Transistor Biasing and Thermal

Stabilization
 The Potential Divider Bias Circuit

VCC
VCC VCCVCC
To find the stability of this circuit we have
IC
R1R1 RC RC to convert this circuit into its Thevenin’s
Equivalent circuit
Ib C C
B
B

E E Rth = R1*R2 & Vth = Vcc R2

R2R2
IE
RE RE
R1+R2 R1+R2

2
 The Potential Divider Bias Circuit
Applying KVL through input base circuit
Thevenin
Equivalent Ckt we can write IbRb + IE RE+ Vbe= Vb
Therefore, IbRb + (IC+ Ib) RE+ VBE= Vb
VCC Diff. w. r. t. IC & rearranging we get

RC
(∂Ib / ∂Ic) = - RE / (Rb + RE)
IC Rb
C Therefore, 1
Ib
B S  1   (1   )(
Re
)
 RE  R
1   b
1 
𝑅  RE  Rb 
RTh
𝑏 Re
E
+
 This shows s can vary from 1  (1+  ) as a
_ VTh
IE RE
𝑅
function of ( 𝑏 ) and increases with  as shown
𝑅𝑒
below.
Self-bias Resistor
Thevenin
Equivalent Voltage

3
Variation of stability w.r.t. current gain

 Hence, for better stabilization, Either

𝑅𝑏 should be small or 𝑅𝑒 should be large
 As 𝑅𝑏 is reduced further and further, by
keeping the Q-point fixed, the current
drawn from the supply to R1-R2 network
increases
VCC
VCC VCCVCC

IC
R1R1 RC RC
If 𝑅𝑒 is increased further and further, The
Ib voltage drop increases and to operate at
C C
same Q-point, we need to increase the
B
B
supply voltage

E E

R2R2
IE
RE RE
In either case, loss of power is the
disadvantage which gives improvement in
the stability

To reduce the effect of Re on the signal,

we keep a capacitor in parallel.
5
Merits:
• Operating point is almost independent of β variation.
• Operating point stabilized against shift in temperature.
• In collector to base bias, 𝑅𝑏 is obtained from Q-point calculation and no control over
stability factor but in this case, we have Rb and Re which can be used to determine Q-
point and S
Demerits:
• As β-value is fixed for a given transistor, this relation can be satisfied either
by keeping RE fairly large, or making R1||R2 very low.
 If RE is of large value, high VCC is necessary. This increases cost.
as precautions necessary while handling.
 If R1 || R2 is low, either R1 is low, or R2 is low, or both are low. A low
R1 raises VB closer to VC, reducing the available swing in collector
voltage, and limiting how large RC can be made without driving the
transistor out of active mode. A low R2 lowers Vbe, reducing the allowed
collector current. Lowering both resistor values draws more current from
the power supply and lowers the input resistance of the amplifier as seen
from the base.
 AC as well as DC feedback is caused by RE, which reduces the AC
voltage gain of the amplifier. A method to avoid AC feedback while
retaining DC feedback is discussed below.
Usage:
The circuit's stability and merits as above make it widely used for linear circuits. 6
 Drawing the DC load line

VCC VCC
𝐼𝑐
R1 RC
𝑉𝑐𝑐
C 𝑅𝑐 + 𝑅𝑒
B

R2 RE

𝑉𝑐𝑐 𝑉𝑐𝑒
 Stabilization against variations in
𝑉𝐵𝐸 and 𝛽
Two other sources of instability are 𝑉𝐵𝐸 and 𝛽 variation with Temperature.

The effect of variation of 𝑉𝐶𝐸 is negligible in the active region of the transistor
The variation of 𝐼𝑐 with respect to 𝑉𝐵𝐸 , keeping 𝐼𝑐𝑜 and β constant, is represented by
𝑆 β
the stability factor S’ = δ 𝐼𝑐 /δ 𝑉𝐵𝐸 = 𝑅 +𝑅 ( )
𝑐 𝑒 1+β

The rate of change of 𝐼𝑐 with respect to ‘β’, keeping 𝐼𝑐𝑜 and 𝑉𝐵𝐸 constant, is given by
the stability factor S’’. Thus
𝐼𝑐
S”= δIc/δβ = S( )
β(1+β)
Problems
 Compensation techniques

Stabilization here means, changing the inputs according to the output and is
independent of temperature

Compensation means changing the inputs with help of temperature

independent of outputs.

And we use both techniques for max bias and thermal stabilization
Diode Compensation for Ico
 If the diode and transistor are made of
same material, the reverse saturation
current in diode (𝐼0 ) increases with
increase in Temperature at the same rate
as the transistor’s collector saturation
current 𝐼𝑐0

 From the figure,

 Also

 The equation becomes,

 Therefore, as Ico increases , Ic remain

constant
Diode compensation in potential
divider circuit for Vbe
The diode is connected in series with R1 and is in
forward condition.
𝑉𝐸 𝑉𝐵 − 𝑉𝐵𝐸
𝐼𝐸 = = ≅ 𝐼𝑐
𝑅𝐸 𝑅𝐸
When 𝑉𝐵𝐸 increases with Temperature, 𝐼𝑐 changes
To cancel the change, a diode is used as a
compensation at the base terminal.
𝑉𝐵 = 𝑉𝑅1 + 𝑉𝐷
𝑉𝑅1 +𝑉𝐷 −𝑉𝐵𝐸
Hence, ≅ 𝐼𝑐 .
𝑅𝐸

If the diode is of same material of transistor, then

the voltage across the diode will have the same
temperature coefficient as BE terminal, 𝑉𝐷 also
changes by same amount and they cancel each
𝑉
other. 𝑅1 ≅ 𝐼𝑐
𝑅𝐸
 Diode compensation (in emitter)
for Vbe
The diode is kept forward biased in
with the source 𝑉𝐷𝐷 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝐷

If the diode is made of same

material, the voltage 𝑉0 across the
diode will have the same
temperature coefficient as that of
BE terminal.
Writing KVL at base loop,

Since, 𝑉𝐵𝐸 tracks 𝑉0 w.r.t. temperature, Ic will be insensitive to

variations of 𝑉𝐵𝐸 .
Thermistor Compensation
Sensistor Compensation
Thermal Runaway
Thermal stability
BJT Amplifiers
 Introduction

 AC Analysis

 Types of Amplifiers

 CB,CC,CE amplifiers
 Introduction
• The biasing of a transistor is purely a dc operation.

• The purpose of biasing is to establish a Q-point about which variations in

current and voltage can occur in response to an ac input signal.

• In applications where small signal voltages must be amplified- such as from

an antenna or a microphone-variations about the Q-point are relatively
small.

• Amplifiers designed to handle these small ac signals are often referred to

as small-signal amplifiers.
AC Quantities
 The Linear Amplifier
• Linear amplifier provides amplification of a signal without any distortion (that
is there is no clipping from positive or negative half cycles).

• So the output signal of an amplifier has the exact shape and frequency as the
input signal.

• A voltage divider biased transistor which acts as an amplifier is shown

The circuit works in the following manner:
o The AC input signal Vs changes the DC base voltage above and below its DC level VBQ.
o This voltage change is shown in Figure 2 as Vb.
o This changes the DC base current above and below its DC level IBQ.
o This current change is shown in Figure 2 as Ib.
o This change in IBQ produces a large change in ICQ because of the transistor current gain .
o The increase in ICQ decreases the collector voltage VC which in turns decreases the
collector-emitter voltage VCEQ.
o As shown in Figure 2, increase in the base voltage Vb corresponds to decrease in the collector-
emitter voltage Vce. Therefore the output of this amplifier is 180 out of phase with the input
voltage.