Course Code BEC303

Course Title ELECTRONIC PRINCIPLES AND CIRCUITS

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 1

BJT AC models: Base Biased Amplifier, Emitter Biased Amplifier,
Small Signal Operation, AC Beta, AC Resistance of the emitter diode,
Two transistor models, Analyzing an amplifier, H parameters, Relations
between R and H parameters.

Voltage Amplifiers: Voltage gain, Loading effect of Input Impedance.

CC Amplifiers: CC Amplifier, Output Impedance.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 2

 Base Biased Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 3

 Base Biased Amplifier
Coupling Capacitor:

Base-biased amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 4

 Base Biased Amplifier

(a) Coupling capacitor (b) capacitor is an ac short (c) dc open and ac short.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 5

 Base Biased Amplifier
• The impedance of the capacitor is inversely proportional to
frequency. Therefore, the capacitor blocks dc voltage.

• When the frequency is high enough, the capacitive reactance is

much smaller than the resistance.

• In this case, almost all the ac source voltage appears across the
resistor.

• When used in this way, the capacitor is called a coupling capacitor

because it couples or transmits the ac signal to the resistor.

• Coupling capacitors allow us to couple an ac signal into an

amplifier without disturbing its Q point.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 6
 Base Biased Amplifier
• For a coupling capacitor to work properly, its reactance must be
much smaller than the resistance at the lowest frequency of the ac
source.

• Eg: If the frequency of the ac source varies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz,

the lowest frequency is 20 Hz. Select a capacitor whose reactance
at 20 Hz is much smaller than the resistance.

• The reactance should be at least 10 times smaller than the

resistance at the lowest frequency of operation.

XC < 0.1R
• When the 10:1 rule is satisfied, the circuit can be replaced by the
equivalent circuit.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 7
 Base Biased Amplifier

• Since the impedance is within half of a percent of R at the lowest

frequency, the current in Fig. a is only half a percent less than the
current in Fig. b. So, we can approximate all coupling capacitors
as an ac short.
• Since dc voltage has a frequency of zero, the reactance of a
coupling capacitor is infinite at zero frequency.

Therefore, use these two approximations for a capacitor:

1. For dc analysis, the capacitor is open.
2. For ac analysis, the capacitor is shorted.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 8

 Base Biased Amplifier

Problem 1:
Using Figure 1, if R = 2 kΩ and the frequency range is from 20 Hz to
20 kHz,find the value of C needed to act as a good coupling
capacitor.

Figure 1: Coupling capacitor

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 9

 Base Biased Amplifier
Problem 1:
Using Figure 1, if R = 2 kΩ and the frequency range is from 20 Hz to
20 kHz,find the value of C needed to act as a good coupling
capacitor.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 10

 Base Biased Amplifier

Problem 2:
Using Figure 1, if R = 1.6 kΩ and the frequency range is from 1kHz
to 100 kHz, find the value of C needed to act as a good
coupling capacitor.

Figure 1: Coupling capacitor

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 11

 Base Biased Amplifier

DC Circuit: Find the Q point of the following Base

biased circuit.

Base-biased circuit

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 12

 Base Biased Amplifier
• Figure shows a base-biased circuit.
• The dc base voltage is 0.7 V.
• Because 30 V is much greater than 0.7 V, the base
current is approximately 30 V divided by 1 MΩ, or:

• With a current gain of 100, the collector current is:

and the collector voltage is:

Base-biased circuit

So, the Q point is located at 3 mA and 15 V

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 13

 Base Biased Amplifier
Amplifying Circuit

Base-biased circuit

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 14

 Base Biased Amplifier
• Figure shows how to add components to build an amplifier.

• First coupling capacitor is used between an ac source and the base.

• Since the coupling capacitor is open to direct current, the same dc

base current exists, with or without the capacitor and ac source.

• Similarly, a coupling capacitor is used between the collector and the

load resistor of 100 kΩ.

• Since this capacitor is open to direct current, the dc collector voltage

is the same, with or without the capacitor and load resistor.

