EE/CE 3111

Electronic Circuits Laboratory

Spring 2012

Lab 4: BJT Amplifiers Part I

Objectives
The objectives of this lab are to acquaint you with the BJT operation as an amplifier. Specifically, To understand the physical meaning of the low-frequency small-signal parameters of the BJT and ways to measure them To understand the meaning of biasing for transistor circuits To know the three configurations of BJT amplifiers, i.e., common emitter (CE), common collector (CC), and common base (CB). CE configuration is also referred to as the inverter configuration, and CC and CB are referred to as the emitter (or voltage) follower and current buffer (or cascode), respectively. To know that BJT is always biased in the forward-active region (FAR) to function as an amplifier To understand and obtain the transfer characteristic for the three BJT configurations

Introduction
This lab will give you the knowledge and understanding so that you can explain the behavior of a BJT in two of the three configurations mentioned above. You will learn how to bias a BJT in FAR and to set its operating point. In addition, we will also experiment the CE configuration with emitter resistor, aka emitter degeneration. For detailed theory about the three configurations, please refer to Chapter 6 of Sedra & Smith.

Preparation
1. Read Chapter 6 of Sedra & Smith. 2. Simulate in PSpice the CE in Fig. 4-2. Obtain the transfer characteristic of the amplifier. Determine the DC input voltage to bias the BJT in the center of the linear region. Determine the small-signal (AC) gain of the amplifier at the operating point above. 3. Repeat step 2 for the CE amplifier with emitter degeneration in Fig. 4-3. 4. Repeat step 2 for the emitter follower in Fig. 4-4.

Procedure
1. Small-signal parameters of BJT We will use the CE configuration shown in Fig. 4-1 to measure the small-signal parameters of the BJT to be used in all remaining parts of this lab. In this circuit, the BJT remains in FAR in order to provide a large

Professor Y. Chiu

EE/CE 3111

Electronic Circuits Laboratory

Spring 2012

voltage gain (please refer to Lab 3 about the definition of FAR if necessary). To bias the BJT in FAR, you will need to vary the base current IB to make sure that the collector voltage is close to VCC/2. A load resistor of 1k is used in this circuit. gm: Transconductance, defined as (4-1) This parameter is found by measuring the ratio of the incremental changes in collector current and base-emitter voltage by slightly varying the base current from the operating point. You will need to vary VCC to make sure that VCE is constant in your measurement.

Figure 4-1: CE configuration to be used to measure small-signal BJT parameters 0: AC current gain, defined as (4-2) This parameter is found by measuring the ratio of the incremental changes in collector current and base current by slightly varying the base current from the operating point. You will need to vary VCC to make sure that VCE is constant in your measurement. r: Input resistance, or base-emitter resistance, defined as (4-3) This parameter is found by measuring the ratio of the incremental changes in base-emitter voltage and base current by slightly varying the base current from the operating point. You will need to vary VCC to make sure that VCE is constant in your measurement. ro: Output resistance, or collector-emitter resistance, defined as (4-4) This parameter is found by measuring the ratio of the incremental changes in collector-emitter voltage and collector current by slightly varying VCC. How would you make sure VBE is constant in this measurement?
Professor Y. Chiu 2

EE/CE 3111

Electronic Circuits Laboratory

Spring 2012

VCE,SAT: Saturation voltage is the minimum voltage you will see across the collector-emitter junction. To measure this value you can increase the base current until you see no significant decrement in the collector-emitter voltage. Note that the BJT is not an amplifier anymore in saturation.

Figure 4-2: CE amplifier 2. Common-emitter amplifier Measure the VI characteristic of the BJT using BJT_IVcurve.vi. Draw the load line of the CE amplifier in Fig. 4-2 on top of the VI characteristic. Use the program tranchar.vi to obtain the transfer characteristic of the amplifier. Use the information from the above steps to find the DC voltage of the input needed to place the BJT operating point in the middle of the linear region of the transfer characteristic. This should yield a VCE not too far from VCC/2. Use the function generator as the input source, and set it up as follows o Waveform: sinusoidal o Offset: the DC input voltage you found o Amplitude: 0.1V o Frequency: 1kHz Use the oscilloscope to view the input and output waveforms. Record the small-signal (AC) voltage gain and the DC values of the collector voltage and the collector current. Increase the amplitude of the function generator until you see the output clipped at the top and bottom of the sine wave. Then use the XY display mode of the oscilloscope, and set the input signal to Channel 1 and the output signal to Channel 2. What you will see here is the transfer characteristic of the CE amplifier. Use the cursors to measure the maximum as well as the minimum output voltages. Record the range for the input voltage where the BJT remains in FAR. 3. Common-emitter amplifier with emitter degeneration Measure the VI characteristic of the BJT plus RE as a composite transistor using BJT_IVcurve.vi (Hint: plot the collector current as a function of the absolute collector voltage instead of VCE in this case). Draw the load line of the amplifier in Fig. 4-3 on top of the VI characteristic. Use the program tranchar.vi to obtain the transfer characteristic of the amplifier. Use the information from the above steps to find the DC voltage of the input needed to place
Professor Y. Chiu 3

EE/CE 3111

Electronic Circuits Laboratory

Spring 2012

the BJT operating point in the middle of the linear region of the transfer characteristic. How different is this from the operating point used in Part 2?

Figure 4-3: CE amplifier with emitter degeneration Use the function generator as the input source, and set it up as follows o Waveform: sinusoidal o Offset: the DC input voltage you found o Amplitude: 0.1V o Frequency: 1kHz Use the oscilloscope to view the input and output waveforms. Record the small-signal (AC) voltage gain and the DC values of the collector voltage and the collector current. Increase the amplitude of the function generator until you see the output clipped at the top and bottom of the sine wave. Then use the XY display mode of the oscilloscope, and set the input signal to Channel 1 and the output signal to Channel 2. What you will see here is the transfer characteristic of the amplifier. Use the cursors to measure the maximum and minimum output voltages. Record the range for the input voltage where the BJT remains in FAR.

Figure 4-4: Emitter follower 4. Emitter follower Draw the load line of the emitter follower in Fig. 4-4 on top of the BJT VI characteristic. Note that the load is RE in this case.
Professor Y. Chiu 4

EE/CE 3111

Electronic Circuits Laboratory

Spring 2012

Use the program tranchar.vi to obtain the transfer characteristic of the amplifier. Use the information from the above steps to find the DC voltage of the input needed to place the BJT operating point in the middle of the linear region of the transfer characteristic. Use the function generator as the input source, and set it up as follows o Waveform: sinusoidal o Offset: the DC input voltage you found o Amplitude: 0.1V o Frequency: 1kHz Use the oscilloscope to view the input and output waveforms. Record the small-signal (AC) voltage gain and the DC values of the emitter voltage and the collector current. Increase the amplitude of the function generator until you see the output clipped at the top and bottom of the sine wave. Then use the XY display mode of the oscilloscope, and set the input signal to Channel 1 and the output signal to Channel 2. What you will see here is the transfer characteristic of the follower. Use the cursors to measure the maximum as well as the minimum output voltages. Record the range for the input voltage where the BJT remains in FAR.

Analysis
1. Sketch the transfer characteristic for all of the configurations you studied in this experiment. Compare your sketches with the curves you measured in the lab. 2. Is the value of RB critical for the CE amplifier, the CE amplifier with emitter degeneration, and emitter follower design? How sensitive is the small-signal (AC) gain to RB? 3. Determine the value of RE in Fig. 4-3 to obtain an AC gain of 10 in the middle of the linear gain region.

Professor Y. Chiu