A Compari son of Vari ous Bi pol ar

Transi st or Bi asi ng Ci rcui t s

An up-to-date review of bias techniques
By Al Ward and Bryan Ward
Agi l ent Technol ogi es
T
he bi pol ar juncti on transi stor (BJT) i s
often used as a l ow noi se ampl i fi er i n cel -
l ul ar, PCS and pager appl i cati ons because
of i ts l ow cost. Wi th a mi ni mal number of exter-
nal matchi ng networks, the BJT can produce an
LNA wi th RF performance consi derabl y better
than an MMI C. Of equal i mportance i s the DC
performance. Al though the devi ces RF perfor-
mance may be qui te cl osel y control l ed, the vari -
ati on i n devi ce DC parameters can be qui te si g-
ni fi cant because of normal process vari ati ons.
I t i s not unusual to fi nd a 2 or 3 to 1 rati o i n
devi ce h
FE
. Vari ati on i n h
FE
from devi ce to
devi ce wi l l general l y not appear as a di fference
i n RF performance. I n other words, two devi ces
wi th wi del y di fferent h
FE
can have si mi l ar RF
performance, as l ong as the devi ces are bi ased at
the same V
CE
and I
C
. The pri mary purpose of
the bi as network i s to keep V
CE
and I
C
constant
as DC parameters vary from devi ce to devi ce.
The bi as ci rcui try i s often overl ooked because
of i ts appar ent si mpl i ci ty. Wi th a poor l y
desi gned fi xed bi as ci rcui t, the vari ati on i n I
C
from l ot to l ot can have the same maxi mum to
mi ni mum rati o as the h
FE
vari ati on from l ot to
l ot. I f there i s no compensati on I
C
wi l l doubl e
when h
FE
i s doubl ed. I t i s the task of the DC
bi as ci rcui t to maxi mi ze the ci rcui ts tol erance
to h
FE
vari ati ons. I n addi ti on, transi stor para-
meters can vary over temperature causi ng a
dri ft i n I
C
at temperature. The l ow power suppl y
vol tages typi cal l y avai l abl e for handhel d appl i -
cati ons al so make i t more di ffi cul t to desi gn a
temperature stabl e bi as ci rcui t.
One sol uti on to the bi asi ng di l emma i s the
use of acti ve bi asi ng. Acti ve bi asi ng often makes
use of an I C or a PNP transi stor and a vari ety of
resi stors, effecti vel y setti ng V
CE
and I
C
regard-
l ess of vari ati ons i n devi ce h
FE
. Al though the
techni que of acti ve bi asi ng woul d be the best
choi ce for control of devi ce to devi ce vari abi l i ty
and over temper atur e var i ati ons, associ ated
costs are usual l y hi gh.
Other bi asi ng opti ons i ncl ude vari ous forms
of passi ve bi asi ng. Thi s arti cl e di scusses vari ous
passi ve bi asi ng ci rcui ts, i ncl udi ng thei r advan-
tages and di sadvantages.
Vari ous BJT passi ve bi as ci rcui t s
Passi ve bi asi ng schemes usual l y consi st of
two to fi ve resi stors properl y arranged about the
transi stor. Vari ous passi ve bi asi ng schemes are
shown i n Fi gure 1. The si mpl est form of passi ve
bi asi ng i s shown as Ci rcui t #1 i n Fi gure 1. The
col l ector current I
C
i s si mpl y h
FE
ti mes the base
current I
B
. The base current i s determi ned by
the val ue of R
B
. The col l ector vol tage V
CE
i s
determi ned by subtracti ng the vol tage drop
across resi stor R
C
from the power suppl y vol t-
age V
CC
. As the col l ector current i s vari ed, the
V
CE
wi l l change based on the vol tage drop across
R
C
. Varyi ng h
FE
wi l l cause I
C
to vary i n a fai rl y
di rect manner. For constant V
CC
and constant
V
BE
, I
C
wi l l vary i n di rect proporti on to h
FE
. For
exampl e, as h
FE
i s doubl ed, col l ector current, I
C
,
wi l l al so doubl e. Bi as ci rcui t #1 provi des no
compensati on for vari ati on i n devi ce h
FE
.
Bi as ci rcui t #2 provi des vol tage feedback to
the base current source resi stor R
B
. The base
current source i s fed from the vol tage V
CE
, as
opposed to the suppl y vol tage V
CC
. The val ue of
the base bi as resi stor R
