No effect on transistor’s
performance.
• At higher frequency
• Reactance is lower therefore can Internal capacitance
affect the gain.
Effect of Transistor’s internal capacitances
• Low Frequency Range at 1 uF • High Frequency Range at 5 pF
capacitor capacitor
f Xc Effect f Xc Effect

10 Hz 15.91 kilo ohms Range of 10 Hz 3183 Mega ohms Range of

possible lesser
100 Hz 1.59 kilo ohms effect 100 Hz 318.3 Mega ohms concern

1 kHz 159 ohms 1 kHz 31.83 Mega ohms

100 kHz 15.9 ohms 100 kHz 318.3 kilo ohms

1 Mhz 1.59 ohms Range of 1 Mhz 31.83 kilo ohms Range of

lesser possible
10 Mhz 15.9 milli ohms concern 10 Mhz 3.183 kilo ohms effect

100 Mhz 1.59 milli ohms 100 Mhz 318 ohms

Midrange Gain
• Midrange gain is the maximum gain
that occur between lower and
upper critical frequency and is
defined as the 0 dB point.
• Example:
• If an amplifier has a gain of voltage of
100 and the measured gain at certain
value of frequency is 50, the reduced
in gain is 20 log (50/100) = -6 dB.
• This means that if the output voltage
is reduced to half, there is 6 dB
reduction in voltage gain.
Critical Frequency
• It is the frequency where output Critical frequency

power is reduced to half of the

midrange value.
• This corresponds to -3 dB point.
• Example
• If an amplifier has a power gain of
200 and the measured gain at
certain value of frequency 100, -3 dB point or half
the reduced in gain is 10 log power point.
(100/200) = -3 dB.
Decibel
value with
respect to 0
dB point.
 • A certain amplifier has a midrange rms voltage
of 10 V. What is the rms output voltage for each
of the following dB reductions if the input
voltage remains constant.
a. - 3dB ; answer = 7.08 V or 7.07 V
(using the table in slide 11)
Practice b. - 6 dB ; answer = 5.01 V or 5 V (using
Solving the table in slide 11)
c. -12 dB ; answer = 2.51 V or 2.5 V
(using the table in slide 11)
d. - 24 dB ; answer = 0.631 V or 0.625 V
(using the table in slide 11)
 dBm is the unit of power measurement at
1 mW reference point.

Power It is a convenient way to express absolute

Measurement power level because dB only express
power ratios and not absolute power.
in dBm
𝑃
𝑃 𝑑𝐵𝑚 =10 log A negative value of dBm means that the
1𝑚𝑊
power is less than 1 mW.
Power in terms of
dBm
 Low Frequency
Amplifier Response
BJT and FET
 • Analyze the low frequency response of
amplifier circuits.
• Analyze low frequency response of BJT
amplifiers.
• Analyze BJT amplifier’s RC input circuit.
• Analyze BJT amplifier’s RC output circuit.
Objectives
• Analyze FET amplifier’s RC input circuit.
• Analyze FET amplifier’s RC output circuit.
BJT Amplifier Frequency Response
• Recall CE BJT voltage gain:
• With bypass capacitor

• Without bypass capacitor

Analysis
• There are 3 RC high pass filter
that appears.
• Input RC circuit by Rin and
R1//R2
• Output RC circuit by Rout and RL
• Bypass RC circuit by RE and C2
Input RC circuit
• Voltage at the base
Lower Cut off Frequency
• Lower cut off frequency equation:

• If source resistance is considered

Example
• Calculate the lower cut off
frequency if and

• Solution
Try it!
• What value of input capacitor
will move the lower cutoff
frequency to 130 Hz?
Voltage gain roll – off at lower frequencies
• The RC circuits formed by internal • Consider:
capacitances and external • f = 0.1fc ; Xc = Rin at fc ; Xc = 10Rin
capacitors of amplifier circuit at fc;
decreases the gain depending on
the frequency of the input signal.
• Voltage gain roll – off is the rate of
decrease in voltage gain introduce
by the RC circuits.
• There is 20 dB reduction in voltage
gain for each 10x reduction in
frequency below fc.
Bode Plot
Decade
• 10 times change in frequency.

