THE COMMON EMITTER AMPLIFIER - A More Advanced Look

The amplifier shown is the most commonly used small signal (low power) amplifier using discrete transistors. It has long been replaced by the integrated circuit operational amplifier (op amp) for small signal applications. The reason for examining this amplifier is to understand what goes on inside an IC amplifier since people tend to forget that the op amp and other ICs contain transistor circuitry based on the common emitter amplifier and other transistor amplifier circuits. There are also plenty of these discrete circuits still widely used in older equipment. Let us now examine this circuit. To analyze the circuit we use a technique called superposition. Before you panic at this exotic term, all it means is that we first analyze the circuit for DC by setting the AC signal source Vs to 0V. We then set the DC source (Vcc) to 0V and analyze the circuit for the AC values resulting when Vs is applied. The DC and AC values are then added together to get the totals (the DC and AC values are superimposed on one another). To start with the DC analysis, which you have all ready done when you did bias circuit calculations, we regard all capacitors as open circuits (recall from AC that Xc = 1/2fC and f= 0Hz at DC so Xc = an open circuit). Our circuit now looks like this: This is simply the DC bias circuit: VB = (5.6K/32.6K)X 10V = 1.7V VE = 1.7V 0.7V = 1.0V = 1.0ma Ic IE = 1.0V/1K Vc = 10V (1.0ma)(4.7K) = 5.3V These are the DC bias values.

AC ANALYSIS This is the more difficult part of the circuit analysis and we start by assuming that the capacitors are approximate short circuits at the normal operating frequencies of the amplifier, For example, at 5KHZ we get Xce = 1/(2 X5000X25f) = 1.3 Since Ce is in parallel with Re2 it effectively short circuits it for AC. Similarly, C1 and C2 are 32 each and are negligibly small compared to the resistors connected to them. Calling the capacitors short circuits to AC will change the appearance of the circuit considerably and we will introduce an AC equivalent circuit of the amplifier for our analysis. There are two other items however that must be introduced. The Vcc terminal is 0VAC. There is no AC component at the Vcc terminal. Any point in a circuit that is always 0V is the same as if it was grounded even if not directly connected to ground! The Vcc terminal, for AC analysis is at (AC) ground. The transistor is replaced by a mathematical model which is simplified here by ignoring the internal capacitances of the transistor which only come into play at very high frequencies, much higher frequencies than we deal with in this course. The only internal resistance of the transistor Of interest here is the internal resistance of the emitter Region which is called re From some calculus and the curves relating IE and VBE The value of re ' is generally approximated as:

25mv

re'=

IEdc

ohms

IEdc is the bias value of IE used in the circuit. The AC equivalent circuit will look like this:

re ' = 25mv/1ma =25

You dont need to know the derivations for the formulas which follow but they are presented here for those few students who want to know where they came from. It is customary to use lower case letters for AC quantities (v and i) Voltage Gain is arrived at by starting with the basic From the AC circuit vout = icRc and vin = vB But note here that vB is also equal to the voltage across re + Re1 which can be found as: vB = ie(re' + Re1 ) and recall that ic ie Thus the voltage gain, Av = icRc/ic(re ' + Re1 ) which simplifies to Av = Rc/( re ' + Re1) For our circuit then, we have Av = 4.7K/(25 + 100) = 37.6 Av = vout/vin

If vin, for example, is 100mv then vout will be 37.6 X 100mv = 3.76v As discussed earlier in class, we need to know the input resistance of the amplifier so we can determine how much loading of the signal source will occur when the amplifier is connected. Similarly we need to know the Rout of the amplifier so that we can see how connecting a load affects the output voltage. Input Resistance is found as follows: We first need the resistance looking into the base terminal and we will call this rb rb = vB / ib = ie(re'+ Re1)/ib but ie ib so rb = ib(re ' + Re1)/ib = (re ' + Re1) Now, the total Rin is simply R1 R2 rb = R1 R2 (re' + Re1) For this circuit, if = 100 then Rin = 27K 6.5 K 4.3 = )001+ 52(001 K The output resistance of the amplifier is much simpler, it is simply Rc = 4.7K As noted earlier you dont need to know the derivations of the formulas and here they are in summary: Av = Rc/(re' + Re1) Rin = R1 R2 (re' + Re1) Rout = Rc How are these applied? Let us go back to the original circuit and look at the effects of adding a load and a signal source.

If we connect the signal source with Vs = 100mv we will get, at Vin an input voltage of: Vin = Rin/(Rin + Rs) X Vs = 3.4K/ (3.4K + 100) X 100mv = 97.1 mv This is a loading error of (100 97.1)/100 X 100% = 2.9% (not too bad) With no load connected our Vout would be 97.1mv X 37.6 = 3.65V With the 10K load connected Vout will be Voutno load X RL/(Rout + RL) Vout = 3.65V X 10K/(4.7K + 10K) = 2.48V This is a loading error of (3.65V 2.48V)/3.65V X 100% = 32% (ouch) The total amplifier gain with the source and load connected is found as Av = Voutloaded/ Vs = 2.48V/100mv = 24.8 The gain with no load and no signal source loading was 37.6 for a total drop of ( 37.6 -24.8 )/37.6 X 100% = 34% It should be evident from this example that we want the amplifier Rin to be as high as possible relative to the source resistance, and we want Rout as low as possible relative to the load resistance. The common emitter amplifier has the highest voltage gain of the various amplifier configurations but only a moderate Rin (to perhaps 10K or so ) and a high Rout since Rout must be high if voltage gain is to be high (look back at the gain formula). It turns out that the common collector amplifier which we will examine later has a high Rin and a very low Rout but only has a voltage gain of X1. The two amplifers can work together to combine their best features! Finally you may have wondered why we used two separate emitter resistors and only bypassed one with a capacitor. Read on!

If we used a single Re and bypassed it fully with a capacitor, the voltage gain would be: Av = Rc/re' = 4.7K/25 = 188 This is very impressive, however re' is approximate and is subject to some slight variations due to temperature changes and variations in Ie. This means that although the gain is very high, it is not stable. By using a partial emitter bypass as in our circuit, the gain is lower but much more stable as the unbypassed 100 is much bigger than re' and tends to swamp out the variations in re'. The choice of Re1, the unbypassed portion of the emitter resistance is a compromise between high voltage gain and stability and will depend upon the requirements of the application. An assignment will follow. FORMULA SUMMARY: Voltage gain from the base to the collector with no load connected: Av = Rc/(re' + RE ) Input resistance of the amplifier: Rin = R1 R2 (re' + RE ) Output resistance of the amplifier : Rout Rc When a signal source with an internal resistance Rs is connected the voltage into the base input becomes: Vin = Rin/(Rs + Rin) X Vs When a load RL is connected to the amplifier output, the unloaded Vout becomes: Voutloaded = RL/(Rc + RL) X Voutopen where RE is any unbypassed RE where RE is any unbypassed RE

D Fuller March 2005