B
i s cal cul ated based
upon nomi nal devi ce V
BE
and the desi red V
CE
.
Col l ector resi stor R
C
has both I
C
and I
B
fl owi ng
through i t.
The operati on of thi s ci rcui t i s best expl ai ned
30 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
32 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
as fol l ows. An i ncrease i n h
FE
wi l l tend to cause I
C
to
i ncrease. An i ncrease i n I
C
causes the vol tage drop
across resi stor R
C
to i ncrease. The i ncrease i n vol tage
across R
C
causes V
CE
to decrease. The decrease i n V
CE
causes I
B
to decrease because the potenti al di fference
across base bi as resi stor R
B
has decreased. Thi s topol o-
gy provi des a basi c form of negati ve feedback whi ch
tends to reduce the amount that the col l ector current
i ncreases as h
FE
i s i ncreased.
Bi as ci rcui t #3 has been di scussed i n past l i terature
but predomi natel y when very hi gh V
CC
(> 15 vol ts) and
V
CE
(> 12 vol ts) were used [1]. The vol tage di vi der net-
work consi sti ng of R
B1
and R
B2
provi de a vol tage di vi der
from whi ch resi stor R
B
i s connected. Resi stor R
B
then
determi nes the base current. I
B
ti mes h
FE
provi des I
C
.
The vol tage drop across R
C
i s determi ned by the col l ec-
tor current I
C
, the base current I
B
and the current con-
sumed by the vol tage di vi der, consi sti ng of R
B1
and R
B2
.
Thi s ci rcui t provi des si mi l ar vol tage feedback to that of
bi as ci rcui t #2.
Bi as ci rcui t #4 i s si mi l ar to bi as ci rcui t #3 wi th the
excepti on that the seri es current source
resi stor R
B
i s omi tted. Thi s ci rcui t i s
seen i n bi pol ar power ampl i fi er desi gn
wi th resi stor R
B2
repl aced by a seri es si l -
i con power di ode provi di ng temperature
compensati on for the bi pol ar devi ce. The
current fl owi ng through resi stor R
B1
i s
shared by both resi stor R
B2
and the base
emi tter juncti on V
BE
. The greater the
cur r ent thr ough r esi stor R
B2
, the
greater the regul ati on of the base emi t-
ter vol tage V
BE
.
Bi as ci rcui t #5 i s the customary text-
book ci rcui t for bi asi ng BJTs. A resi stor
i s used i n seri es wi th the devi ce emi tter
l ead to provi de vol tage feedback. Thi s
ci rcui t ul ti matel y provi des the best con-
trol of h
FE
vari ati ons from devi ce to devi ce and over tem-
perature. The di sadvantage of thi s ci rcui t i s that the
emi tter resi stor must be properl y bypassed for RF. The
typi cal bypass capaci tor often has i nternal l ead i nduc-
tance whi ch can create unwanted regenerati ve feedback.
The feedback can create devi ce i nstabi l i ty. Despi te the
probl ems associ ated wi th usi ng the emi tter resi stor
techni que, thi s bi asi ng scheme general l y provi des the
best control on h
FE
and over temperature vari ati ons.
The secti ons that fol l ow begi n wi th a di scussi on of the
BJT model and i ts temperature dependent vari abl es.
From the basi c model , vari ous equati ons are devel oped
to predi ct the devi ces behavi or over h
FE
and tempera-
ture vari ati ons. Thi s arti cl e i s an update to the ori gi nal
arti cl e wri tten by Kenneth Ri chter of Hewl ett-Packard
[2] and Hewl ett-Packard Appl i cati on Note 944-1 [3].
BJT model i ng
The BJT i s model ed as two current sources, as shown
i n Fi gure 2. The pri mary current source i s h
FE
I
B
. I n par-
al l el i s a secondary current source I
CBO
(1+ h
FE
) that
L Fi gure 1(c). Ci rcui t # 3: vol t age f eed-
back wi t h current source BJT bi as net -
work.
L Fi gur e 1(d). Ci r cui t # 4: vol t age
f eedback wi t h vol t age source BJT
bi as net work.
L Fi gure 1(b). Ci rcui t # 2: vol t age
f eedback BJT bi as net work.
V cc
RB1
Re RB2
L Fi gure 1(e). Ci rcui t # 5: emi t t er
f eedback BJT bi as net work.