• The coupling capacitors prevent the ac source and load resistance

from changing the Q point.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 15

 Base Biased Amplifier
DC and ac components:
• Since the coupling capacitor is an ac short, all
the ac source voltage appears between the base
and the ground.

• This ac voltage produces an ac base current that

is added to the existing dc base current.

• Thus, the total base current will have a dc

component and an ac component.

• Figure a illustrates the idea. An ac component is Base current

superimposed on the dc component. On the
positive half-cycle, the ac base current adds to
the 30 µA of the dc base current, and on the
negative half-cycle, it subtracts from it.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 16
 Base Biased Amplifier
• The ac base current produces an amplified variation in collector
current because of the current gain.
• In Figure b, the collector current has a dc component of 3 mA.
Superimposed on this is an ac collector current.

Collector current

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 17

 Base Biased Amplifier
• Since this amplified collector current flows through the collector
resistor, it produces a varying voltage across the collector resistor.
• When this voltage is subtracted from the supply voltage, we get
the collector voltage.
• The collector voltage is swinging sinusoidally above and below
the dc level of 15 V. Also, the ac collector voltage is inverted 180°
out of phase with the input voltage.

Collector Voltage
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 18
 Base Biased Amplifier
• On the positive half-cycle of the ac base current, the
collector current increases, producing more voltage across
the collector resistor.

• This means that there is less voltage between the collector

and ground.

• Similarly, on the negative half-cycle, the collector current

decreases.

• Since there is less voltage across the collector resistor, the

collector voltage increases.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 19

 Voltage Waveforms
• Figure shows the waveforms for a base-biased amplifier.

Base-biased amplifier with waveforms.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 20

 Voltage Waveforms
• The ac source voltage is a small sinusoidal voltage.

• This is coupled into the base, where it is superimposed on

the dc component of 0.7 V.

• The variation in base voltage produces sinusoidal variations

in base current, collector current, and collector voltage.

• The total collector voltage is an inverted sine wave

superimposed on the dc collector voltage of 15 V.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 21

 Voltage Waveforms
Notice the action of the output coupling capacitor. Since it is open to
direct current, it blocks the dc component of collector voltage. Since
it is shorted to alternating current, it couples the ac collector voltage
to the load resistor. This is why the load voltage is a pure ac signal
with an average value of zero.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 22

Voltage Gain:
• The voltage gain of an amplifier is defined as the ac output
voltage divided by the ac input voltage.

• If we measure an ac load voltage of 50 mV with an ac input

voltage of 100 uV, the voltage gain is:

• Therefore, the ac output voltage is 500 times larger than

the ac input voltage.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 23
Calculating Output Voltage:

The voltage gain of an amplifier is defined as the ac output

voltage divided by the ac input voltage.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 24

Calculating Output Voltage:
For instance, the triangular symbol shown in Figure a is used to
indicate an amplifier of any design.

Since we are given an input voltage of 2 mV and a voltage gain of

200, we can calculate an output voltage of:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 25

Calculating Input Voltage:

The voltage gain of an amplifier is defined as the ac output

voltage divided by the ac input voltage.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 26

Calculating Input Voltage:
For instance, the output voltage is 2.5 V in Figure b. With a voltage
gain of 350, the input voltage is:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 27

 Emitter-Biased Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 28

Emitter-Biased Amplifier
• The base-biased amplifier has an unstable Q point. For this reason,
it is not used much as an amplifier.

• Instead, an emitter-biased amplifier (either VDB or TSEB) with its

stable Q point is preferred.

Bypass Capacitor:

• A bypass capacitor appears open to direct current and shorted to

alternating current.

• It is not used to couple a signal between two points. Instead, it is

used to create an ac ground.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 29

Emitter-Biased Amplifier

(a) Bypass capacitor; (b) point E is an ac ground.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 30

Emitter-Biased Amplifier
• Figure a shows an ac voltage source connected to a resistor and
a capacitor.

• The resistance R represents the Thevenin resistance as seen by

the capacitor.

