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BJT Diff Amp 3

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
13 views

BJT Diff Amp 3

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© © All Rights Reserved
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ELG3135 Electronics II

The BJT differential AMP with an active load

• Many IC amplifiers use BJT loads in place of the load


resistance, RC .
• BJT load resistor is usually
connected as a constant-current
source with a very high resistance
load (output resistance of the
current source)
• Higher load resistance, higher
output gain.

Left figure shows an AMP with


active load (consisting of Q3 and
Q4).

1 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

• Q3 and Q4 are connected in a current mirror configuration.


• If no input signal is applied, that is, both bases are grounded.
I is split into equal between Q1 and Q2.
• Assume β >> 1, the mirror supplies an equal current I/2
through the collector of Q4.
• Since this current is equal to the current through Q2, no
output current flows through the output terminal.
• When a differential signal vd is applied, current signal
g m (v d / 2) will result in the collectors Q1 and Q2.
• The mirror supplies generate the same current g m (vd / 2)
through the collector of Q4.
• The overall current at the output terminal is g m vd .
• The output voltage is v0 = g m vd Ro , where Ro is the output
resistance of the AMP.
• Ro is the parallel of output resistances of Q2 and Q4:
2 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

Ro = ro 2 // ro 4

In case ro 2 = ro 4 = ro , we have

Ro = r0 / 2

The output voltage: v0 = g m vd (ro / 2 )

v0
The voltage gain: Ad = = g m (ro / 2 )
vd

VA
Considering g m = I C / VT , and r0 = , we have
IC
V
Ad = A
2VT

3 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

In some cases the input resistance of the subsequent amplifier


stage may be of the same order as Ro and must be taken into
account in determining voltage gain.

In such situations, the amplifier with active load may be


represented by the transconductance amplifier model shown
below:

Here Ri = 2rπ is differential input resistance. The amplifier


transconductance Gm is the short-circuit transconductance,

4 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

I /2
Gm = g m =
VT

Example: if V A = 100V and VT = 25 mV , we have

VA 100V
Ad = = = 2000 V / V The gain is much higher than
2VT 2 × 25 mV
differential amplifiers using a resistor load.
5 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

The Cascode Configuration

Cascode
configuration: a
common emitter
(CE) stage followed
by a common base
(CB) stage.

• Q1 and Q2 form a
basic differential
AMP.

(a) (b)
6 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

• Q3 and Q4 form a differential common-base stage.

• The differential half-circuit is shown in (b). The load resistance


seen by CE transistor Q1 is no longer Rc, but is the much lower
input resistance of the CB transistor, namely re (reduction of
the effective load resistance of Q1 will lead to a tremendous
improvement in the AMP frequency response.)

• The function of the CB stage acts as a current buffer; it accepts


a current g m (vd / 2) from Q2 at a low input resistance ( re ) and
delivers almost equal current αg m ( vd / 2) to the load at a very
high output resistance Ro .

• The high output resistance constitutes the 2nd important feature


of the cascode configuration.

7 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

• Q3 has an emitter resistance equal to r0 of Q1.

• Using the output resistance equation for the Wilson current


mirror, we have

R0 = (1 + g m3 R' E )r03 ≈ (1 + g m 3 rπ3 ) r03

= (1 + β) r03 ≈ βr03

where R' E = rπ3 // r01 ≈ rπ3

Since the BJTs are biased at the same current I/2, so the their
small-signal parameters are equal and thus we can drop the
subscript and express R0
R0 = βr0
8 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

The output resistance of Cascode configuration is β times greater


than that of the common-emitter
amplifier.

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ELG3135 Electronics II

Example 1: For an active-loaded differential amplifier when


biased with I = 0.2 mA, and if β = 200, and V A =100 V, find the
values of Ri , Gm , R0 and the open-circuit voltage gain.

Solution:
I / 2 0.1mA
gm = = = 4 mA /V
VT 25 mV
2 × 200
Ri = 2rπ = 2β / g m = = 100 kΩ
4 mA / V
Gm = g m = 4 mA /V

r0 V A /( I / 2)
R0 = = = 500 kΩ
2 2

VA 100V
Ad = = = 2000 V /V
2VT 2 × 25 mV
10 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

Example 2: Repeat the Example 1. If the differential pair is


replaced with a differential cascode amplifier.

Solution:
2 × 200
Ri = 2rπ = 2β / g m = = 100 kΩ
4 mA / V
Gm = g m = 4 mA /V
R0 = R0 c // r04
R0 c is the output resistance of the
cascode amplifier:
VA
R0 c = ro 2 Aβ 2 A = β = 200 MΩ
I /2
V 100V
r04 = A = = 1 MΩ
I / 2 0.2 / 2 mA
R0 = R0 c // r04 =200 //1 ≈ 1 MΩ
Av 0 = Gm R0 = 4 × 1000 = 4000V /V
11 Jianping Yao
ELG3135 Electronics II

Example 3: Repeat Example 1 if the


differential pair is replaced with a
cascode amplifier and the basic
current mirror load replaced with a
Wilson current mirror.

Solution:
2 × 200
Ri = 2rπ = 2β / g m = = 100 kΩ
4 mA / V
Gm = g m = 4 mA /V
R0 = R0 c // RoW
R0 c = βr0 = 200 MΩ
RoW = βr0 / 2 = 100 MΩ
R0 = R0 c // RoW = 100 // 200 = 66.7 MΩ
Av 0 = Gm R0 = 4 × 66.7 × 103 = 2.67 × 105 V / V

12 Jianping Yao

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