L Fi gure 1(a). Ci rcui t # 1: nonst a-
bi l i zed BJT bi as net work.
34 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
descri bes the l eakage current fl owi ng through a reverse
bi ased PN juncti on. I
CBO
i s typi cal l y 1 10
7
A at 25
degrees C for an Agi l ent Technol ogi es HBFP-0405 tran-
si stor. V'
BE
i s the i nternal base emi tter vol tage wi th h
ie
representi ng the equi val ent Hybri d PI i nput i mpedance
of the transi stor. h
ie
i s al so equal to h
FE
/I
C
where =
40 at +25 degrees C. V
BE
wi l l be defi ned as measured
between the base and emi tter l eads of the transi stor. I t
i s equi val ent to V'
BE
+ I
B
h
ie
. V
BE
i s approxi matel y 0.78
vol ts at 25 degrees C for the HBFP-0405 transi stor.
The devi ce parameters that exhi bi t the greatest
change as temperature i s vari ed are h
FE
, V'
BE
, and I
CBO
.
These temperature dependent vari abl es have character-
i sti cs whi ch are process dependent and fai rl y wel l under-
stood. h
FE
typi cal l y i ncreases wi th temperature at the
rate of 0.5 percent/degrees C. V'
BE
has a typi cal negati ve
temperature coeffi ci ent of 2 mV/degrees C. Thi s i ndi -
cates that V
BE
decreases 2 mV for every degree i ncrease
i n temperature. I
CBO
typi cal l y doubl es for every 10
degree C ri se i n temperature. Each one of these para-
meters contri butes to the net resul tant change i n col l ec-
tor current as temperature i s vari ed.
For each bi as network shown i n Fi gure 1, several sets
of si mpl i fi ed ci rcui t equati ons have been generated to
al l ow cal cul ati on of the vari ous bi as resi stors. These are
shown i n Fi gures 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Each of the bi as resi s-
tor val ues are cal cul ated based on vari ous desi gn para-
meters such as desi red I
C
, V
CE
, power suppl y vol tage V
CC
and nomi nal h
FE
. I
CBO
and h
ie
are assumed to be zero for
the basi c cal cul ati on of resi stor val ues.
Addi ti onal i nfor mati on, usual l y pr ovi ded by the
desi gner, i s requi red for the three ci rcui ts that use the
vol tage di vi der consi sti ng of R
B1
and R
B2
. For the bi as
network that uses vol tage feedback wi th current source,
the desi gner must choose the vol tage across R
B2
(V
RB2
)
and the bi as current through resi stor R
B2
, whi ch wi l l be
termed I
RB2
. I f V
CE
> V
RB2
> V
BE
, then a suggested V
RB2
woul d be 1.5 vol ts and a suggested I
RB2
woul d be 10 per-
cent of I
C
, or 0.5 mA.
The vol tage feedback wi th a vol tage source network
and the emi tter feedback network al so requi re that the
desi gner choose I
RB2
. The rati o of I
C
to I
RB2
can pl ay a
major rol e i n bi as stabi l i ty.
An equati on was then devel oped for each ci rcui t that
cal cul ates col l ector current, I
C
, based on nomi nal bi as
resi stor val ues and typi cal devi ce parameters, i ncl udi ng
h
FE
, I
CBO
, and V'
BE
. MATHCAD 7 was used to hel p
devel op the I
C
equati on. Al though the I
C
equati on
begi ns si mpl y, i t devel ops i nto a rather l engthy equati on
R
B1
I
BB
+ I
B
I
C
C
I
B
h
ie
V
BE
V
BE
B
I
BB
R
B2
h
FE
I
B
I
CBO
(1+h
FE
)
V
CE
R
C
V
CC
E
L Fi gure 2. Gummel - Poon model of BJT wi t h vol t age f eed-
back and const ant base current source net work.