• When the frequency is high enough, the capacitive reactance is

much smaller than the resistance.

• In this case, almost all the ac source voltage appears across the
resistor.

• Stated another way, point E is effectively shorted to ground.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 31

Emitter-Biased Amplifier
• When used in this way, the capacitor is called a bypass
capacitor because it bypasses or shorts point E to ground.

• A bypass capacitor is important because it allows us to create

an ac ground in an amplifier without disturbing its Q point.

• For a bypass capacitor to work properly, its reactance must be

much smaller than the resistance at the lowest frequency of the
ac source.

• The definition for good bypassing is identical to that for good

coupling:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 32

Emitter-Biased Amplifier
• When this rule is satisfied, Figure a can be replaced by the
equivalent circuit in Figure b.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 33

Problem:
The input frequency of V is 1 kHz. What value of C is needed
to effectively short point E to ground?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 34

Problem:
The input frequency of V is 1 kHz. What value of C is needed
to effectively short point E to ground?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 35

Problem:
In previous Figure, find the value of C needed if R1 is 50Ω.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 36

VDB Amplifier
The figure shows a voltage-divider-biased (VDB) amplifier.

Figure: VDB amplifier with waveforms

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 37

VDB Amplifier
Calculate the dc voltages and currents
• To calculate the dc voltages and currents, open all
capacitors.
• Then, the transistor circuit simplifies to the VDB circuit
analyzed

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 38

VDB Amplifier
Calculate the dc voltages and currents
• The quiescent or dc values for this circuit are:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 39

VDB Amplifier

Figure: VDB amplifier with waveforms

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 40

VDB Amplifier
• Calculate the base voltage VBB out of the voltage divider.

• Subtract 0.7 V to get the emitter voltage (use 0.3 V for

germanium).

• Divide by the emitter resistance to get the emitter current.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 41

VDB Amplifier
• Assume that the collector current is approximately equal to the emitter
current.

• Calculate the collector-to-ground voltage by subtracting the voltage

across the collector resistor from the collector supply voltage.

• Calculate the collector-emitter voltage by subtracting the emitter

voltage from the collector voltage.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 42

VDB Amplifier
• The voltage on the emitter is a pure dc voltage of 1.1 V.

• There is no ac emitter voltage because emitter is at ac ground (effect

of bypass capacitor).

• Therefore, any variations in the base voltage appear directly across

the BE junction of the transistor. The ac variations in VBE produce
the ac variations in IC and VCE.

• The ac input voltage is a small sinusoidal voltage with an average

value of zero.

• The base voltage is an ac voltage superimposed on a dc voltage of

1.8V.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 43

VDB Amplifier
• The collector voltage is an amplified and inverted ac
voltage superimposed on the dc collector voltage of 6.04 V.

• The load voltage is the same as the collector voltage,

except that it has an average value of zero.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 44

TSEB Circuit
• The Figure shows a two-supply emitter bias (TSEB)
amplifier.

Figure: TSEB amplifier.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 45
TSEB Circuit
• Analyze the dc part of the circuit:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 46

TSEB Circuit

Figure: TSEB amplifier with waveforms

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 47

TSEB Circuit
• The Figure shows two coupling capacitors and an emitter
bypass capacitor. The ac operation of the circuit is similar to
that of a VDB amplifier.

• The signal is coupled into the base. The signal is amplified to

get the collector voltage. The amplified signal is then coupled
to the load.

• The ac input voltage is a small sinusoidal voltage. The base

voltage has a small ac component swinging on a dc component
of approximately 0V.

• The total collector voltage is an inverted sine wave swinging

on the dc collector voltage of 5.32 V.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 48
TSEB Circuit
• The load voltage vout is the same amplified signal with no
dc component.

• The pure dc voltage on the emitter is due to the bypass

capacitor.

• If the bypass capacitor is removed, an ac voltage would

appear at the emitter. This will reduce the voltage gain.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 49

Small-Signal Operation

Figure: Distortion when signal is too large

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 50

Small-Signal Operation
• Figure shows the graph of current versus voltage for the
base-emitter diode.

