Lecture 19

Transistor Amplifiers (II)

Common-Emitter Amplifier

Outline
• Common-source amplifier (summary)
• Common-emitter amplifier
• Common-emitter amplifier with current-source
supply
• Common-emitter amplifier with emitter
degeneration resistor

Reading Assignment:
Howe and Sodini; Chapter 8, Sections 8.4-8.6

Announcement:
Quiz #2: Wednesday, November 15, 7:30-9:30 PM at
Walker Memorial. Lectures #10 - #17. Calculator
Required. Open book & notes.
No Recitation on Wednesday: Instructors will be
available in their offices during recitation times

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 1

 Summary of Key Concepts

• Common-emitter amplifier with resistive supply

– To maximize gain, large power supply required
– High power consumption
• Performance improved by using common-emitter
amplifier with current source supply.
• Two-port network computation of voltage gain,
input resistance and output resistance of amplifier.

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 2

 1. Common Source Amplifier:
with current source supply

Summary of small-signal results (unloaded):

• Voltage gain: Avo = -gm (ro//roc).

• Input resistance :Rin = ∞

• Output resistance: Rout = ro//roc.

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 3

 Relationship between circuit figures of merit and
device parameters
Remember:
W
g m = 2 ID µn Cox
L
1 L
ro ≈ ∝
λ n ID I D

Then:

Circuit Parameters

|Avo| Rin Rout

Device*
Parameters gm(ro//roc) ∝ ro//roc
ISUP ↑ ↓ - ↓
W↑ ↑ - -
µnCox ↑` ↑ - -
L↑ ↑ - ↑

* adjustments are made to VGG so that none of the

other parameters change

CS amplifier with current source supply is a good

voltage amplifier (Rin high and |Avo| high), but Rout high
too ⇒ voltage gain degraded if RL << ro//roc.

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 4

 2. Common-Emitter Amplifier:
Circuit Topology:

Consider it first unloaded by RL. How does it work?

• VBIAS, RC and AE of npn-BJT selected to bias

transistor in forward active region (FAR) and obtain
desired output bias point (i.e. VOUT = 0).
• vS ↑ ⇒ vBE ↑ ⇒ iB ↑ ⇒ iC ↑ ⇒ vOUT ↓
• Av = vout / vs <0; output out of phase from input, but
if amplifier is well designed, |Av|>1.

Watch notation: vOUT(t)=VOUT+vout(t)

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 5

 Load line of Common Emitter Amplifier:

Transfer characteristics of amplifier:

• Graphical approach
– Plot IC as a function of the DC base-emitter voltage VBIAS
– Note that normally we plot IC vs. IB, so we have to return
to Ebers-Moll equations
• We can plot the forward active current for
– VCE = VOUT > VCE(sat)
– Note that the range of VBIAS is only 600-660 mV

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 6

 Biasing the CE Amplifier

The collector current is given by the Ebers-Moll Equation:

  VBE  IS   VBC  

IC = IS exp  
−1 −  exp − 1 
  Vth  β R   Vth 

In Forward Active Region

 VBE   VBIAS 
IC ≈ IS • exp  = I S • exp  
 Vth   Vth 
Output Voltage
VOUT = VCE = VCC − I CR C
Typically select VOUT = 1 /2 VCC

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 7

 Small-signal voltage gain: draw small-signal equivalent
circuit model:

v out = −gm vin ( ro // R C )

qI C
gm =
kT
Then unloaded voltage gain:
v
A vo = out = −gm ( ro // RC )
v in
6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 8
 Signal Swing and Effect of input/output loading:

• Upswing limited by resistive divider:

RL
v OUT,max = VCC
R L + RC

• Downswing not affected by loading VOUT,min=VCE,sat

• Voltage swing
RL
∆vOUT = ∆vout = VCC − VCE, sat
R L + RC

• Voltage gain:
– Input loading (RS): RS reduces voltage gain because
it forms a resistor divider with rπ;
– Output loading (RL): RL reduces voltage gain
because it draws current.

g (r // R C // R L ) < g m (ro // R C )
rπ
Av =
rπ + R S m o
6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 9
 Effect of loading on small-signal operation
Two-port network view of small-signal equivalent
circuit model of amplifier:

Rin is input resistance

Rout is output resistance
Avo is unloaded voltage gain

vs
Voltage divider at input: v in = Rin
Rin + R s

Avo vin
Voltage divider at output: v out = RL
R out + R L

v out R in RL
Loaded voltage gain: = A vo
vs Rin + R S R L + R out

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 10

 Input Resistance
• Calculation of input resistance, Rin:
– Load amplifier with RL
– Apply test voltage (or current) at input, measure test
current (or voltage).