L Fi gure 3. Equat i ons f or nonst abi l i zed bi as net work.
R
B
R
C
V
CC
B
BE CE
B
I
V V
R


B C
CE CC
C
I I
V V
R
+



) 1 (
) ( ) 1 ( ) (
FE C B ie
C B ie FE CBO BE CC FE
h R R h
R R h h I V V h
I =
+
+ + . + . + .


.
L Fi gure 4. Equat i ons f or vol t age f eedback bi as net work.
R
C
R
B
V
BB
V
CC
V'
BE
I
C
36 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
for some of the more compl i cated ci rcui ts. MATHCAD
hel ped to si mpl i fy thi s task.
Desi gn exampl e usi ng t he Agi l ent HBFP- 0405 BJT
The HBFP-0405 transi stor i s used as a test exampl e
for each of the bi as ci rcui ts. The HBFP-0405 i s descri bed
i n [4] as a l ow noi se ampl i fi er for 1800 to 1900 MHz
appl i cati ons. The HBFP-0405 wi l l be bi ased at a V
CE
of
2.7 vol ts and a drai n current I
C
of 5 mA. A power suppl y
vol tage of 3 vol ts wi l l be assumed. The nomi nal h
FE
of
the HBFP-0405 i s 80. The mi ni mum i s 50 whi l e the max-
i mum i s 150. The cal cul ated bi as resi stor val ues for each
bi as ci rcui t are descri bed i n Tabl e 1.
Wi th the establ i shed resi stor val ues, I
C
i s cal cul ated
based on mi ni mum and maxi mum h
FE
. The perfor-
mance of each bi as ci rcui t wi th respect to h
FE
vari ati on
i s shown i n Tabl e 2. Bi as ci rcui t #1 cl earl y has no com-
pensati on for varyi ng h
FE
, al l owi ng I
C
to i ncrease 85
percent as h
FE
i s taken to i ts maxi mum. Ci rcui t #2 wi th
very si mpl e col l ector feedback offers consi derabl e com-
pensati on due to h
FE
vari ati ons al l owi ng an i ncrease of
onl y 42 percent. Ci rcui t #3 offers very l i ttl e i mprove-
ment over ci rcui t #2. Ci rcui t #4 provi des consi derabl e
i mprovement i n h
FE
control by onl y al l owi ng a 9 percent
i ncrease i n I
C
. Ci rcui t #4 offers an i mprovement over
the previ ous ci rcui ts by provi di ng a sti ffer vol tage source
across the base emi tter juncti on. As we wi l l see l ater,
thi s ci rcui t has worse performance over temperature as
compared to ci rcui ts #2 and #3. However, when both
h
FE
and temperature are consi dered, ci rcui t #4 wi l l
appear to be the best performer for a grounded emi tter
confi gurati on. As expected, ci rcui t #5 provi des the best
control on I
C
wi th varyi ng h
FE
al l owi ng onl y a 5.4 per-
cent i ncrease i n I
C
. Resul ts are power suppl y dependent,
and wi th hi gher V
CC
, resul ts may vary si gni fi cantl y.
BJT per f ormance over t emperat ure
Si nce al l thr ee temper atur e dependent var i abl es
(I
CBO
, h
FE
and V'
BE
) exi st i n the I
C
equati on, di fferenti -
ati ng the I
C
equati on wi th respect to each of the para-
meters provi des i nsi ght i nto thei r effect on I
C
. The par-
ti al deri vati ve of each of the three parameters repre-
sents a stabi l i ty factor. The vari ous stabi l i ty factors and
thei r cal cul ati on are shown i n Tabl e 3. Each ci rcui t has
three di sti nctl y di fferent stabi l i ty factors whi ch are then
mul ti pl i ed ti mes a correspondi ng change i n ei ther V'
BE
,
h
FE
, or I
CBO
and fi nal l y summed. These changes or
del tas i n V'
BE
, h
FE
, and I
CBO
are cal cul ated based on
L Fi gure 5. Equat i ons f or vol t age f eedback wi t h current source bi as net work.
L Fi gure 6. Equat i ons f or vol t age f eedback wi t h vol t age source bi as net work.

