1VCE Physics 12: The transistor amplifier

[Revised Apr 2005. Note to teachers you could delete blue answers to make worksheet

!he circuit shown is a typical transistor ampli"ier circuit. #i$nal volta$es at %in are ampli"ied by &transistor action' (see the te)t* and appear at %out. +ere we look at the various parts o" this circuit in turn. Vcc is the supply voltage', that is, the volta$e supplied by a battery, or by a &power supply' circuit in the device bein$ considered. -t needs to be a constant ./ supply with little or no ripple (this is achieved by diodes and a capacitor as discussed earlier*. %cc is usually "i)ed somewhere between 5 and 15 volts. Note that the lower line in dia$rams such as this is assumed to be connected to &earth' and there"ore at 0 %. !he transistor itsel" is e)plained in the te)t, but the basic idea is that small currents (-b around 10 :A* $oin$ into the base (b* have a lar$e e""ect on the current - c and -e (a "ew mA* "lowin$ throu$h the collector and emitter connections. -c and -e and almost the same, -e bein$ 0ust a little more because -e 1 -c 2 -b. !he aim is to have the transistor &hal" on', that is, arran$e the base current so that the transistor is hal" way between bein$ turned o"" because %b is too low (less than about 0.3 %* and "ully on because %b is too hi$h ($reater than about 0.4 %* #ilicon transistors are in this state when the base voltage is about 0. V. !hen small increases in %b (and hence -b* will cause -c to increase considerably, while decreases will cause -c to decrease. #ettin$ %b correctly to about 0.5 % is called &biasin$' the transistor. -n this circuit it is achieved by the &volta$e divider' made up o" R1 and R2. !he resistors !1 an" !2 are a volta$e divider which sets the &bias volta$e', % b "or the base o" the transistor. (Resistors can be represented by bo)es like these or by 6i$76a$ lines as in the te)t.* -n this conte)t the volta$e divider e8uation becomes9 %b 1 %cc R2:(R1 2 R2*. -t can also be convenient to e)press this as either9 R2 1 R1 %b:(%cc %b* or R1 1 R2 (%cc %b*:%b [!his can be seen as simply the ratio o" the ;%'s 1 R ratios -t is important to remember that the current throu$h these resistors should be much $reater than - b so that -b does not itsel" a""ect the bias volta$e. (Remember that - b is very small so this is not a problem.* !ypical values "or the resistors would be a "ew k, with R2 bein$ several times $reater than R1 (as %b needs to be less than 1 %*. !his means that the current throu$h the resistors would typically be around % cc:Rtot . 10 %:10 k . 1 mA, compared to -b which will be a "ew microamps. #ometimes the current throu$h the transistor (-c* is used to drive an output (such as a loudspeaker*, but usually the desired output is a varyin$ ampli"ied output voltage. !his is where the collector resistor !c (sometimes called a load resistor* comes into the scene. As the current throu$h it chan$es, so does the volta$e across it. !he volta$e at the top is always %cc which is the supply volta$e. !hus the volta$e at the bottom, which is % c, is less than %cc by the drop across Rc, or9 %c 1 %cc -cRc. <hen the transistor is "ully &turned on', that is %b (and hence -b* are high, the collector current, -c is hi$h and so %c will be lo#. =or this reason this sort o" ampli"ier is called an inverting ampli"ier input % $oes up, output % $oes down. >ut remember that small increases in %in lead to lar$e decreases in %out hence the si$nal is amplifie". As e)plained previously, the capacitors Cin an" Cout are to allow the si$nal (chan$in$, or A/* volta$e throu$h without allowin$ any steady (./* component o" the volta$e throu$h. /in allows the small rapidly chan$in$ input volta$es ("rom a microphone or other ampli"ier sta$e etc.* to chan$e % b up and down, but only around the steady bias volta$e already determined by R 1 and R2. Note that these chan$es will typically be measured in a small number o" millivolts, they are not lar$e chan$es. At most, the si$nal volta$e will only be chan$in$ % b between about 0.3 and 0.4 volts. /2 per"orms a similar "unction at the output. -", "or e)ample, the output (% c* was connected directly to a loudspeaker, a steady current would "low "rom the supply throu$h R c and the speaker. !his current would both upset the level o" %c as well as wastin$ power by sendin$ a useless current throu$h the speaker (and possibly dama$in$ it*. /apacitor /out blocks the steady current but lets throu$h the chan$in$ si$nal volta$e to drive the speaker. !he remainin$ resistor an" capacitor in the emitter lead o" the transistor are used to reduce the volta$e $ain o" the circuit. !hey are not always used, but have the e""ect o" makin$ the circuit more stable. R e would be a

