Almughtaribeen University

ALMUGHTARIBEEN UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering

Analog Electronic Circuits I

Lecture 7

Frequency Response of BJT

Amplifiers
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 Lecture Outline
❑ Introduction
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❑ Linear Mode Operation

❑ Amplifiers Frequency Response
❑ Low Frequency Response
❑ High Frequency Response
❑ Practice Problems

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 Introduction
❑ According to frequency capabilities, Amplifiers are classified as Audio
Frequency amplifiers , Radio Frequency amplifiers.
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✓ AF Amplifiers are used to amplify the signals lying in the audio range ( i.e.
20 Hz to 20 kHz )
✓ RF amplifiers are used to amplify signals having very high frequency.
❑ According to use
✓ Voltage amplifiers Amplify the input voltage, if possible with minimal current at
the output. The power gain of the voltage amplifier is low. The main application is
to strengthen the signal to make it less affected by noise and attenuation. Ideal
voltage amp. have infinite input impedance & zero output impedance.
✓ Power amplifiers Amplify the input power, if possible with minimal change in
the output voltage. Power amp. are used in devices which require a large power
across the loads. In multi stage amplifiers, power amplification is made in the
final stages:
▪ Audio amplifiers and RF amplifiers use it to deliver sufficient power the
load.
▪ Servo motor controllers use power it to drive the motors.

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 Operation of linear amplifier
❑ A linear amplifier provides amplification of a signal without
any distortion → output signal is an exact amplified replica
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of the input signal.

ac source of
internal resistance
Rs coupled to the
base through C1

Load
➢ The coupling capacitors block dc and resistance RL
thus prevent Rs and RL from changing the coupled to
dc bias voltages at the base and collector. the collector
through C2
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 Operation of linear amplifier
AC Load Line
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❑ Operation of the linear

amplifier can be
illustrated using an ac
load line as shown.

❑ The ac load line is different than the dc load line because a

capacitor looks open to dc but effectively acts as a short to ac
→ the collector resistor RC appears to be in parallel with the
load resistor RL.
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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
❑ frequency response of an amplifier is the change in gain or
phase shift over a specified range of input signal frequencies
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❑ In amplifiers, the coupling and bypass capacitors appear to

be shorts to ac at the mid-band frequencies. At low
frequencies the capacitive reactance, XC, of these capacitors
affect the gain and phase shift of signals, so they must be
taken into account.

At lower f (10Hz for example) the XC is higher, and it

decreases as f increases

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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
❑ The frequency response of an amplifier refers to the frequency
range in which the amplifier will operate with negligible effects
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from capacitors and device internal capacitance. This range of

frequencies can be called the mid-range.
❑ At frequencies above and below the midrange, capacitance and
any inductance will affect the gain of the amplifier.
❑ At low frequencies the coupling and bypass capacitors lower
the gain.
❑ At high frequencies stray capacitances associated with the
active device lower the gain.
❑ Also, cascading amplifiers limits the gain at high and low
frequencies.

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ALMUGHTARIBEEN UNIVERSITY
Amplifiers Frequency Response

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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
At Low frequencies (below 50 Hz)
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❑ The capacitive reactance is inversely proportional to the

frequency. At low frequencies, the reactance is quite high. The
reactance of input capacitor Cin and the coupling capacitor
CC are so high that only small part of the input signal is
allowed.
❑ The reactance of the emitter by pass capacitor CE is also very
high during low frequencies. Hence it cannot shunt the emitter
resistance effectively. With all these factors, the voltage gain
rolls off at low frequencies.

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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
At High frequencies (above 20 KHz)
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❑ Again considering the same point, we know that the capacitive

reactance is low at high frequencies. So, a capacitor behaves as
a short circuit, at high frequencies.
❑ As a result of this, the loading effect of the next stage increases,
which reduces the voltage gain. Along with this, as the
capacitance of emitter diode decreases, it increases the base
current of the transistor due to which the current gain (β)
reduces. Hence the voltage gain rolls off at high frequencies.