R
B1
R
C
V
CC
R
B
R
B2

B
BE RB
B
I
V V
R


2
B B C
CE CC
C
I I I
V V
R
+ +


2

B B
RB CE
B
I I
V V
R
+

2
2
1

2
2
2
B
RB
B
I
V
R
Designer must choose I
B2
and V
RB2
such that V
CE
>V
RB2
>V
BE

) 1 (
) ( ) ( ) (
] ) 1 ( [ ) (
1 2 2 1
2 2 1
FE CBO FE
B C C FE B C B B ie B
CC FE CBO C B C B B BE
C
h I h
R R R h R R R R h R
V h I R R R R R V
I + +





+ + + + + +
+
.
+ +
.

. .
.
R
B2
V
BE
I
B2
R
B1
V
CE
.
I
B2
R
B2
I
B
I
B2
R
C
V
CC
V
CE
I
C
I
B
I
B2
I
C
.
R
C
h
F E
I
C BO
.
R
C
I
C BO
.
R
C
R
B2
V
BE
. .
R
C
.
R
B2
h
F E
h
i e
I
C BO
. .
R
C
R
B2
h
i e
I
C BO
.
R
B1
h
F E
I
C BO
.
R
B1
I
C BO
.
R
B1
R
B2
V
BE
. .
R
B1
.
R
B2
h
F E
h
i e
I
C BO
. .
R
B1
R
B2
h
i e
I
C BO
V
BE
. .
1
h
F E
h
i e
I
C BO
.
h
i e
I
C BO
V
C C
R
C
R
C
h
F E
.
R
C
.
R
B2
h
F E
h
i e
R
B1
h
F E
.
R
B1
.
R
B2
h
F E
h
i e
.
1
h
F E
h
i e
Designer must choose I
B2
R
B1
R
B2
R
C
V
CC

38 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS

vari ati ons i n these parameters based on the manufac-
turi ng processes.
A compari son of each ci rcui ts stabi l i ty factors wi l l
certai nl y provi de i nsi ght as to whi ch ci rcui t compen-
sates best for each parameter. MATHCAD was agai n
used to cal cul ate the parti al deri vati ves for each desi red
stabi l i ty factor. The stabi l i ty factors for bi as ci rcui t #1
are shown i n Tabl e 4. The stabi l i ty factors for the
remai ni ng ci rcui ts are shown i n the Appendi x.
The change i n col l ector current from the nomi nal
desi gn val ue at 25 degrees C i s then
cal cul ated by taki ng each stabi l i ty
factor and mul ti pl yi ng i t ti mes the
correspondi ng change i n each para-
meter. Each product i s then summed
to determi ne the absol ute change i n
col l ector current.
As an exampl e, the col l ector cur-
rent of the HBFP-0405 wi l l be ana-
l yzed as temperature i s i ncreased
from +25 degrees C to +65 degrees
C. For the HBFP-0405, I
CBO
i s typi -
cal l y 100 nA at +25 degrees C and
typi cal l y doubl es for ever y 10
degr ees C temper atur e r i se.
Therefore, I
CBO
wi l l i ncrease from
100 nA to 1600 nA at +65 degrees C.
The di fference or I
CBO
wi l l be 1600
100 = 1500 nA. The 1500 nA wi l l
then be mul ti pl i ed ti mes i ts corre-
spondi ng I
CBO
stabi l i ty factor.
V'
BE
at 25 degrees C was measured
at 0.755 vol ts for the HBFP-0405.
Si nce V'
BE
has a typi cal negati ve tem-
perature coeffi ci ent of 2 mV per
degree C, V'
BE
wi l l be 0.675 vol ts at
+65 degrees C. The di fference i n V'
BE
wi l l then be 0.675 0.755 = 0.08
vol ts. The 0.08 vol ts wi l l then be
mul ti pl i ed by i ts correspondi ng V'
BE
stabi l i ty factor.
L Tabl e 1. Bi as resi st or val ues f or HBFP- 0405 bi ased at V
CE
= 2 vol t s, V
CC
= 2.7
vol t s, I
C
= 5 mA, h
FE
= 80 f or t he vari ous bi as net works.
L Tabl e 2. Summar y of I
C
vari at i on versus h
FE
f or vari ous bi as net works f or t he
HBFP- 0405, V
CC
= 2.7 vol t s, V
CE
= 2 vol t s, I
C
= 5 mA, T
j
= + 25 degrees C.
L Fi gure 7. Equat i ons f or emi t t er f eedback bi as net work.
E