relatively small value, perhaps a "ew hundred ohm. <ith about 1 mA "lowin$ throu$h it there would only be less than 1 % across it. !he actual %be volta$e which controls the current "low in the transistor is % b %e . Now as %be increases, and the -c current there"ore increases, so does %e . !his has the e""ect o" somewhat decreasin$ %be and thus reducin$ the increase in -c . !his may seem a little counter productive, but in "act it has the e""ect o" makin$ the circuit more stable. =or e)ample, i" the transistor $ets hot, the current will increase because electrons are &released' "rom their bonds by the heat. !hus the volta$e across R e will increase, but this has the e""ect o" decreasin$ the %be (base7emitter volta$e* and thus reducin$ the current. !his is an e)ample o" &ne$ative "eedback', a techni8ue used "re8uently in electronics to ensure stability o" ampli"yin$ circuits. (A similar situation applies when usin$ a microphone near a loudspeaker. -" the $ain is too hi$h, positive "eedback can make a horrible howl. !he same sort o" thin$ can occur in a circuit with too much volta$e $ain.* Putting numbers into it <hen workin$ with actual values in circuits like these you should always work in milliamps an" $ilohms as the currents and resistors in these circuits are mostly in these ran$es. -t is use"ul to note that i" you use % 1 -R with - in mA and R in k, the volta$e will be in volts. !his is because 1 mA 1 k 1 0.001 A 1000 1 1 %, that is, the milli's cancel the kilo's. Remember to e)press resistors such as 200 as 0.2 k and currents such as 10 :A as 0.01 mA however. !he actual gain o" the transistor is e)pressed as a or a current $ain9 or volta$e $ain9 (lower case v represents changing volta$es* A- 1 -c:-b A% 1 )%out:)%in or 1 vout:vin

!he current $ain is typically 100 or more, that is, a current o", say, 10 :A in the base will produce an -c o" 1 mA. (Note that 6ero current in the base results in virtually 6ero - c.* !he volta$e $ain depends on the actual values o" the various resistors, but "or our purposes it can normally be appro)imated to A% 1 Rc:Re (.on't ask why this is the case, it is 0ust one o" those &rules o" thumb'.* As e)plained in the te)t, there are some &rules o" thumb' which desi$ners use "or circuits like this. !hey are9 1. %c should be about ?%cc. (#o that %c can move up and down around the normal value.* 2. %e should be about 1:10th o" %cc, (that is, usually about 1 %* (!his makes the circuit more stable.* @. R2 should be about but not more than 10 Re. (#o that the current in the divider is considerably $reater than - b.* Aet's say that we have a transistor with a current $ain o" 200 which operates at a typical &midway' current o" - c 1 5 mA. <e will work out suitable values "or the various resistors "or a power supply volta$e (% cc* o" 12 %. =irst, let's determine a suitable load resistor (Rc*. !his needs to be such that the output volta$e is around 5 % "or our operatin$ current o" 5 mA9 That is, )VRc = 12 - 7 = 5 and so Rc = 5/5 = 1.0 k !o "ind Re we "irst need to determine %e 7 now %e should be about 1.2 % "rom the &thumb' rule. #o As Ie = 5 mA we need Re = 1.2/5 = 0.24 k = 240 !o "ind R1 and R2 we need to ensure that the current runnin$ throu$h them is considerably more than the base current. <hat will be the normal base current in this transistorB I = Ic/200 = 5/200 = 0.025 mA = 25 :A Cse thumb rule @ to pick a value "or R2 9 R2 = 10 Re = 2.4 k Now "ind the appropriate value "or R1 9 R1 = R2 !Vcc " V #/V and V needs to e Ve $ 0.7 = 1.2 $ 0.7 = 1.% V &o R1 = 2.4 !12 " 1.%#/1.% = 12.' k <hat is the current throu$h the divider and is it suitableB I( = Vcc/Rtot = 12/!2.4 $ 12.'# = 0.7% mA = 7%0 :A which is a )ot mo*e than the 25 :A in I and so is s+ita )e. <hat is the appro)imate volta$e $ain "or this ampli"ierB And what output volta$e would a 20 m% si$nal produceB AV = )Vo+t/)Vin = "Rc/Re = "1 /0.24 = " 4.2 and so i, -in = 20mV, -o+t = '4mV

D> April 2005