BJT AC Analysis

Topic 5 (Chapter 5)
 AC Amplification
• After a transistor has been biased with the Q point near
the middle of the load line, we can couple a small ac
voltage into the base.
– This will produce an ac collector voltage.
– The ac collector voltage looks like the ac base
voltage, except that it's a lot bigger.
• In other words, the ac collector voltage is an amplified
version of the ac base voltage.

• The invention of amplifying devices, first vacuum tubes

and later transistors, was crucial to the evolution of
electronics.
– Without amplification, there would be no radio, no
television, and no computers.
 BJT amplifier biased at a point Q
• A small signal
voltage vbe is
applied
• The output signal
vce appears
superimposed on
the dc collector
voltage VCE

• The amplitude of vce is larger than that of vbe by the

voltage gain Av
 Base-biased amplifier

• AC input is applied into base

• Coupling capacitors are used to block DC
– The reactance of a coupling capacitor is small for
AC signal
• Amplified and inverted output at the
collector
• AC output coupled to the load
 A base-biased amplifier with capacitive coupling
+30 V
Coupling
capacitors
are used
5 kW + 15.35 V
to block 1 MW 0

DC
0 bdc = 100
+0.7 V 100 kW
100 mV

DC analysis gives: IB = 29.3 mA, IC = 2.93 mA and VC = 15.35 V

 IB

29.3 mA Base current

Current Waveforms t
IC

2.93 mA Collector current

t
VC

15.35 V Collector voltage

t
 The coupling capacitor
XC

R R R

Good coupling: SHORT OPEN

XC < 0.1 R

1. For ac analysis, the capacitor is a short.

2. For dc analysis, the capacitor is open.
 VDB Amplifier
• Dc voltages and currents are calculated
mentally by opening capacitors
• The ac signal is coupled via a coupling
capacitor
• The bypass capacitor causes an ac signal
to appear across the base-emitter
junction and provides higher gain
 VDB Amplifier
+10 V Coupling Capacitors

3.6 kW +6.04 V
10 kW
0
+1.8 V

0 100 kW
+1.1 V

100 mV 2.2 kW 1 kW
Bypass Capacitor
 Distortion
• The stretching and compressing of
alternate half cycles
• Undesirable in high-fidelity amplifiers
• Can be minimized by keeping the ac
input small
 IE

VBE

Input signal

Large-signal operation produces distortion

 The 10 percent rule
• Total emitter current consists of dc and
ac
• To minimize distortion, ie must be small
compared to IEQ
• The ac signal is small when the peak-to-
peak ac emitter current is less than 10
percent of the dc emitter current
 IE

ie

IEQ = 10 mA

Less than
1 mA
VBE

Total emitter current: IE = IEQ + ie

Small-signal operation: ie(PP) < 0.1IEQ
 The dc current gain is given as:

IC
bdc =
IB

The ac current gain is given as:

ic
bac =
ib

Use CAPITAL letters for dc quantities

and lowercase letters for ac.
 IE

VBE

The size of the ac emitter current depends on the Q point.

 Total emitter current: IE = IEQ + ie

Total base-emitter voltage: VBE = VBEQ + vbe

The ac resistance of the emitter diode is defined as:

vbe
re’ =
ie
The ac resistance of the emitter diode decreases
when the dc emitter current increases
 Ac resistance of the emitter diode

• Equals the ac base-emitter voltage

divided by the ac emitter current
• The prime (’) in re’ indicates that the
resistance is inside the transistor
 vbe IE
re’ =
ie

Larger ie

Smaller ie

VBE

Note that re’ varies with the operating point.

This implies that re’ is a function of the dc emitter current.
Formula for ac emitter resistance
Derived by using solid-state physics
and calculus:

26 mV
re’ =
IE

Widely used in industry because of its

simplicity and it applies to almost all
commercial transistors
BJT TRANSISTOR MODELING
Transistor Circuit

AC Equivalent Circuit:
After the removal of the
dc supply and insertion
of the short-circuit
equivalent for the
capacitors.
Redrawn for small-signal ac analysis
 Transistor models
• Ac equivalent circuit for a transistor
• Simulates how a transistor behaves when
an ac signal is present
• There are two models commonly used in
small signal AC analysis of a transistor:
• re model
– Ebers-Moll (T model) and p type models are widely
used