• When an ac voltage is coupled into the base of a transistor,

an ac voltage appears across the base-emitter diode.

• This produces the sinusoidal variation in VBE shown in

Figure

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 51

 Instantaneous Operating Point
• When the voltage increases to its positive peak, the
instantaneous operating point moves from Q to the upper
point shown in Figure.

• On the other hand, when the sine wave decreases to its

negative peak, the instantaneous operating point moves
from Q to the lower point.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 52

 Instantaneous Operating Point
• The total base-emitter voltage in Figure is an ac voltage
centered on a dc voltage.

• The size of the ac voltage determines how far the

instantaneous point moves away from the Q point.

• Large ac base voltages produce large variations, whereas

small ac base voltages produce small variations.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 53

 Distortion
• The ac voltage on the base produces the ac emitter current shown in
Figure.

• This ac emitter current has the same frequency as the ac base

voltage.

• For instance, if the ac generator driving the base has a frequency of

1 kHz, the ac emitter current has a frequency of 1 kHz.

• The ac emitter current also has approximately the same shape as the
ac base voltage.

• If the ac base voltage is sinusoidal, the ac emitter current is

approximately sinusoidal.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 54

 Distortion
• The ac emitter current is not a perfect replica of the ac base
voltage because of the curvature of the graph.

• Since the graph is curved upward, the positive half-cycle of

the ac emitter current is elongated (stretched) and the
negative half-cycle is compressed.

• This stretching and compressing of alternate half-cycles is

called distortion.

• It is undesirable in high-fidelity amplifiers because it

changes the sound of voice and music.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 55

 Distortion

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 56

Reducing Distortion
• One way to reduce distortion is by keeping the ac base
voltage small.

• When the peak value of the base voltage is reduced, the

movement of the instantaneous operating point is also
reduced.

• For smaller variation, the curvature in the graph is less.

Thus, the graph appears to be linear for a small signal.

• If the ac base voltage is a small sine wave, the ac emitter

current will also be a small sine wave with no noticeable
stretching or compression of half-cycles.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 57
 The 10 Percent Rule
• The total emitter current shown consists of a dc
component and an ac component, which can be written as:

• To minimize distortion, the peak-to-peak value of ie must

be small compared to IEQ.

• Thus, the ac signal is small when the peak-to-peak ac

emitter current is less than 10 percent of the dc emitter
current.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 58

 The 10 Percent Rule
• For instance, if the dc emitter current is 10 mA, the peak-to-peak
emitter current should be less than 1mA in order to have small
signal operation.

• The amplifiers that satisfy the 10 percent rule is referred as small

signal amplifiers.

• This type of amplifier is used at the front end of radio and

television receivers because the signal coming in from the
antenna is very weak.

• When coupled into a transistor amplifier, a weak signal produces

very small variations in emitter current, much less than the 10
percent rule requires.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 59
 The 10 Percent Rule

Figure: Definition of small-signal operation.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 60

 Problem
• Using Figure, find the maximum small-signal emitter
current.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 61

 Problem
Solution:

The Q point emitter current IEQ:

The small-signal emitter current ie(p-p):

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 62

 Problem
Using Figure, change RE to 1.5 kΩ and calculate the
maximum small-signal emitter current.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 63

 AC Beta
• The dc current gain is defined as:

• The IC and IB are the currents at the Q point. Because of

the curvature in the graph of IC versus IB, the dc current
gain depends on the location of the Q point.

• The ac current gain is defined as the ac collector current

divided by the ac base current.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 64

 AC Beta
• Graphically,  equals the slope of the curve at the Q point.

• The value of  depends on the amount of dc collector current.

Figure: AC current gain equals ratio of changes

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 65
 AC Beta
• On data sheets, dc is listed as hFE and  is shown as hfe. The capital
subscripts are used with dc current gain, and lowercase subscripts
with ac current gain.