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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
At Mid-frequencies (50 Hz to 20 KHz)
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❑ The voltage gain of the capacitors is maintained constant in this

range of frequencies, as shown in figure. If the frequency
increases, the reactance of the capacitor CC decreases which
tends to increase the gain.
❑ But this lower capacitance reactive increases the loading effect
of the next stage by which there is a reduction in gain.
❑ Due to these two factors, the gain is maintained constant

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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
❑ The bandwidth of the circuit is found as the difference
between the cutoff frequencies. By formula:
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𝐵𝑊 = 𝑓𝐶2 − 𝑓𝐶1
❑ The geometric center frequency (f0) of an amplifier is the
geometric average of the cutoff frequencies, found as

𝑓0 = 𝑓𝐶1 𝑓𝐶2
❑ Power gain is maximum when an amplifier is operated at its
geometric center frequency. As frequency varies above (or
below) f0, the power gain decreases slightly. By the time one
(or the other) cutoff frequency is reached, power gain has
dropped to half its mid-band value.

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 Amplifiers Frequency Response
Bode Plot
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ALMUGHTARIBEEN UNIVERSITY Low Frequency Response – FET Amplifier

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ALMUGHTARIBEEN UNIVERSITY Low Frequency Response – FET Amplifier

Cutoff frequency

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ALMUGHTARIBEEN UNIVERSITY Low Frequency Response – FET Amplifier

Cutoff frequency

g 𝑚 is transconductance
in milli Semense

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ALMUGHTARIBEEN UNIVERSITY Low Frequency Response – FET Amplifier

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 Low Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
Example 7-1
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Determine the cutoff frequencies for the network of below figure, using the
following parameters : CS = 10µf , CE = 20µf , CC = 1µf , R1 = 40kΩ , R2 =
10kΩ , RE = 2kΩ , RC = 4kΩ , RL = 2.2kΩ , β = 100 , VCC = 20v , ro = ∞Ω ?

Solution
The dc base voltage is determined by
𝑅2 𝑉𝑐𝑐 10𝑘Ω 20𝑣 200𝑣
𝑉𝐵 = = = = 4𝑣
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 10𝑘Ω + 40𝑘Ω 50

𝑉𝐸 4𝑣 − 0.7𝑣 3.3𝑣
𝐼𝐸 = = = = 1.65𝑚𝐴
𝑅𝐸 2𝑘Ω 2𝑘Ω

26𝑚𝑉
𝑟𝑒 = ≅ 15.76Ω
1.65𝑚𝐴

𝛽𝑟𝑒 = 100 15.76Ω = 1576Ω = 1.576𝑘Ω

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 Low Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
Example 8-1
The Midband Gain of the system is determined by:
𝑉𝑜 −𝑅𝑐 ‖𝑅𝐿 (4𝑘Ω)‖(2.2𝑘Ω)
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𝐴𝑣 = = =− =≅ −90
𝑉𝑖 𝑟𝑒 15.76Ω
For Cs
𝑅𝑖 = 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝛽𝑟𝑒 = 40𝑘Ω 10𝑘Ω 1.576𝑘Ω ≅ 1.32𝑘Ω
1 1
𝑓𝐿𝑆 = = ≅ 12.06 H𝑧
2𝜋𝑅𝑖 𝐶𝑠 6.28 1.32𝑘Ω 10𝜇𝑓
1
1
𝑓𝐿𝑐 = , 𝑅𝑜 = 𝑅𝑐 ‖𝑟𝑜 ≅ 𝑅𝑐 = ≅ 25.68 H𝑧
2𝜋 𝑅𝑜 +𝑅𝐿 𝐶𝑐 6.28 4𝑘Ω + 2.2𝑘Ω 1𝜇𝑓
For CE
𝑅1 ‖𝑅2 40𝑘Ω‖10𝑘Ω
𝑅𝑒 = 𝑅𝐸 ‖ + 𝑟𝑒 = 2𝑘Ω‖ + 15.76Ω = 91.38Ω
𝛽 100
1 1
𝑓𝐿𝐸 = = ≅ 87.13 H𝑧
2𝜋𝑅𝑒 𝐶𝐸 6.28 91.38Ω 20𝜇𝑓

Since fLE >> fLC or fLS the bypass capacitor CE is determining the lower cutoff
frequency of the amplifier.

