Lab 3 Report – Group D1

INTRODUCTION: and the output Current is IC. Since IE = IC + IB. We

know α = IC/IE. IE is greater than IC the current gain(α)
1. Implement a circuit to obtain the in Common base is less than one. This configuration
common-base characteristics of NPN in not very suitable for low frequency circuits as
BJT. normally a high input impedance and low output
2. Determine the value of both large signal impedance is desirable. Some Characteristics of
and small signal common base current common collector is shown below in Table 1
gain. Explain the early effect and
determine the early voltage. Table 1: Common Base Characteristics
3. Implement a circuit to obtain the
common emitter current gain. CHARACTERIS
PARAMETER
4. Determine the value of both large signal TICS
and small signal common emitter current Voltage gain High
gain. Current gain Low
Power gain Low
THEORY:
Input / Output phase
0°
Bipolar Junction Transistor: As its name suggests relationship
its operation involves conduction by two types of Input resistance Low
carriers i.e. electrons and holes. There are two types of Output resistance High
BJTs, npn and pnp. It is a three terminal device which
is used widely in modern times. Based on junction
biasing a BJT can operate in 3 modes, if both junctions Common Emitter: It is called common-emitter
are in forward biasing it is said to be operating in configuration because the emitter terminal of the BJT
saturation mode, if one is forward biased and the other is a common connection point in the circuit and is
is reverse biased then it is said to be in active mode grounded. (See Fig 1).
and if both junctions are reverse biased it is operating
in cut-off mode.

Figure 3: Common Emitter as Amplifier

Figure 1: NPN and PNP BJT In Common emitter configuration the input current is
IB and the output current is IC. The common emitter
A BJT can be used in 3 types of configuration: current gain β = IC/IB. Hence the current gain(β) is very
high. The input resistor is used to limit the current
1. Common Base
flowing into the base, and the collector resistor is used
2. Common Collector
to develop that voltage at the output. There is a phase
3. Common Emitter
inversion. Some characteristics of common emitter
Common Base: It is called the common-base configuration are given below.
configuration because the base terminal of the BJT is
Table 2: Common Emitter Characteristics
a common connection point in the circuit and is
grounded. (See Fig 2)
PARAMETER CHARACTERISTICS
Current gain High
Voltage gain Zero
Power gain Medium
Figure 2 : Common Base Circuit Input / Output phase
0°
relationship
In common base configuration the input current is IE Input resistance High
Lab 3 Report – Group D1

Output resistance Low Figure 6: Small Signal for PNP

Early Effect: When plotting the output characteristics

of a common base or common emitter configuration
the graph is expected to become parallel to x-axis in
active mode that is changing VCE should not change IC.
But practically it is noted that the plot has a slight
slope. This inclination is the explained by James Early
in his early effect. current-voltage behavior of the circuit both
mathematically and theoretically. This approximation
As per this theory as VCE increases the effective base is called as a small signal model of the circuit or
width decreases which further results in things component and its equivalent.

1. Lesser chance of recombination in Base Large Signal Analysis/Modelling: It is a very

region. common method for analyzing non-linear circuits. In
2. Increased charge gradient in base and this we compare the large AC signals to DC voltages
consequently increase in injection to approximate the current-voltage behavior of the
current. circuit both mathematically and theoretically around
its operating point. This approximation is called as a
Though both the above stated factors increase the IE large signal model of the circuit or component and its
only the 2nd one is known as the early effect. For equivalent.

Figure 4: Early effect

calculation purposes we extrapolate the tangents to the
characteristics at large voltages to produce an x-
intercept and call it Early voltage. This Calculated
Voltage finds many applications in signal analysis for
precision and calculations.