• The two current gains are comparable in value, not differing by a

large amount. For this reason, we can use the same value for the
analysis.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 66

 AC Resistance of the Emitter Diode
• Figure shows a graph of current versus voltage for the emitter diode.

Figure: AC resistance of emitter diode.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 67

 AC Resistance of the Emitter Diode
• When a small ac voltage is applied across the emitter diode, it produces
the ac emitter current.

• The size of this ac emitter current depends on the location of the Q point.

• Because of the curvature, we get more peak-to-peak ac emitter current

when the Q point is at higher level in the graph.

• The ac emitter resistance of the emitter diode is defined as the ac base-

emitter voltage divided by the ac emitter current.

• This says that the ac resistance of the emitter diode equals the ac base-
emitter voltage divided by the ac emitter current. The prime (') in r'e is a
standard way to indicate that the resistance is inside the transistor.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 68
 AC Resistance of the Emitter Diode

Figure: Calculating r’e

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 69

 AC Resistance of the Emitter Diode
• For instance, Figure shows an ac base-emitter voltage of 5 mV p-p.

• At the given Q point, this sets up an ac emitter current of 100 µA p-p. The
ac resistance of the emitter diode is:

• As another example, assume that a higher Q point in Figure has vbe= 5.5
mV and ie = 200 µA. Then, the ac resistance decreases to:

• The point is this: The ac emitter resistance always decreases when the dc
emitter current increases because vbe is essentially a constant value.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 70

 Formula for AC Emitter Resistance
• Formula for the ac emitter resistance:

• The ac resistance of the emitter diode equals 25 mV

divided by the dc emitter current.

• The reason r'e is important is because it determines the

voltage gain.

• The smaller it is, the higher the voltage gain.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 71

 Problem
What does r'e equal in the base-biased amplifier in Figure?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 72

 Problem
Solution:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 73

 Problem
What does r'e equal in the VDB amplifier in Figure?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 74

 Problem
Solution:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 75

 Problem
What does r'e equal in the TSEB amplifier in Figure?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 76

 Problem
Solution:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 77

 Problem
Using Figure, change the VEE supply to -3 V and calculate r'e

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 78

 Two Transistor Models

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 79

 Two Transistor Models
• To analyze the ac operation of a transistor amplifier, we need an ac-
equivalent circuit for a transistor.

• In other words, we need a model for the transistor that simulates how
it behaves when an ac signal is present

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 80

The T Model

Figure: T model of a transistor

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 81

The T Model
• One of the earliest ac models was the Ebers-Moll model
shown in Figure.

• As far as a small ac signal is concerned, the emitter diode

of a transistor acts like an ac resistance r'e and the collector
diode acts like a current source ic.

• Since the Ebers-Moll model looks like a T on its side, the

equivalent circuit is also called the T model.

• When analyzing a transistor amplifier, replace each

transistor by a T model. Then, calculate the value of r'e and
other ac quantities like voltage gain.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 82
The T Model
• When an ac input signal is applied to a transistor amplifier, an ac base-
emitter voltage Vbe is developed across the emitter diode as in fig a.

• This produces an ac base current ib. The ac voltage source is loaded by the
input impedance of the base.

Figure: Defining the input impedance of the base

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 83

The T Model
• In Fig b, by looking into the base of the transistor, the ac voltage source
gets an input impedance zin(base) . At low frequencies, this impedance is
purely resistive.

• Applying Ohm’s law to the emitter diode,

• Therefore,

• Since ie approximately equals ic,

• Thus, the input impedance of the base is equal to the ac current gain multiplied by
the ac resistance of the emitter diode.
10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 84
The π Model
• Figure shows the π model of a transistor.

• The π model of a transistor is a visual representation of the equation:

Figure: π model of a transistor.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 85
The π Model
• The model is easier to use than the T model (Fig.b) because the input
impedance is not obvious when you look at the T model. On the other
hand, the π model clearly shows that an input impedance of βre will
load the ac voltage source driving the base.

Figure: T model of a transistor.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 86
Analyzing an Amplifier
• To analyze amplifiers, calculate the effect of the dc sources and then
the effect of the ac sources.

