Frequency Response of Amplifiers

System transfer functions

The frequency response of a circuit is usually determined by using the complex frequencys.
Each capacitor is represented by its complex impedance, 1/sC, and each inductor is
represented by its complex impedance, sL. The circuit equations are then formulated in the
usual way. Using the complex frequency, the mathematical expressions obtained for voltage
gain, current gain, input impedance, or output impedance are ratios of polynomials in s.
Table-1 Transfer functions of the complex frequency s

In general, a transfer function in the s-domain can be expressed in the form

where K is a constant, z1, z2, . . . , zm are the transfer function “zeros,” and p1, p2, . . . , pn are
the transfer function “poles.” When the complex frequency is equal to a zero, s = zi , the
transfer function is zero; when the complex frequency is equal to a pole, s = pi , the transfer
function diverges and becomes infinite.

Case-1
To introduce the frequency response analysis of transistor circuits, we will examine
the circuits shown in Figure .1.

Figure .1 Series coupling capacitor circuit

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The voltage transfer function for the circuit in Figure.1 can be expressed in a voltage
divider format, as follows:

Or

where τS is a time constant and is given by τS = (RS + RP)CS

Bode Plots
A simplified technique for obtaining approximate plots of the magnitude and phase of a
transfer function, given the poles and zeros or the equivalent time constants, was developed
by H. Bode, and the resulting diagrams are called Bode plots.

Bode Plot for Figure .1

Mathematical Derivation: For the transfer function in Equation ( ), corresponding to the
circuit in Figure 1, if we replace s by jω and define a time constant τs as τs = (RS + RP)CS , we
obtain

The magnitude of Equation

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 Figure 2 Bode plot of the voltage transfer function magnitude for the circuit in Figure-1

For very low frequencies, the impedance of CS approaches that of an open circuit, and the
output voltage approaches zero.
This circuit is called a high-pass network since the high-frequency signals are passed
through to the output. We can now understand the form of the Bode plot shown in Figure 2.

The net phase of the function is now

Figure 3 Bode plot of the voltage transfer function phase for the circuit in Figure-1

Case-2
Writing a Kirchhoff current law (KCL) equation at the output node, we can determine the
voltage transfer function for the circuit shown in Figure 4, as follows:
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In this case, the element RS is in series between the input and output signals, and the
elements RP and CP are in parallel with the output signal.

Figure 5 Parallel load capacitor circuit

Or
where τP is also a time constant and is given by τP = (RS//RP)CP.

The transfer function given by Equation ( ) is for the circuit that was shown in Figure 5. If
we replace s by s = jω = j2πf and define a time constant τP as τP = (RS//RP)CP , then the
transfer function is

The magnitude of Equation ( ) is

A Bode plot of this magnitude expression is shown in Figure 6

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 Figure 7 Bode plot of the voltage transfer function magnitude for the circuit in Figure 4

The phase of the transfer function given by Equation ( ) is

Figure 8 Bode plot of the voltage transfer function phase for the circuit in Figure-4

Case-III Short-Circuit and Open-Circuit Time Constants

The two circuits shown in Figures1 and 4 each contain only one capacitor. The circuit in
Figure 9 is the same basic configuration but contains both capacitors.

Capacitor CS is the coupling capacitor and is in series with the input and output; capacitor CP
is the load capacitor and is in parallel with the output and ground.

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 Figure 9 Circuit with both a series coupling and a parallel load capacitor

We can determine the voltage transfer function of this circuit by writing a KCL equation at
the output node. The result is

The time constant associated with CS is

The time constant associated with Cp is

Figure 10 Bode plot of the voltage transfer function magnitude for the circuit in Figure 9

The lower corner, or 3 dB frequency, which is at the low end of the frequency scale, is a
function of the open-circuit time constant and is defined as

The upper corner, or 3 dB, frequency, which is at the high end of the frequency scale, is a
function of the short-circuit time constant and is defined as

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The midband range, or bandwidth, is defined by the corner frequencies fL and fH, as follows:

Since fH >> fL , as we have seen in our examples, the bandwidth is essentially given by