B ia s C irc u it N o n - Vo lta g e Vo lta g e Vo lta g e E m itte r
S ta b ilize d F e e d b a c k F e e d b a c k F e e d b a c k F e e d b a c k
B ia s B ia s N e two rk with C u rre n t with Vo lta g e B ia s
N e two rk S o u rc e B ia s S o u rc e B ia s N e two rk
N e two rk N e two rk
I
c
(mA)@ 3.14 3.63 3.66 4.53 4.70
minimum h
FE
I
c
(mA)@ 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
typical h
FE
I
c
(mA)@ 9.27 7.09 6.98 5.44 5.27
maximum h
FE
Percentage +85% +42% +40% +9% +5.4%
change in I
c
37% 27% 27% 9% 6%
from nominal I
c
R e sisto r N o n - Vo lta g e Vo lta g e Vo lta g e E m itte r
S ta b ilize d F e e d b a c k F e e d b a c k F e e d b a c k F e e d b a c k
B ia s B ia s N e two rk with C u rre n t with Vo lta g e B ia s
N e two rk S o u rc e B ia s S o u rc e B ia s N e two rk
N e two rk N e two rk
R
c
140 138 126 126
R
B
30770 19552 11539
R
B1
889 2169 2169
R
B2
3000 1560 2960
R
E
138
I
C
V
B E
. .
1
h
h
i e
I
.
h
i e
I
.
R
E
h
F E
I
.
R
E
I
.
R
1
R
2
V
B E
. .
R
1
.
R
2
h
F E
h
i e
I
. .
R
1
R
2
h
i e
I
. .
R
1
R
2
R
E
h
F E
I
. .
R
1
R
2
R
E
I
.
R
1
h
F E
I
.
R
1
I V
C C
.
1
h
F E
h
i e
R
E
h
F E
R
E
.
R
1
.
R
2
h
F E
h
i e
.
R
1
R
2
R
E
h
F E
.
R
1
R
2
R
E
R
1
h
F E
_
Pi ck I
B2
to be 10 percent of I
C
, whi ch i s equal to .0005 A



