Q4: Differential amplifier:

A differential amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that amplifies the difference between two [nb 2] voltages but does not amplify the particular voltages. A differential (long-tailed, emitter-coupled) pair amplifier consists of two amplifying stages with common (emitter, source or cathode) degeneration Many electronic devices use differential amplifiers internally. The output of an ideal differential amplifier is given by:

Where and are the input voltages and is the differential gain. In practice, however, the gain is not quite equal for the two inputs. This means, for instance, that if and are equal, the output will not be zero, as it would be in the ideal case. A more realistic expression for the output of a differential amplifier thus includes a second term.

is called the common-mode gain of the amplifier. As differential amplifiers are often used to null out noise or bias-voltages that appear at both inputs, a low common-mode gain is usually desired. The common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), usually defined as the ratio between differential-mode gain and common-mode gain, indicates the ability of the amplifier to accurately cancel voltages that are common to both inputs. The common-mode rejection ratio is defined as:

In a perfectly symmetrical differential amplifier, is zero and the CMRR is infinite. Note that a differential amplifier is a more general form of amplifier than one with a single input; by grounding one input of a differential amplifier, a single-ended amplifier results.

Differential amplifier symbol The inverting and non-inverting inputs are distinguished by "" and "+" symbols (respectively) placed in the amplifier triangle. Vs+ and Vs are the power supply voltages; they are often omitted from the diagram for simplicity, but of course must be present in the actual circuit.
Applications:

Differential amplifiers are found in many circuits that utilize series negative feedback (op-amp follower, non-inverting amplifier, etc.), where one input is used for the input signal, the other for the feedback signal (usually implemented by operational amplifiers). For comparison, the old-fashioned inverting single-ended op-amps from the early 1940s could realize only parallel negative feedback by connecting additional resistor networks (an op-amp inverting amplifier is the most popular example). A common application is for the control of motors or servos, as well as for signal amplification applications. In discreteelectronics, a common arrangement for implementing a differential amplifier is the long-tailed pair, which is also usually found as the differential element in most op-amp integrated circuits. A longtailed pair can be used as an analog multiplier with the differential voltage as one input and the biasing current as another. A differential amplifier is used as the input stage emitter coupled logic gates and as switch. When used as a switch, the "left" base/grid is used as signal input and the "right" base/grid is grounded; output is taken from the right collector/plate. When the input is zero or negative, the output is close to zero (but can be not saturated); when the input is positive, the output is most-positive, dynamic operation being the same as the amplifier use described above.

Cascade amplifier
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cascaded amplifier,a simplified diagram

A cascade amplifier is any diode constructed from a series of amplifiers, where each amplifier sends its output to the input of the next amplifier in a daisy chain.[1] A cascade is basically a differential amplifier with one input grounded and the side with the real input has no load. It can also be seen as a common collector (emitter follower) followed by a common base. Since the input side has no load there is no gain on that side and the Miller effect does not come into play. In addition, Vds or Vce stays fairly constant which reduces distortion. Its advantage over the cascade is that it does not require as much voltage headroom. Its disadvantage is since it has two legs it requires twice as much current as a cascade for similar performance. The complication in calculating the gain of cascaded stages is the non-ideal coupling between stages due to loading. Two cascaded common emitter stages are shown below. Because the input resistance of the second stage forms a voltage dividerwith the output resistance of the first stage, the total gain is not the product of the individual (separated) stages.

Applications of Cascade Amplifier : In the tuned RF amplifiers in T.V. circuits. I t is also used as wideband amplifier. The isolation provided between input and output by the cascade amplifiers is very high.

Q2:basic current mirror sketch:

A current mirror is a circuit designed to copy a current through one active device by controlling the current in another active device of a circuit, keeping the output current constant regardless of loading. The current being 'copied' can be, and sometimes is, a varying signal current. Conceptually, an ideal current mirror is simply an ideal inverting current amplifierthat reverses the current direction as well or it is a current-controlled current source (CCCS). The current mirror is used to provide bias currents and active loads to circuits.

Mirror characteristics[edit]
There are three main specifications that characterize a current mirror. The first is the transfer ratio (in the case of a current amplifier) or the output current magnitude (in the case of a constant current source

CCS). The second is its AC output resistance, which determines how much the output current varies with the voltage applied to the mirror. The third specification is the minimum voltage drop across the output part of the mirror necessary to make it work properly. This minimum voltage is dictated by the need to keep the output transistor of the mirror in active mode. The range of voltages where the mirror works is called the compliance range and the voltage marking the boundary between good and bad behavior is called the compliance voltage. There are also a number of secondary performance issues with mirrors, for example, temperature stability.

Basic BJT current mirror[edit]

If a voltage is applied to the BJT base-emitter junction as an input quantity and the collector current is taken as an output quantity, the transistor will act as an exponential voltage-to-current converter. By applying a negative feedback (simply joining the base and collector) the transistor can be "reversed" and it will begin acting as the opposite logarithmic current-to-voltage converter; now it will adjust the "output" base-emitter voltage so as to pass the applied "input" collector current. The simplest bipolar current mirror (shown in Figure 1) implements this idea. It consists of two cascaded transistor stages acting accordingly as a reversed and direct voltage-to-current converters. Transistor Q1 is connected to ground. Its collector-base voltage is zero as shown. Consequently, the voltage drop across Q1 is VBE, that is, this voltage is set by the diode law and Q1 is said to be diode connected. (See also Ebers-Moll model.) It is important to have Q1 in the circuit instead of a simple diode, because Q1 sets VBE for transistor Q2. If Q1 and Q2 are matched, that is, have substantially the same device properties, and if the mirror output voltage is chosen so the collector-base voltage of Q2 is also zero, then the VBE-value set by Q1 results in an emitter current in the matched Q2 that is the same as the emitter current in Q1. Because Q1 and Q2 are matched, their 0-values also agree, making the mirror output current the same as the collector current of Q1. The current delivered by the mirror for arbitrary collectorbase reverse bias VCB of the output transistor is given by (see bipolar transistor):

, where IS = reverse saturation current or scale current, VT = thermal voltage and VA = Early voltage. This current is related to the reference current IREF when the output transistorVCB = 0 V by:

as found using Kirchhoff's current law at the collector node of Q1:

The reference current supplies the collector current to Q 1 and the base currents to both transistors when both transistors have zero base-collector bias, the two base currents are equal, IB1=IB2=IB.

Parameter 0 is the transistor -value for VCB = 0 V.

Figure 1: A current mirror implemented with npn bipolar transistors using a resistor to set the reference current IREF; VCC = supply voltage