• When using the superposition theorem in this analysis, the effect of

each source acting alone is added to get the total effect of all sources
acting simultaneously.

The DC-Equivalent Circuit

• The simplest way to analyze an amplifier is to split the analysis into

two parts: a dc analysis and an ac analysis.

• In the dc analysis, open all capacitors. Calculate the dc voltages and

currents. The circuit that remains is the dc-equivalent circuit.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 87

Analyzing an Amplifier
• With the dc-equivalent circuit, calculate the transistor currents and
voltages as needed.

• The most important current in the dc analysis is the dc emitter

current. This is needed to calculate r'e for the ac analysis.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 88

Analyzing an Amplifier
AC Effect of a DC Voltage Source:

• Short all dc voltage sources when analyzing the ac operation of an

amplifier.

• As shown in Fig. b, each dc voltage supply point acts like an ac

ground.

• A dc voltage source has a constant voltage across it. Therefore, any ac

current flowing through it cannot produce an ac voltage across it.

• If no ac voltage can exist, the dc voltage source is equivalent to an ac

short.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 89

Analyzing an Amplifier

Figure: DC voltage source is an ac short.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 90

Analyzing an Amplifier
AC-Equivalent Circuit:

• After analyzing the dc-equivalent circuit, the next step is to analyze

the ac equivalent circuit.

• This is the circuit that remains after all capacitors and dc voltage
sources are shorted.

• The transistor can be replaced by either the π model or the T model.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 91

Analyzing an Amplifier
Main Steps:
• Start with the dc-equivalent circuit.

• After calculating the dc voltages and currents, analyze the ac-

equivalent circuit.

The steps in getting the ac-equivalent circuit are:

1. Short all coupling and bypass capacitors.

2. Consider all dc supply voltages as ac grounds.

3. Replace the transistor by its  or T model.

4. Draw the ac-equivalent circuit.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 92
Analyzing an Amplifier
Analyzing Base-Biased Amplifier:

Figure: (a) Base-biased amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 93

Analyzing an Amplifier
Analyzing Base-Biased Amplifier:

Figure: (b) ac-equivalent circuit.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 94

Analyzing an Amplifier
• Fig.a is a base-biased amplifier. After opening all capacitors and
analyzing the dc equivalent circuit, perform the ac analysis.

• To get the ac equivalent circuit, short all capacitors and dc voltage

sources. Then, the VCC is considered as ac ground.

• Fig.b shows the ac equivalent circuit. The transistor is replaced by its

π model.

• In the base circuit, the ac input voltage appears across RB in parallel

with βr'e .

• In the collector circuit, the current source passes an ac current of ic

through RC in parallel with RL.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 95

Analyzing an Amplifier
Analysing a VDB Amplifier:

Figure: (a) VDB amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 96
Analyzing an Amplifier
Analysing a VDB Amplifier:

Figure: (b) ac-equivalent circuit.

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Analyzing an Amplifier
• Fig.a is a VDB amplifier, and Fig.b is its ac-equivalent circuit.

• To get the equivalent circuit, all capacitors are shorted, the dc supply
is considered as an ac ground, and the transistor is replaced by its 
model.

• In the base circuit, the ac input voltage appears across R1 in parallel

with R2 in parallel with βr'e .

• In the collector circuit, the current source passes an ac current of ic

through RC in parallel with RL.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 98

Analyzing an Amplifier
Analysing a TSEB Amplifier:

Figure: (a) TSEB amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 99

Analyzing an Amplifier
Analysing a TSEB Amplifier:

Figure: (b) ac-equivalent circuit.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 100

Analyzing an Amplifier
• The two-supply emitter-bias circuit is shown in Fig.a.

• After analyzing the dc-equivalent circuit, draw the ac-equivalent

circuit in Fig.b.

• All capacitors are shorted, the dc source voltage becomes an ac

ground, and the transistor is replaced by its  model.

• In the base circuit, the ac input voltage appears across RB in parallel

with βr'e .

