Lab 8 Report

BJT Amplifiers: Basic Configurations

Kevin Bradshaw & Yuan Tian
ECEN 325-503
Instructor: Sebastian Hoyos
October 28, 2015
Items
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Pre-lab
Title Page
Intro /Theory / Procedure
Summary
Experimental Results /
Analysis / Discussion
Problems Encountered
Conclusion
Questions
Total

Grade Assigned
20%
5%
10%
40%
5%
5%
15%
100%

Student's Grade

Objectives

Understand the characteristics of the BJT amplifier configurations.

Evaluate the signal performance of each configuration.
Analyze the operating point, input and output impedances, and the
gain of the common topologies.

Procedure
Part A
In this lab, the BJT transistor circuit (Figure 1) from the pre-lab was built with
the measured values in Table 1. The input voltage was set to 10 VDC and the
potentiometer was adjusted according to the voltage across Rc (Resistance at
the Collector terminal of the BJT) at approximately 5 Volts. Then the voltage
at Rb (Resistance at the Base terminal of the BJT) was measured. The
respective currents to these resistances were both calculated by using Ohm's
law with the values measured. Afterwards, the current-gain was calculated.
These calculations are also shown in Table 1. The potentiometer was then
adjusted to change the base current in small increments of 0.5 A. This was
done until the highest resistance on the potentiometer was achieved (1 M)
and is shown in Table 2 along with the collector voltage with each increment.
Figure 1: BJT Transistor Circuit

Afterwards, the circuit in Figure 2 was constructed using the resistor values
calculated in the pre-lab. The actual values measured are recorded in Table
3. The input for this circuit was a 10 kHz, 10 mV sinusoidal wave. The
frequency was swept to find the possible low and high -3 dB frequencies.
These are also recorded in Table 3.

Figure 2: Common-Emitter Configuration

Lastly, the circuit in Figure 3 was constructed using the resistor values
calculated in the pre-lab. This circuit had a 1 kHz, 100 mV sinusoidal wave as
the input. The input impedance, output impedance, and small signal gain
were measured and are recorded in Table 2.
Figure 3: Common-Collector Configuration

Part B
In this part of the lab, the Common-Emitter with the same values as before
was used along with a resistor divider applied to the input. This was done so
that the output wouldn't be distorted. Without this divider, the signal would
not be attenuated, causing considerable output distortion. The measured
values used for the resistor divider are recorded in Table 4. After placing the
proper connections to the proto board, a 10 kHz, 50 mV sinusoidal wave was
applied. The voltage following the divider was measured and recorded in
Table 4. Using the Dynamic Signal Analyzer and all the appropriate settings,
the distortion performance results were taken and can be seen in Figure 4.
Then, the input voltage was increased by 0.025 mV twice (so that it can
match thermal voltage) and these results can be seen in Figures 5 and 6.

Figure 4: Distortion Analysis, Vinput =

50 mV

Figure 5: Distortion Analysis, Vinput

= 75 mV

Figure 6: Distortion Analysis, Vinput =

100 mV

Data Tables
Table 1: Simple BJT Transistor Circuit
Configuration

Parameters

Value

Potentiometer
RB
Rc
Capacitor 1
Transistor 2N2222

1 M
1 M
5 k
10 nF

215.26

VDon
0.65 V

IB

4.608 10

IC

9.921 10

A
A

Table 2: Vc Responses to Small

Increments of IB

IB

VC

(A)

4.556
4.991
5.500
5.983
6.502
7.078
7.504
8.027
8.493
8.955
9.370

(V)

4.765
5.202
5.747
6.312
6.781
7.417
7.857
8.427
8.700
9.329
9.687
Table 3: Common-Collector Transistor
Configuration

Parameters

Values

RB 1

277.1 K

RB 2

67.35 K

RE

2.974 K

RC

2.973 K

Frequencies at -3dB(0.5 V)

High
1 MHZ

low
290 HZ

45819.2

Z out

0.9882

gm

0.065

Table 4: BJT Common-Emitter with Resistor Divider

Configuration

Parameters

Values

RB 1

271.1 K

RB 2

68.43 K

RE

2.969 K

RC

2.967 K

Vinput
Vi

50 mV
14.0661
mV

75 mV
21.106 mV

R1

389.5

R2

50.2

Applicable Calculations
r =

V TH
I BQ

gm=

I CQ
V TH

gce =

I CQ
1
=
V early r ce

ge =

I EQ 1
=
V TH r e

Z =

IC
IB

V AC
I AC

100 mV
28.1401
mV

Z out =

V AC
I AC

I B=

VB
RB

IC =

VC
RC

Discussion
1. Computing Forward Current Gain:
Using the measured values, the base current and the collector current
were calculated using Ohm's Law:
V
I B= B
RB
IC =

VC
RC

The forward current gain was then calculated using both of these
currents:
I
= C =2 15.27
IB
2. Small Signal Parameter Plots:
Figure 7: VC Vs.
IB

Figure 8: RBE
vs. IC

6000
5000
4000

Base emmiter Resistance () 3000

2000
1000
0

Collector Current (A)

Figure 9: gm vs.
IC
0.04
0.04
0.03
0.03

Transconductance () 0.02
0.02
0.01
0.01
0

Collector Current (A)

The measured value for IC was very similar to the Pspice simulation.
The graphs indicated above show the relationship between how the
similar collector currents affect the other parameters of the BJT
circuits.
3. Common-Emitter Configuration Parameters:
The input impedance and small signal voltage gain is recorded in Table
3. The -3 dB frequencies were found to be at approximately 290 Hz
and 1 MHz. The Pspice simulation frequencies were approximately at
100 Hz and 1 MHz, which shows that both the frequency responses
were rather accurate.
4. Common Emitter Configuration, Distortion Analysis:

The distortion analysis graphs we observed had a fair amount of noise

to them. They also had a higher amount of power that was expected.
This shows that the input signal should have been attenuated better
with different values for the resistor divider. By fixing the resistor
divider, the output would be much less distorted as well. As the input
voltage was increased, the base emitter voltage was increased in
comparison to the thermal voltage. This showed up on the distortion
analysis as a larger fundamental frequency power and eventually
saturation.

Problems Encountered
When we were sweeping our input voltage to change the base-emitter
voltage linearly, we couldn't get exact frequencies for our -3 dB parameters.
Also, the description for this lab seemed very vague and not very detailed.
We didn't have much information to compute most of the calculations and it
was very difficult to understand this material. More time on BJT's should have
been spent to fully comprehend the lab procedure.
Conclusion
The purpose of this lab was to understand the fundamental concepts and
characteristics of BJT circuits. We learned how to analyze two very important
BJT topologies. Each topology and configuration has different impedances
and gains with respect to the same component values being used. By using
DC and AC analysis tools, the BJT circuits were evaluated for impedances,
voltages, and gains. The Dynamic Signal Analysis showed us how much a
small change in the input voltage will distort the output and can actually
saturate it. These are very important concepts when dealing with control
systems from small circuits to high loads. BJT's can be used for a variety of
applications but must be carefully analyzed in separate models to ensure
proper load distribution.