Octave
• Corresponds to doubling or halving of frequency.
• 100 khz to 200 khz is an octave so as 100 khz to 50 khz.
• -20dB/ decade = -6 dB/octave

Bode Plot
• It is a dB plot of voltage gain vs frequency shown on the
figure at the right.
• The blue graph is the ideal response. 1
𝐴 𝑣(𝑑𝐵)=20 log

√
• The red graph is the actual response.

( )
2
• The change decrease in gain is the effect of the voltage 𝑓𝑐
gain roll – off due to RC circuits. 1+
𝑓
Example
The midrange voltage gain of a certain amplifier is 100. The input RC circuit has a
lower critical frequency of 1 kHz. Determine the actual voltage gain at f = 1 kHz,
f =100 Hz, and f = 10 Hz.

Solution When f =1 kHz, the voltage gain is 3 dB less than at midrange. At the voltage
gain is reduced by a factor of 0.707.
Av = (0.707)(100) = 70.7

When f =100 Hz 0.1fc, the voltage gain is 20 dB less than at fc . The voltage gain
at is one-tenth of that at the midrange frequencies.
Av = (0.1)(100) = 10

When f =10 Hz, 0.01fc, the voltage gain is 40 dB less than at fc . The voltage gain
at is -40dB or one-hundredth of that at the midrange frequencies.
Av = (0.01)(100) = 1
Phase Shift in the Input RC circuit
• The phase shift introduce by the
RC circuit at frequency less than
fc also decreases the voltage
gain.
• The phase shift will make the
output voltage leads the input
voltage.
Plot of frequency vs phase shift
• The lower the frequency, the
higher the phase shift.
• The phase shift is 90 degrees
when the frequency is 0.

Plot of input and output voltage.

The Output RC Circuit
• The output RC circuit is formed by RL and C3.
• The equivalent circuit is shown in figure “c”
on the right.
• The lower cut off frequency is:

• The capacitive reactance of C3 will reduce

the voltage developed at the load thus,
decreasing the voltage gain of the amplifier.
• The signal voltage is reduce by a factor of
0.707 when the f = fcl(output)
Example
Refer to the circuit on the right. Calculate the lower
critical frequency due to the output RC circuit.

Solution The resistance in the output RC circuit is

The lower critical frequency is
fcl(output) =1/2pi(RC + RL)C3
=1/2pi(9.5 kilo ohms)(0.33 mF) = 50.8 Hz
Your turn!

Consider a load
resistance of 20 kilo
ohms calculate the
lower cut off frequency.

What effect does a

larger load resistor have
on the gain and the
lower cutoff frequency?
Phase Shift by output RC Circuit
• For mid range frequencies the
phase shift is zero
• Phase shift approaches 90
degrees as frequency
approaches zero.
• At fc, the phase shift is 45
degrees
Frequency Response without bypass emitter
capacitor

With swamping resistor

High Frequency Response of BJT
• Capacitance to be considered
• Base – collector capacitance
• Collector – emitter capacitance
• Base – emitter capacitance
• Wiring capacitances at input and
output (Wi and Wo respectively)
High Frequency Response of BJT (INPUT)
High Frequency Response of BJT (OUTPUT)
Low Frequency
Response of
FET
• Capacitances to be
considered
• External
• Coupling capacitor at
gate and output
• Source capacitor
 Low
• Coupling capacitor at Gate (CG)
Frequency
Response of • Consider the circuit below:
FET
 Low
• Coupling capacitor at output (CC
Frequency
Response of • Consider the circuit below:
FET
Low Frequency Response of FET
• Coupling capacitor at Source (CS)
• Consider the circuit below:
Example(Low Frequency Response of FET)
• Determine the lower cut off frequency response of an FET amplifier
with the following parameters: ANSWER (fLG = 15.8 Hz, fLc = 46.13 Hz,
fLs = 238.73 Hz).
High Frequency
Response of
FET
• Frequency to be
considered
• Gate to drain
capacitance (Cgd )
• Drain to source
capacitance(Cds )
• Gate to source
capacitance(Cgs )
• Input and output
wiring capacitance
High Frequency Response of FET
Example (High Frequency Response of FET)
• Determine the cut off frequency of an FET amplifier with the
following parameters : ANSWER(fHi = 945.67 kHz, fHo = 11.57 MHz).
End of
Presentation