Signal Analysis: Signal analysis is a major area in Figure 7: Large signal Model for BJT
electronics and communication engineering. There are
many ways to analyze signals out of which two most PROCEDURE:
common are small signal and large signal analysis. 1. Set-up the circuit as shown in figure 8.
Small Signal Analysis/Modelling: It is a very
common method for analyzing non-linear circuits, It is
based on perturbation theory. In this we compare the
small AC signals to DC voltages to approximate the

Figure 8: Step 1

2. Keeping IE constant measure IC varying VCE.

Figure 5: Small signal model for NPN Note the value of IE.
Lab 3 Report – Group D1

3. Repeat Step-2 for different 3 different IE’s. b. Output Characteristics of BJT in

4. For at least 2 Large signals calculate common common-base configuration:
base Current gain (α), α = IC/IE. (i) VBB = 2.4 V IE = 1.8 mA
5. For small signal calculate current gain (α)
𝑰𝑪𝟐 𝑰𝑪𝟏 VCC (V) VBC (V) IC (mA)
𝛂= 1 0.719 0.27
𝑰𝑬𝟐 𝑰𝑬𝟏
6. Keeping IE fixed and IC = 0 calculate VCB. 2 0.717 0.26
VCB = Early Voltage. 3 0.714 0.36
7. Calculate Early Voltage for 2 more IE’s. 4 0.714 0.48
8. Set-up the circuit as shown in figure 9. 5 0.715 0.58
6 0.715 0.64
7 0.701 0.74
8 0.690 1.05
10 0.693 1.28
12 0.698 1.47

(ii) VBB = 1.6 V IE = 0.97 mA

Figure 9: Step 8
VCC (V) VBC (V) IC (mA)
9. Keeping IB constant measure IC varying VCE. 1 0.690 0.19
Note the value of IB. 2 0.687 0.26
10. Repeat Step-2 for different 2 different IB’s. 3 0.684 0.36
11. For at least 2 Large signals calculate common 4 0.682 0.45
base Current gain (β), β = IC/IE. 5 0.676 0.58
12. For small signal calculate current gain (β) 6 0.671 0.67
𝑰𝑪𝟐 𝑰𝑪𝟏
𝛃= 7 0.661 0.78
𝑰𝑩𝟐 𝑰𝑩𝟏
8 0.645 0.84
OBSERVATION: 10 0.638 0.97
12 0.631 0.99
1. Common Base
a. INPUT CHARACTERISTICS
From above observations we got α = 0.97.
VEE(V) IE (mA) VBE(V)
2. Common Emitter
0.0 0.00 0.000 a. INPUT CHARACTERISTICSVCC=5V
0.5 0.00 0.491 VBE (V) IB (mA)
1.0 0.29 0.614 0 0
1.5 0.85 0.632 0.5 0
2.0 1.28 0.640 1.0 0.1
2.5 1.90 0.649 1.5 0.23
3.0 2.35 0.667 2.0 0.40
3.5 2.74 0.700 2.5 0.52
4.0 3.27 0.718 3.0 0.67
4.5 3.78 0.734 3.5 0.84
5.0 4.31 0.743 4.0 0.97
Lab 3 Report – Group D1

4.5 1.13

5.0 1.27

b. Output Characteristics of BJT in

common emitter configuration:
(i) VBB = 5 V IB = 19.7µA

VCC (V) VCE (V) IC (mA)

5 0.091 1.47
6 0.098 1.78
8 0.115 2.39
10 0.122 2.98 Figure 10: Common Base Output Characteristic
14 0.149 4.18
18 0.193 5.40
20 0.267 5.99
22 1.33 6.27
25 3.75 6.44
26 3.81 6.75
27 4.66 6.77
28 5.51 6.83
29 6.33 6.88
30 7.37 6.89

(ii) VBB = 5.5 V IB = 22.1 µA

VCC (V) VCE (V) IC (mA) Figure 11: Common Emitter Output Characteristics
5 0.086 1.48
6 0.093 1.78 CONCLUSION: By this experiment we got to know
8 0.105 2.38 about the common Emitter and Common Base input
10 0.117 2.98 and output characteristics.
14 0.147 4.12
18 0.178 5.45 REFERENCE:
20 0.207 6.04
 http://en.wikipedia.org/
22 0.284 6.60
25 1.821 7.05  https://www.allaboutcircuits.com
26 2.530 7.12  https://google.com
27 3.254 7.23
28 4.003 7.31
29 4.88 7.39
30 5.47 7.47

From the above observations we got βAC = 282 and

βDC = 343 .