LESSON 2:

THE UNIVERSAL
DC BIAS CIRCUIT
REPO RTERS:
G U I N T O , A X L M H AY N .
ROJAS, CHELMA D.
THE
a circuit that will keep the transistor
UNIVERSAL •
operating in the middle of the linear
DC BIAS active region.
CIRCUIT • it will be used in all the amplifier
circuits we consider and it sets the
constant or DC operating
conditions.
 Power is supplied by the voltage
source Vcc, while R1 and R2 form a voltage
divider.
The collector and emitter resistors, Rc
and Re, complete the circuit.
 Thevenin equivalent for the left half of the universal DC bias circuit.

To simplify analysis, it is convenient to replace the left

half of the circuit by its Thevenin equivalent, as indicated
in this Figure.
 Redrawn version of the universal DC bias
circuit.
Our original circuit can then be redrawn as shown in this
Figure. We would like to obtain equations for Ic, Ib, and
Vce; these three quantities define the operating point of the
transistor (also called the quiescent point or Q point)
Applying KVL to the left side of this
Figure gives
Veq –Ib Req− Vbe − IeRe = 0 eq’n 8

while the right side gives

Vcc– IcRc – Vce − IeRe = 0 eq’n 9
We also note that
Ie = I c + I b (which is always
true) and

Ic = βIb eq’n10 (which is true

for the
linear active region where we wish
to operate).

Combining these gives Ie = (β + 1)Ib

and using this result in eq’n (8)
Veq –Ib Req− Vbe − IeRe = 0 eq’n 8 Ie = (β + 1)Ib

Veq –Ib Req− Vbe − (β + 1)IbRe = 0

Veq - Vbe = Ib Req + (β + 1)IbRe

Veq - Vbe = Ib ( Req + (β + 1)Re )

Eq'n 11
 Similarly, Eq’n (9)
produces;
Vcc– IcRc – Vce − IeRe = 0 eq’n 9 Ie = (β + 1)Ib Ic = βIb

Ic /β = Ib
Vcc– IcRc – Vce − (β + 1)IbRe = 0

Vcc– Ic Rc - Vce −(β + 1)(Ic /β) Re= 0

Vcc– Ic (Rc +((β + 1) /β) Re )-Vce = 0

eq'n.12
Thus if we know the four resistor values of our circuit, β, the power supply
voltage Vcc, and approximate Vbe, we can determine the operating point
from Eq’n (11), (12), and (10). We can also cast the equations in a form
more convenient to use if we know the operating point we want and seek
the appropriate resistor values:

Eq'n 11

Eq'n 13

Eq. 14
Eq'n 12
• Since we have two equations and four unknown
resistances, there is no unique solution to our DC bias
problem. As we will see later, other amplifier parameters
will further restrain our choice of resistor values. For
now, we note that a useful procedure is to start by
choosing R1 = R2 = 10kΩ and then using Eq’n (13) to
solve for Re and then Eq’n (14) to solve for Rc.
Eq'n 13

Eq. 14