R
E
V
cc
R
B1
R
B2
40 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
h
FE
i s typi cal l y 80 at +25 degrees C and typi cal l y
i ncr eases at a r ate of 0.5 per cent per degr ee C.
Therefore, h
FE
wi l l i ncrease from 80 to 96 at +65
degrees C, maki ng h
FE
equal to 96 80 = 16. Agai n the
i s mul ti pl i ed by i ts correspondi ng stabi l i ty factor.
Once al l stabi l i ty terms are known, they can be
summed to gi ve the resul tant change i n col l ector current
from the nomi nal val ue at +25 degrees C. The resul ts of
the stabi l i ty anal ysi s are shown i n Tabl e 5. The nonsta-
bi l i zed ci rcui t #1 al l ows I
C
to i ncrease
about 27 percent, whi l e ci rcui ts 2 and 3
show a 19 to 20 percent i ncrease i n I
C
.
Somewhat surpri si ng i s that ci rcui t #4
shows a nearl y 30 percent i ncrease i n I
C
wi th temperature because V'
BE
i s the
major contri butor to stabi l i ty. Thi s i s
probabl y due to the i mpedance of the
R
B1
and R
B2
vol tage di vi der worki ng
agai nst V'
BE
. Both ci rcui ts #2 and #3
have ver y si mi l ar per for mance over
temperature. Both offer a si gni fi cant
i mprovement over ci rcui t #1 and #4.
Predi ctabl y, ci rcui t #5 offers the best
per for mance over temper atur e by
nature of the emi tter feedback. Emi tter
feedback can be used effecti vel y i f the
resi stor can be adequatel y RF bypassed
wi thout produci ng stabi l i ty probl ems.
The degree of control that each bi as
ci rcui t has on control l i ng I
C
due to h
FE
vari ati ons and the i ntri nsi c tempera-
ture dependent parameters i s defi ned
by the desi gn of the bi as ci r cui t.
I ncr easi ng the vol tage di ffer enti al
between V
CE
and V
CC
can enhance the
ci rcui ts abi l i ty to control I
C
. I n handset
appl i cati ons, thi s becomes di ffi cul t wi th
3-vol t batteri es as power sources. The
current that i s al l owed to fl ow through
the vari ous bi as resi stors can al so have
a major effect on I
C
control .
I n order to anal yze the vari ous confi gurati ons, an
AppCAD [5] modul e was generated. AppCAD consi sts of
vari ous modul es devel oped to hel p RF desi gners wi th
mi crostri p, stri pl i ne, detector, pi n di ode, MMI C bi asi ng,
RF ampl i fi er, transi stor bi asi ng and system l evel cal cu-
l ati ons, as wel l as other desi gn modul es. The AppCAD
BJT bi asi ng modul e al l ows the desi gner to fi ne-tune
each bi as ci rcui t desi gn for opti mum performance.
AppCAD al so al l ows the desi gner to i nput devi ce vari a-
ti on parameters pecu-
l i ar to a certai n man-
ufactur er s semi con-
ductor pr ocess. A
sampl e screen show-
i ng a typi cal bi as ci r-
cui t i s shown i n
Fi gur e 8. The data
from AppCAD i s used
to create the graphs
i n the fol l owi ng sec-
ti ons.
The fi rst exerci se
i s to graphi cal l y i l l us-
trate the percentage
L Tabl e 4. St abi l i t y f act ors f or non- st abi l i zed bi as net work # 1.
L Tabl e 5. Bi as st abi l i t y anal ysi s at + 65 degrees C usi ng t he HBFP- 0405, where V
cc
= 2.7 vol t s,
V
CE
= 2 vol t s and I
c
= 5 mA.
L Tabl e 3. Cal cul at i on of t he st abi l i t y f act ors and t hei r combi ned ef f ect on I
c
.












I
I
I
h V
CBO
C
CBO
FE BE

, ' constant
V
I
V
I h
BE
C
BE
CBO FE

'
'
, constant
h
I
h
I V
FE
C
FE
CBO BE

, ' constant
Col l ector Current at any Temperature (I
C
)
I
CBO
Stabi l i ty Factor
V'
BE
Stabi l i ty Factor
h
FE
Stabi l i ty Factor
I
I
I
V
I
V
h
I
h
CBO
C
CBO
BE
C
BE
FE
C
FE