• Hybrid equivalent model (h parameter

model)
The re Transistor Model
(The Input Equivalent Circuit)
The re Transistor Model
(The BJT Equivalent Circuit – T Model)
 The T model of a transistor:
vbe = iere’
ic
vbe
zin(base) =
ib
zin(base)
iere’
= ib
ib re’
= (b+1)re’
ie
≈ b r e’
 The p model of a transistor
is based on zin(base) = bre’ :
ib
zin(base)
bre’ Ic=bib

ie

Clearly shows the input impedance of bre’ will load the ac

voltage source driving the base
Overview of re Transistor Models
(T and p Model)

T Model

p Model
 Early voltage and modeling the
output impedance
• In practical transistors, collector
current depends on collector voltage
• Intersection is called the Early voltage
• Discovered by James M. Early in 1952

If Early
voltage is not
available,
re model including effects of ro
 Reasons for Slight Upward Slope of
Collector Curves

• CB depletion layer widens with

increasing VCE
– Narrows the base
– Fewer holes available for recombination
• Results in smaller IB and higher IC
 +VCC
p model of
the VDB R1 RC
common-
emitter RL vout
amplifier vin
R2 RE

ib

vin R1 R2 bre’ ic RC RL vout

This model best illustrates that zin(stage) = R1 R2 bre’

 Amplifier analysis
• Perform a complete dc analysis
• Mentally short all coupling and bypass
capacitors for ac signals
• Visualize all dc supply voltages as ac
grounds
• Replace the transistor by its p or T model
• Draw the ac equivalent circuit
Common-Emitter
Fixed-Bias
Configuration
AC equivalent

re,model
Common-Emitter
Fixed-Bias
Calculations
Zi  RB||β| e
Input
impedance: Zi  βre RE 10βre
Io βRB ro
Ai  
Current gain: Ii (ro + RC )(RB + βre )
Zo  RC||rO
Output Ai  β ro 10RC , RB 10βre
impedance: Zo  RC ro 10RC

Vo (R ||r )
Av   C o
Vi re Zi
Voltage gain: Current gain Ai   AV
R from voltage gain: RC
Av   C ro 10RC
re
Common-Emitter Voltage-Divider Bias

re model requires you to

determine b, re, and ro.
 Current gain
Common-Emitter Io bRro
Ai  
Voltage-Divider Bias Ii (ro + RC )(R + bre )
I bR 
Ai  o  r 10R
Input impedance Ii R + bre o C
R  R1 || R2 Voltage gain I
Ai  o  b ro 10RC , R10bre
Zi  R || βre Ii
Vo  RC || ro
Av  
Vi re Current gain from Av
Output impedance V R
Av  o   C ro 10RC Ai  Av
Zi
Zo  RC || ro Vi re
RC
Zo  RC ro 10RC
To get more gain, a cascaded amplifier can be used.

Stage 1 Stage 2
AV1 AV2

vin RL vout
zin(stage 2)

The overall voltage gain: AV = AV1AV2

• The output of one amplifier is the input to the next amplifier

• The DC bias circuits are isolated from each other by the
coupling capacitors
 R-C Coupled BJT Amplifiers

Voltage gain:
RC || R1 || R2 || bRe
Av 1 
re
R
Av 2  C
re
Av  Av 1Av 2

Input impedance,
first stage:

Output impedance,
Zi  R1 || R2 || bRe second stage: Zo  RC
 Ac equivalent circuit for the two-stage amplifier

Rg
zin(stage 2)

RC RL
zin(stage 1) ic RC ic
vg

The 2nd stage loads the 1st stage:

Rc1 = RC ║ Zin (stage 2)
 The Hybrid p Model

The hybrid pi model is most useful for analysis

of high-frequency transistor applications.
At lower frequencies the hybrid pi model closely
approximate the re parameters, and can be
replaced by them.
 The Hybrid Equivalent Model
Hybrid parameters are developed and used for modeling the
transistor. These parameters can be found on a transistor’s
specification sheet:
hi = input resistance
hr = reverse transfer voltage ratio (Vi/Vo)  0
hf = forward transfer current ratio (Io/Ii)
ho = output conductance