For common-emitter amplifier:

v
v t = i trπ ⇒ R in = t = rπ
it

No effect of loading at input.

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 11

 Output Resistance
• Calculation of input resistance, Rout:
– Load amplifier with RS
– Apply test voltage (or current) at output, measure test
current (or voltage).

For common-emitter amplifier:

v π = 0 ⇒ gm vπ = 0 ⇒ vt = i t ( ro // RC )

v
R out = t = ro // R C
it

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 12

 Two-port network view of common-source amplifier

v out R in RL
= A vo
vs Rin + RS R L + Rout
rπ RL
=− gm (ro // R C )
rπ + RS RL + ro // R C

Or:

gm (ro // RC // R L )
v out rπ
=−
vs rπ + RS

R out = ro // RC

R in = rπ

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 13

 Design issues of common-emitter amplifier
(unloaded)
• To maximize the output swing, set VOUT = VCC/2.
The load resistor value is coupled with the collector current
through the load line equation

VCC − VOUT VCC

IC = ≈
RC 2R C
• The transconductance is therefore

IC VCC
gm = =
Vth 2R C Vth

• The small signal gain voltage gain (for ro >>RC)

−VCC
A v ≈ g mR C =
2 Vth

Issue:
• To increase the voltage gain, the only option is to
increase the supply voltage which wastes power

.
Solution: CE amplifier with current source supply

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 14

 3. Common-source amplifier with current-
source supply

CE Amplifier with Idealized Current Source Loadline :

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 15

 Small-Signal Model for CE Amplifier with
Current Source Supply

• Voltage Gain (unloaded)

v out
Avo = = −g m(ro // roc )
vin

• For a well designed current source, roc >> ro, hence

common emitter amplifier gain reduces to:
 IC   VA  VA
Avo ≈ g mro = −     =−
 Vth  IC  Vth

• Final expression depends on device dimensions and

parameters
– (e.g., base width and the ratio of base doping to
collector doping)

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 16

 Relationship between common emitter amplifier
circuit figures of merit and device parameters
Remember:
I
gm = C
Vth
V
ro ≈ A
IC

Then:

Circuit Parameters

|Avo| Rin Rout

Device
Parameters gm(ro//roc) rπ ro//roc
ISUP ↑ - ↓ ↓
βo ↑` - ↑ -
VA ↑ ↑ - ↑

CE amplifier with current source supply is a good

voltage amplifier (Rin medium and |Avo| high), but Rout
high too ⇒ voltage gain degraded if RL << ro//roc.

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 17

 Common Emitter Amplifier
(with emitter degeneration resistor)

• Addition of emitter resistance leads to increase in

input and output resistance
• Voltage gain depends predominantly on the emitter
resistance resulting in a well controlled gain
– Gain relatively independent of temperature and
process variations

VBIAS = VBE +
(βF + 1)IC R ≈ VBE + I CRE
βF E

 IC 
VBE = Vth ln 
 IS 
I C = I SUP

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 18

 Small Signal Model
(CE Amplifier with RE)

• Addition of emitter resistance leads to increase in

input and output resistance by a factor (1 + gmRE)
• Voltage gain reduced by a factor (1 + gmRE)

g m [roc // ro (1 + g mRE )] g mroc

Av ≈ − ≈
1+ g mRE 1 + gm RE
Rin = rπ (1 + gm RE )
Rout ≈ roc // ro (1 + gm RE )

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 19

 What did we learn today?
Summary of Key Concepts

• Common-emitter amplifier with resistive supply

– To maximize gain, large power supply required
– High power consumption
• Performance improved by using common-emitter
amplifier with current source supply.
• Two-port network computation of voltage gain,
input resistance and output resistance of amplifier.

6.012 Electronic Devices and Circuits—Fall 2000 Lecture 19 20