Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Addis Ababa University
Laboratory Report
Course: Electrical Engineering Lab II

Course No.: Eceg 2205

Experiment No. : 06

Title: The Transistor as an Amplifier

By: Aisha Abdulahi

Group: 2B

Date of Experiment: December 23, 2010

Date of Submission: December 31, 2010

 Introduction
Transistor, in electronics, common name for a group of electronic devices used as amplifiers or
oscillators in communications, control, and computer systems. Until the advent of the transistor
in 1948, developments in the field of electronics were dependent on the use of thermionic
vacuum tubes, magnetic amplifiers, specialized rotating machinery, and special capacitors as
amplifiers.

Objective
The objective of the following laboratory experiment was,

 To measure the hybrid parameters, h ie and hfe of a transistor at a given fixed operating
point;
 To investigate the gain and impedance characteristics of a transistor amplifier.
 Equipments Used

No. Description Code/Lab Reference Quantity

1 Regulated DC Power Supply - 1
2 Analogue multimeter - 1
3 Oscilloscope - 1
4 Function Generator - 1

Components Used
No. Description Type Quantity
1 Junction transistor BC-107B 1
2 Decade Resistor - 1
3 Resistor 120KΩ 1
4 Resistor 56KΩ 1
5 Resistor 82KΩ 1
6 Resistor 3.9KΩ 2
7 Resistor 250Ω 1
7 Resistor 1.8KΩ 1
7 Resistor 1KΩ 1
7 Resistor 390KΩ 1
8 Capacitor 10µF 2
9 Capacitor 220µF 1

Theory
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals. It is made
of a solid piece of semiconductor material, with at least three terminals for connection to an
external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes
the current flowing through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power
can be much more than the controlling (input) power, the transistor provides amplification of a
signal. Today, some transistors are packaged individually, but many more are found embedded
in integrated circuits.

Gain

The gain of an amplifier is the ratio of output to input power or amplitude, and is usually
measured in decibels. (When measured in decibels it is logarithmically related to the power
ratio: G(dB)=10 log(Pout /(Pin)). RF amplifiers are often specified in terms of the maximum power
gain obtainable, while the voltage gain of audio amplifiers and instrumentation amplifiers will
be more often specified (since the amplifier's input impedance will often be much higher than
the source impedance, and the load impedance higher than the amplifier's output impedance).

Transistor as an amplifier

Fig. Amplifier circuit, common-emitter configuration.

The common-emitter amplifier is designed so that a small change in voltage in (Vin) changes the
small current through the base of the transistor and the transistor's current amplification
combined with the properties of the circuit mean that small swings in Vin produce large changes
in Vout.

Various configurations of single transistor amplifier are possible, with some providing current
gain, some voltage gain, and some both.

From mobile phones to televisions, vast numbers of products include amplifiers for sound
reproduction, radio transmission, and signal processing. The first discrete transistor audio
amplifiers barely supplied a few hundred milliwatts, but power and audio fidelity gradually
increased as better transistors became available and amplifier architecture evolved.

Modern transistor audio amplifiers of up to a few hundred watts are common and relatively
inexpensive.

THE IMPORTANT PARAMETERS:

Zi, Zo, Av, Ai
Before investigating the equivalent circuits for BJTs in some detail, let us concentrate on those
parameters of a two-port system that are of paramount importance from an analysis and
design viewpoint. For the two-port (two pairs of terminals) system, the input side (the side to
which the signal is normally applied) is to the left and the output side (where the load is
connected) is to the right. In fact, for most electrical and electronic systems, the general flow is
usually from the left to the right. For both sets of terminals, the impedance between each pair
of terminals under normal operating conditions is quite important.

Input Impedance, Zi
For the input side, the input impedance Zi is defined by Ohm’s law as the following:
Zi =V i /Ii

Output Impedance, Zo
The output impedance is naturally defined at the output set of terminals, but the manner in
which it is defined is quite different from that of the input impedance. That is:
The output impedance is determined at the output terminals looking back into the system
with the applied signal set to zero.
To determine Zo, a signal, Vs, is applied to the output terminals and the level of Vo is measured
with an oscilloscope or sensitive DMM. The output impedance is then determined in the
following manner:
Zo =Vo/Io

Voltage Gain, Av
One of the most important characteristics of an amplifier is the small-signal ac voltage gain as
determined by
Av =V o/Vi

Current Gain, Ai
The last numerical characteristic to be discussed is the current gain defined by
Ai =I o/I i

Although typically the recipient of less attention than the voltage gains, it is, however, an
important quantity that can have significant impact on the overall effectiveness of a design. In
general:
For BJT amplifiers, the current gain typically ranges from a level just less than 1 to a level that
may exceed 100.

Procedure
Step One: A circuit that looks like the figure below was set up using the corresponding values for the
components as follows, RS=390K, RB=82K, RC=250Ω, C1=C2=10µF and a decade resistor in place of RV.

Step Two: After having the circuit checked, V CC was set at 4V, RV was varied until a voltage of 3.5V was
recorded between emitter and collector and the collector current was 2mA.

Step Three: A function generator was connected at the input side supplying an AC signal of frequency
1KHz. The peak to peak voltage of the source was adjusted until an output of 0.2V was obtained. The
input voltage i.e. the voltage entering the transistor was measured. The same was done for e o=0.3V and
eo=0.4V.

Step Four: A circuit that looks like the figure below was again set up using the corresponding values of
the components as follows, RS=3.9K, R1=120K, R1=56K RL=3.9K, CE=220 µF, C2=10µF and a decade resistor
in place of RE.

Step Five: After having the circuit checked, V CC was set as 9V. The decade resistor on the emitter leg was
varied until the transistor was properly biased i.e. VCE=3.5 and IC=2mA.
Step Six: The DC potentials at the base emitter and collector leg were measured using the multimeter.

Step Seven: An AC signal of 1KHz was supplied don the input side and the voltage was varied. The
corresponding values of es, ei and eo were measured.

Step Eight: The output resistance and voltage of the amplifier circuit was measured by loading the
circuit first with RL=∞ and RL=3.9K.
 Result
Step Two
When the transistor was biased and was set at its operating point i.e. (V CE=3.5V, IC=2.0mA). RV was found
to be 570K.

Step Three
The amplification was observed by varying es,

es ei eo
0.75 0.2 20mV
1.25 0.3 30mV
1.5 0.4 40mV

Step Five
When the transistor was biased and was set at its operating point i.e. (V CE=3.5V, IC=2.0mA). RE was found
to be 1.04K.

Step Six
DC Potential
VB=2.48V VC=5.7V VE=1.65V

Step Seven
The amplification was observed by varying es,

es ei eo
40mV 7mV 1.6
100mV 19mV 3.6
200mV 40mV 5.6

Step Eight
 When the load was set at ∞,

Ro=2.1K
 When the load was set at 3.9K,

Ro=1.1K
Discussion and Conclusion