• In the collector circuit, the current source pumps an ac current of ic

through RC in parallel with RL.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 101

Analyzing an Amplifier
Problem: Draw the equivalent circuit for the following VDB amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 102

Analyzing an Amplifier
Problem: Draw the equivalent circuit for the following VDB amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 103

Analyzing an Amplifier
• Short all coupling and bypass capacitors.
• Consider all dc supply voltages as ac grounds.
• Replace the transistor by its  or T model.
• Draw the ac equivalent circuit.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 104

Analyzing an Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 105

Voltage Gain
• Figure (a) shows a voltage-divider-biased (VDB) amplifier.
• Voltage gain is defined as the ac output voltage divided by the ac
input voltage.

Figure: (a) CE amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 106

Voltage Gain
• The ac-equivalent circuit using the π model of the transistor is shown
in figure (b).

• The ac base current ib flows through the input impedance (βre') of the
base.

• Using Ohm’s law :

Figure: (b) ac-equivalent circuit with π model

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 107
Voltage Gain
• In the collector circuit, the ac current ic is passed through the parallel
connection of RC and RL. Therefore, the ac output voltage equals:

• Divide vout by vin to get the voltage gain.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 108

 Voltage Gain
AC Collector Resistance:

• The total ac load resistance seen by the collector is the parallel

combination of RC and RL. This total resistance is called the ac
collector resistance.

• The voltage gain equals the ac collector resistance divided by the ac

resistance of the emitter diode.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 109

 Voltage Gain
Derived from the T Model:
• Figure (c) shows the ac-equivalent circuit using the T model of the
transistor. The input voltage vin appears across re'. With Ohm’s law, we
can write:

Figure: (c) ac-equivalent circuit with T model

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 110
 Voltage Gain
Derived from the T Model:
• In the collector circuit, the current source pumps an ac current ic
through the ac collector resistance. Therefore, the ac output voltage
equals:

• Divide vout by vin to get the voltage gain.

• Since, ic ≈ ie we can simplify the equation to get:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 111

 Voltage Gain
Problem: For the figure, find is the voltage gain and the output voltage
across the load resistor.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 112

Voltage Gain

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 113

Voltage Gain

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 114

 Voltage Gain
Problem: Using figure, change RL to 6.8 kΩ and find AV

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 115

 Voltage Gain
Problem: For the figure, find is the voltage gain and the output voltage
across the load resistor.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 116

Voltage Gain

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 117

Voltage Gain

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 118

 Voltage Gain
Problem: In Figure, change the emitter resistor RE from 10 kΩ to 8.2 k Ω
and calculate the new output voltage vout

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 119

The Loading Effect of Input Impedance

Figure: (a) CE amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 120

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Input Impedance
• In Figure-a, an ac voltage source vg has an internal resistance of RG. (The
sub script g stands for “generator,” a synonym for source.)

• When the ac generator is not stiff, some of the ac source voltage is dropped
across its internal resistance.

• As a result, the ac voltage between the base and ground is less than ideal.

• The ac generator has to drive the input impedance of the stage zin(stage).

• This input impedance includes the effects of the biasing resistors R1 and R2,
in parallel with the input impedance of the base zin(base).

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 121

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
• Figure-b illustrates the ac-equivalent circuit with π model.

Figure: (b) ac-equivalent circuit with π model

• The input impedance of the stage equals:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 122

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Equation for Input Voltage

Figure: (c) Effect of input impedance

• When the generator is not stiff, the ac input voltage vin of Figure-c is
less than vg. With the voltage-divider theorem, we can write:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 123

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Problem: In Figure, the ac generator has an internal resistance of 600 Ω.
What is the output voltage in Figure if β=300?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 124

The Loading Effect of Input Impedance

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 125

The Loading Effect of Input Impedance

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 126

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Problem: Problem: In Figure, the ac generator has an internal resistance
of 600 Ω. What is the output voltage in Figure if β=50?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 127

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Problem: Problem: In Figure, the ac generator has an internal resistance
of 600 Ω. What is the output voltage in Figure if β=50?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 128

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Problem: Problem: In Figure, the ac generator has an internal resistance
of 600 Ω. What is the output voltage in Figure if β=50?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 129

 The Loading Effect of Input Impedance
Problem: Problem: In Figure, the ac generator has an internal resistance
of 600 Ω. What is the output voltage in Figure if β=400?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 130

CC Amplifier
• The emitter follower is also called a common-collector (CC) amplifier.
• The input signal is applied to the base, and the output signal is taken
from the emitter.