=====================================
T-1 For the equivalent circuit shown in Figure, the parameters are: RS = 1 k  , rπ = 2 k  , RL
= 4 k  , gm = 50 mA/V, and CC = 1 μF.
(a) Determine the expression for the circuit time constant.
(b) Calculate the 3 dB frequency and maximum gain asymptote.
(c) Sketch the Bode plot of the transfer function magnitude.
(Ans. (a) τ = (rπ + RS)CC, (b) f3dB = 53.1 Hz, |T ( jω)|max = 133)

Figure 1' Figure for Exercise T1

T.2 The equivalent circuit in Figure 2 has circuit parameters RS = 100  , rπ = 2.4 k  , gm =
50 mA/V, RL = 10 k  , and CL = 2 pF.
(a) Determine the expression for and the value of the circuit time constant.
(b) Calculate the 3 dB frequency and the maximum voltage gain.
(c) Sketch the Bode plot of the transfer function magnitude.
(Ans. (a) τ = RLCL = 0.02μs; (b) f3dB = 7.96 MHz, |Av| = 480)

Figure 1'' for Exercise .2

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T.3 The parameters in the circuit shown in Figure 7.15 are RS = 100  , rπ = 2.4k  , gm = 50
mA/V, RL = 10 k  , CC = 5μF, and CL = 4 pF.
(a) Find the open-circuit and short-circuit time constants.
(b) Calculate the mid-band voltage gain.
(c) Determine the lower and upper 3 dB frequencies.
(Ans. (a) τS = 12.5 ms, τP = 0.04μs; (b) Av = −480; (c) fL = 12.7 Hz, fH = 3.98 MHz)

Figure 1''' for Exercise .3

 The frequency response of transistor circuits with capacitors.

Coupling Capacitor Effects Input Coupling Capacitor: Common-Emitter Circuit

Figure 1(a) shows a bipolar common-emitter circuit with a coupling capacitor. Figure 1(b)
shows the corresponding small-signal equivalent circuit, with then transistor small-signal
output resistance ro assumed to be infinite.
This assumption is valid since ro >>RC and ro >> RE in most cases. At low frequencies,
the impedance of CC becomes large and the output approaches zero.

Figure 1 (a) Common-emitter circuit with coupling capacitor and (b) small-signal equivalent circuit

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Current–Voltage Analysis: The input current can be written as

where the input resistance Ri is given by

To determine the input resistance to the base of the transistor, we multiplied the emitter
resistance by the factor (1 + β).
Using a current divider, we determine the base current to be

and then,

The output voltage is given by:

Combining Equations ( ) through ( ) produces

Therefore, the small-signal voltage gain is

which can be written in the form

where the time constant is:

The corner frequency is:

and the maximum magnitude, in decibels, is

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Example-1 For the circuit shown in Figure-1, the parameters are: R1 = 51.2 k  , R2 = 9.6 k  , RC =
2 k  , RE = 0.4 k  , RSi = 0.1 k  , CC = 1 μF, and VCC = 10V. The transistor parameters are: VBE(on)
= 0.7V, β = 100, and VA =∞. Calculate the corner frequency and maximum gain of a bipolar
common emitter circuit with a coupling capacitor.

Fig. for Example-1

Solution:
From a dc analysis, the quiescent collector current is ICQ = 1.81 mA. The small-signal
parameters are gm = 69.6 mA/V and rπ = 1.44 k  .
The input resistance is

and the time constant is therefore

The corner frequency is

Finally, the maximum voltage gain magnitude is

Where

Therefore

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Comment:
The coupling capacitor produces a high-pass network. In this circuit, if the signal frequency
is approximately two octaves above the corner frequency, the coupling capacitor acts as a
short circuit.

DESIGN EXAMPLE 7.4

Objective: The circuit in Figure 7.22(a) is to be used as a simple audio amplifier.
Design the circuit such that the lower corner frequency is fL = 20 Hz.

Figure 2 (a) Common-source circuit with output coupling capacitor and (b) small-signal equivalent circuit

The small-signal equivalent circuit, assuming ro is infinite, is shown in Figure -2(b). The
maximum output voltage, assuming CC is a short circuit, is

and the input voltage can be written as

Therefore, the maximum small-signal gain is

The time constant is then

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Solution:
The corner frequency can be written in terms of the time constant, as follows:

The time constant is then

Therefore, from Equation ( ) the coupling capacitance is

or
Comment:
Using the time constant technique to find the corner frequency is substantially easier than
using the circuit analysis approach.

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