A Linear Ramp Voltage Generator using Transistors

By S u m m a r y : A linear sweep voltage generator was

developed to give perfect linearity in the ramp. In
K. L. SHARMA, M.S. j this paper the various practical problems which were
faced during the experiment and important factors
which were responsible for the linearity of the sweep
voltage at high frequencies are discussed. A simple
practical circuit capable of giving a linear ramp even
at 0-200 ns delay time is presented. The voltage
dependence of both passive and active components in
achieving linearity are clearly brought out.

1. Introduction diverted into C; v and ro therefore rise, the

The principle in the generation of ramp diode D becomes non-conducting and if A = 1
voltage lies in charging and discharging a and Ri — co the current, i, is maintained
condenser by means of a switch. This principle constant by the feedback via Ci so that v and
is well illustrated in the basic bootstrap type v0 rise perfectly linearly. However, the output
of circuit shown in Fig. 1. The box represents waveform is exponential according to the
differential equation:
an amplifier of voltage gain of vjv — A — \-d,
an input resistance i?j and an output resistance dv,
i?o. It is assumed that Ro approaches zero
and that the feedback coupling condenser Ci is
so large that the voltage across it is effectively
constant. The circuit action is as follows: 2. Basic Sweep Circuit
Switch S is initially closed, so that i = VjR. A basic bootstrap circuit is shown in Fig. 2.
S is opened at / = 0, the current i being When the switch S is closed condenser C
t Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, discharges rapidly through the switch, and it
Pilani, India. recharges when the switch S is opened. The

Fig. 1 Basic bootstrap type sweep voltage waveform generator.

60 /_E_E. - l£Jl£. Proceedings — India

 A LINEAR RAMP VOLTAGE GENERATOR USING TRANSISTORS

o V,

Fig. 2 Basic bootstrap transistor type sweep circuit.

coupling condenser Ci is made large to have in time t is equal to itfC, where * is the
quick recovery when the sweep circuit is charging current. The non-linearity will occur
operated at the maximum repetition frequency
for the given values of Re and Ve. There may be • Vcc

slight delay in the commencement of the sweep

at the emitter of TV Such delays are over-
come by the use of a small resistor Rx in series
with C. The moment current * flows into C at
the beginning of the sweep process, the
potential drop, T7?X across i?x causes the base
of T! to fall suddenly, the emitter voltage
of Tj also falls. This causes a step in the
waveform shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 Two transistor sweep circuit.

3. Principle of Simple Sweep Circuit
In the above type of sweep voltage generator,
it was found that the initiation of sweep
voltage starts with an initial step, which is not
desirable in the circuits where accuracy in
delay is required. Another simple circuit
consisting of a transistor with its collector
connected to supply voltage Vcc via a capacitor
is illustrated in Fig. 3. If the current into
the base is constant, linear charging of the
capacitor will occur until the transistor
saturates. The capacitor can be discharged
in a similar way by connecting a second,
transistor across it. The voltage v developed
April-June 1970
if there is any shunt resistance across the
capacitor.
4. Practical Sweep Circuit
A simplified practical sweep circuit is shown
in Fig. 4. When the transistor T, is closed,
condenser C starts charging through i?p to
the voltage nearly equal to F c c the supply
voltage and it discharges through Tx when it is
open. The linearity of the charging capacitor
C depends upon the constant current supplied
by a constant current generator. This constant
current generator must supply sufficient
current to charge the capacitor C to a voltage
61
K. L. SHARMA
approximately equal to Fee But it is also
restricted by the maximum value of the
current, which will pass through the transistor
-Vcc
Rp
—©
Fig. 4 A simplified sweep circuit.
Tx when the capacitor C discharges, by its
maximum allowable current rating. The
variation in the time duration of sweep voltage
is achieved by varying the value of the
capacitor.
In the complete circuit diagram shown in
Fig. 5, transistor T 3 used in common-base
configuration, serves as a buffer stage between
astable multivibrator and sweep voltage
generator T4. It also supplies the necessary
base current for T 4 , even at the change of
repetition frequency ratio of 1:10. The Zener
diode ZDI connected across the resistor R2
permits the use of small value for i?i to ensure
a sufficiently large base current flow to T4.
Resistor 7?3 helps to reduce the power
dissipated in transistor T 3 . Similarly, resistor
R2 reduces the dissipation of the Zener diode,
so that the temperature stability of ZD1 is
maintained.
5. Analysis of the Circuit
In Fig. 5, when the transistor T 4 is not
conducting, its base must have a positive
potential, while T 3 conducts. The resistor
Rj must be so small that ibAR1 should be
less than IV. If IKi is the maximum collector
current of transistor T4, which is necessary
62
to discharge the capacitor C in a very short
time, the base current is given by :
j / \
IbA (.1.)= * - " " , 7 b U ) R i < l V (2)
P
Further,
2 F c o = (/KS + h) Ri + Vz + IAR4 (3)
and hR4 = Vcc - F b e 4 (4)
From equations (3) and (4) above we get
r Vcc -V2 + F b e 4 - / „ Rt
R* = (6)
(7)
Re
where FbC4 is chosen in such a way that when
T 3 is conducting the transistor T4 is not
conducting.
When T 3 is not conducting (by the nagative
impulse from the astable multivibrator) the
fall of the voltage on Ri is reduced from the
value of 7 K3 Ki. The base of T 4 becomes
negative and it starts conducting.
FbCi = - (/b4 + Jd) Ri - Vz (9)
6. Constant-current Generator
The constant-current generator, which has
replaced the resistor Rp. in Fig. 4, has the
relation with the transistor T 4 as Zia = Zp,
where Z , n is the impedance connected across
the capacitor. Another important feature
of the constant-current generator is that it
must supply sufficiently larger charging current
than that flowing in Zia. The potential divider
in the base circuit of it depends upon the
charging current amplitude and the charac-
teristics of transistor T 2 so as to give
maximum voltage on the capacitor C when the
transistor is saturated.
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 A LINEAR RAMP VOLTAGE GENERATOR USING TRANSISTORS