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 High Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
❑ Capacitances that will affect the high-frequency response:
✓Cgs, Cgd, Cds – junction capacitances
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✓Cwi, Cwo – wiring capacitances

✓CG, CC – coupling capacitors
✓CS – bypass capacitor

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 High Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
For the input network
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 High Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
For the output network
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 High Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
Example 7-2
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Determine the high-cutoff frequencies for the network of fig.5. using the
following parameters : CS = 2µf , CG = 0.01µf , CC = 0.5µf , RSig = 10kΩ,
RG = 1MΩ , RD = 4.7kΩ , RS = 1kΩ , RL = 2.2kΩ , IDSS = 8mA , Vd = -4v ,
rd = ∞Ω, VDD =20v,VGSQ = -2v, Cgd = 2pf, Cgs = 4pf, Cds = 0.5pf, CWi = 5pf,
CWo = 6pf ?

Solution
The dc base voltage is determined by:

2𝐼𝐷𝑆𝑆 2 8𝑚𝐴
𝑔𝑚0 = = = 4𝑚𝑆
𝑉𝑃 4𝑉
𝑉𝐺𝑆𝑄
𝑔𝑚 = 𝑔𝑚0 1 −
𝑉𝑃
−2𝑣
𝑔𝑚 = 4𝑚𝑆 1 − = 2𝑚𝑆
−4𝑣

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 High Frequency Response – FET Amplifier
Example 7-2
The Midband Gain of the system is determined by
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𝑉𝑂
𝐴𝑉𝑚𝑖𝑑 = = −𝑔𝑚 (𝑅𝐷 𝑅𝐿 = (−2𝑚𝑆)(4.7𝑘Ω‖2.2𝑘Ω)
𝑉𝑖
= − 2𝑚𝑆 1.4𝑘Ω ≅ −3
𝑅𝑇ℎ𝑖 = 𝑅𝑠𝑖𝑔 𝑅𝐺 = 10𝑘Ω 1𝑀Ω = 9.9𝑘Ω
With Ci = Cwi + Cgs + CMi , CMi = ( 1- Av) Cgd
Ci = Cwi + Cgs + ( 1- Av) Cgd = 5pf + 4pf + ( 1+ 3) 2pf = 9pf + 8pf = 17pf
1 1
𝑓𝐻𝑖 = = = 945.67 𝑘H𝑧
2𝜋𝑅𝑇ℎ𝑖 𝐶𝑖 6.28 9.9𝑘Ω 17𝑝𝑓
𝑅𝑇ℎ𝑜 = 𝑅𝐷 𝑅𝐿 = 4.7𝑘Ω 2.2𝑘Ω ≅ 1.5𝑘Ω
With Co = Cwo + Cds + CMo , CMo = ( 1- 1/Av) Cgd
Co = Cwo + Cds + ( 1- 1/Av) Cgd
= 6pf + 0.5pf + [ 1 – 1/ (-3) ] 2pf
= 9.17pf
1 1
𝑓𝐻𝑜 = = = 11.57 𝑀H𝑧
2𝜋𝑅𝑇ℎ𝑜 𝐶𝑜 6.28 1.5𝑘Ω 9.17𝑝𝑓
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 Practice Problems
1. Determine the cutoff frequencies for the network of below
figure, using the following parameters : CS = 12µf , CE = 22µf ,
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CC = 1.2µf , R1 = 46kΩ , R2 = 8kΩ , RE = 3kΩ , RC = 5kΩ , RL

= 2.4kΩ , β = 120 , VCC = 20v , ro = ∞Ω ?

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 Practice Problems
2. Determine the high-cutoff frequencies for the network of below
figure, using the following parameters : CS = 2.2µf , CG = 0.03µf
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, CC = 0.6µf , RSig = 12kΩ, RG = 1.1MΩ , RD = 4.8kΩ ,

RS = 1.4 kΩ , RL = 2.6kΩ , IDSS = 10mA , Vd = -4v , rd = ∞Ω,
VDD =24V,VGSQ = -2v, Cgd = 2pf, Cgs = 3.6pf, Cds = 0.6pf,
CWi = 5.2pf, CWo = 6.4pf ?

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Thank You
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