Figure: Emitter follower

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 131
CC Amplifier
• Figure shows an emitter follower.

• Because the collector is at ac ground, the circuit is a CC amplifier.

• The input voltage is coupled to the base. This sets up an ac emitter

current and produces an ac voltage across the emitter resistor. This
ac voltage is then coupled to the load resistor.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 132

CC Amplifier
• Figure-b shows the total voltage between the base and ground.
• It has a dc component and an ac component. As you can see, the ac
input voltage rides on the quiescent base voltage VBQ.
• Similarly, Figure-c shows the total voltage between the emitter and
ground. This time, the ac input voltage is centered on a quiescent
emitter voltage VEQ

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 133

CC Amplifier
• The ac emitter voltage is coupled to the load resistor. This output
voltage is shown in Figure-d, a pure ac voltage.

• This output voltage is in phase and is approximately equal to the

input voltage. The reason the circuit is called an emitter follower is
because the output voltage follows the input voltage.

• Since there is no collector resistor, the total voltage between the

collector and ground equals the supply voltage as shown in Figure-e.

• There is no ac signal on the collector because it is an ac ground

point.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 134

CC Amplifier
Negative Feedback:
• The emitter follower uses negative feedback.

• The feedback resistance is equal to the emitter resistance. As a

result, the voltage gain is stable.

• The input impedance of the base is very high.

• Because of these characteristics, the emitter follower is often used

as a preamplifier.

• The voltage gain has a maximum value of 1.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 135

 CC Amplifier
AC Emitter Resistance:

• The ac signal coming out of the emitter sees RE in parallel

with RL

• The ac emitter resistance:

re = RE ||RL

• This is the external ac emitter resistance, which is different

from the internal ac emitter resistance re'

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 136

CC Amplifier
Voltage Gain:

a) ac-equivalent with the T model.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 137

CC Amplifier
Voltage Gain:

b) ac-equivalent with the π model.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 138

CC Amplifier
• Figure a shows the ac-equivalent with the T model.
• Using Ohm’s law,

• Therefore, the voltage gain of the emitter follower is

• If re is much greater than re’ , then the voltage gain equals 1

(approximately).

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 139

 CC Amplifier
• The emitter follower can produce the large output currents needed
by low-impedance loads.
• The emitter follower is a current or power amplifier.

Input Impedance of the Base:

• Fig.b shows the ac-equivalent circuit with the π model of the

transistor.

• The current gain increases the total emitter resistance by a factor of

β.

• The high impedance is the major advantage of an emitter follower.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 140

CC Amplifier
Input Impedance of the Stage

• When the ac source is not stiff, some of the ac signal will be lost
across the internal resistance.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 141

CC Amplifier
Problem: What is the input impedance of the base if β= 200?
What is the input impedance of the stage?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 142

CC Amplifier
Solution:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 143

CC Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 144

CC Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 145

 CC Amplifier
Find the input impedance of the base and the stage if β = 100

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 146

CC Amplifier
Assuming β =200, what is the ac input voltage to the emitter
follower of Figure?

Solution:

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 147

CC Amplifier
Assuming β = 100, what is the ac input voltage to the emitter
follower of Figure?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 148

CC Amplifier
What is the voltage gain of the emitter follower. If = 150,
what is the ac load voltage?

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 149

CC Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 150

CC Amplifier

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 151

CC Amplifier
Repeat Previous Example using an RG value of 50 Ω.

10/29/2025 Dr. T. M. Pradeep Electronic Principles and Circuits 152