TO A 3 T A 6 U
M'JLTIVIBRATO?
-vcc

CONSTANT-CURRENT
GENERATOR

IK,
.3 - J l ! \*>

Fig. 5 A complete sweep voltage generator circuit.

In Fig. 5 the symbols have t h e following constant-current generator T 2 . But it was

meaning: observed that there was no linearity in ramp
minimum base current of transistor voltage at higher frequency. The factors
/b«(»ln)
responsible for the non-linearity of the ramp
T4 voltage are voltage and temperature dependent
maximum collector current of characteristic of the capacitor C, and the
transistor T 4
operating frequency range C.
minimum base current
•^b(mln) It was observed that the capacitance value
-Fee negative voltage of supply of a ceramic capacitor is voltage-dependent.
7K3 collector current of transistor T 3 A characteristic curve of voltage dependence
current flowing through resistor RA of such a capacitor is shown in Fig. 6.
The capacitance value decreases with the
Fb04 base-emitter voltage of transistor increase in applied voltage. So when the
ramp voltage increases from OV to F c c the
Fz voltage across t h e Zener diode capacitance value also reduces accordingly.
F b< , 3 base-emitter voltage of transistor The change in value results in the change
T3 of its charging time which in turn yields a
I 7
collector-emitter voltage of tran-
non-linear ramp. The other factors mentioned
ke3
sistor T 3 .
above are to be kept in mind while choosing
a capacitor. Some other types of capacitor
7. Results and Discussions
were also tried. Mica, paper type etc. are
more or less independent of voltage. The
T h e linearity of the r a m p voltage depends polystyrene film type capacitor, because of
upon t h e c o n s t a n t current supplied b y t h e its voltage independency, high insulation

April-June 1970 63
K. L. SHARMA
10000
7500
^ . - - » - ^ABOVE CURK POINT
5000
AT CURIE POINT
2S00 BELOW" CURIE POINT
50 100 150 200 2S030O350 400
APPLIED VOLTAGE
Fig. 6. Variation of capacitance against voltage
for a ceramic type capacitor.
resistance and extremely low dielectric absorp-
tion characteristic is selected in place of
ceramic type capacitors.
As explained above, the constant-current
generator also plays an important role in
producing linear sweep voltage. When the
transistor T 4 is cut-off, capacitor C starts
charging to Vc voltage by a charging current
J c supplied by the transistor T 2 . Since the
base of T 2 is atfixedbias, there is an appre-
ciable change in voltage at the base-collector
junction of T 2 . But the switching character-
istics of a transistor show that there is a
change in the depletion width of the transistor
with the applied voltage of the junction
transistor. This change in width changes the
current gain (<*) of transistor. Hence, such a
large variation of junction voltage (almost
from 0 to Vo) will change the current gain
of the transistor T 2 , i.e. Ie the charging
current can never remain constant under
such circumstances. So, in order to obtain
constant charging current, 7O, for a perfect
linear ramp, a high-frequency transistor where
the depletion region is of small width and is
less dependent on junction voltage variation,
is needed. High-frequency silicon transistors
are suitable for this purpose. Thefinaloutput
sweep waveform is shown in Fig. 7.
8. Acknowledgment
The author wishes to record his thanks to
Professor Dr. Stanko Turk of the Faculty of
Manuscript first received by tht I.B.R.E. on 22nd December 1969 and in the final form on 29th Janary 1970.
64
Fig. 7. Oscillogram showing output ramp voltage
for circuit of Fig. 5.
Electrical Engineering, University of Zagreb,
Yugoslavia, for his help and guidance in the
development of this work. This work was
carried out at the Faculty of Electrical
Engineering, Zagreb, Yugoslavia. The author
also wishes to thank Dr. B. S. Rao, Assistant
Director, Central Electronics Engineering
Research Institute, Pilani, for his help and
guidance in giving the final shape to this
article.
9. References
1. Philips, A., 'Transistor Engineering'
(McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962).
2. Millman, J. and Taub, H., ' Pulse Digital
and Switching Waveforms * (McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1965).
3. Ljubek, B. , ' Generator Ritma Diplomski
Rad', Thesis for Bachelor's degree in
Electronic Engineering, University of
Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 1966.
4. Riddle, C, 'Time-amplitude and amplitude-
time converters using linear ramps',
Electronic Engineering, 39, pp. 600-603,
October 1967.
5. Dummer, G. W. A., 'Fixed Capacitors',
Vol. 3 (Pitman, London, 1956).
6. Nambiar, K. P. P. and Boothroyd, A. R.,
'Junction transistor bootstrap linear sweep
circuits', Proc. Instn Elect. Engrs, 104,
pp. 293-306, January 1967.
I.EJS. - IM.R£. Proceedings — India