'
'
h
FE
, V'
BE
= constant
I
CBO
, h
FE
= constant
I
CBO
, V'
BE
= constant
Fi rst cal cul ate the stabi l i ty factors
for V'
BE
, I
CBO
and h
FE
. Then, to
fi nd the change i n col l ector current
at any temperature, mul ti pl y the
change from 25 degrees C of each
temper atur e dependent var i abl e
wi th i ts correspondi ng stabi l i ty fac-
tor and sum.
I
C
= SI
CBO
I
CBO
+ SV'
BE
V'
BE
+ Sh
FE
h
FE
Bi as Ci rcui t Non- # 2 Vol t age # 3 Vol t age # 4 Vol t age # 5 Emi t t er
st abi l i zed Feedback Feedback Feedback Feedback
w/Current
Source
I
CBO
stability factor 81 52.238 50.865 19.929 11.286
V
BE
stability factor 2.56653 10
3
2.568011 10
3
3.956 10
3
0.015 6.224378 10
3
h
FE
stability factor 6.249877 10
5
4.031 10
5
3.924702 10
5
1.537669 10
5
8.707988 10
6
I
C
due to I
CBO
(mA) 0.120 0.078 0.076 0.030 0.017
I
C
due to V
BE
(mA) 0.210 0.205 0.316 1.200 0.497
I
C
due to h
FE
(mA) 0.999 0.645 0.628 0.246 0.140
Total I
C
(mA) 1.329 0.928 1.020 1.476 0.654
Percentage change 26.6% 18.6% 20.4% 29.5% 13.1%
in I
C
from nominal I
C
42 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
change i n I
C
versus h
FE
. AppCAD i s used to cal cul ate the
resi stor val ues for each of the fi ve bi as networks. The
HBFP-0405 transi stor i s bi ased at a V
CE
of 2 vol ts, I
C
of
5 mA, and V
CC
of 2.7 vol ts. Vari ous val ues of h
FE
are sub-
sti tuted i nto AppCAD; resul ts are presented i n Fi gure 9.
The data cl earl y shows that the emi tter feedback and
vol tage feedback wi th vol tage source networks are supe-
ri or to the remai ni ng ci rcui ts wi th regards to control l i ng
h
FE
at room temperature. These networks provi de a 4:1
i mprovement over the other two vol tage feedback net-
works.
AppCAD i s then used to si mul ate a temperature
change from T
j
= 25 de-grees C to +65 de-grees C wi th
h
FE
hel d constant. Whereas the ori gi nal Matchcad
anal ysi s assumed that T
c
= T
j
, AppCAD takes i nto
account that T
j
i s greater than T
c
. AppCAD cal cul ates
the thermal ri se based on DC power di ssi pated and the
thermal i mpedance of the devi ce. The resul ts of the
anal ysi s are shown i n Fi gure 10. The vol tage feedback
wi th vol tage source network performed nearl y as poorl y
as the non-stabi l i zed ci rcui t. Thi s i s due to the tempera-
ture i nduced V
BE
decrease and the bi as ci rcui t tryi ng to
keep V
BE
constant. Power bi pol ar desi gners wi l l often
uti l i ze a si l i con di ode i n pl ace of R
B2
so that the bi as
vol tage wi l l track the V
BE
of the transi stor. Dependi ng
on the i mpedance of the vol tage di vi der network, V
BE
coul d ri se, causi ng I
C
to i ncrease. The emi tter feedback
network performed very wel l as expected. The si mpl e
vol tage feedback network appeared to be opti mum when
consi deri ng the si mpl i ci ty of the ci rcui t.
Bi as networks 3 through 5 make use of an addi ti onal
resi stor that shunts some of the total power suppl y cur-
rent to ground. Properl y chosen, thi s addi ti onal bi as
current can be used to assi st i n control l i ng I
C
over tem-
perature and h
FE
vari ati ons from devi ce to devi ce.
AppCAD i s set up such that the desi gner has vari ous
choi ces regardi ng the amount of bi as resi stor current
that i s al l owed to fl ow from the power suppl y. AppCAD
i s used to anal yze each bi as ci rcui t.
The graphs i n Fi gures 11 and 12 pl ot the percentage
change i n I
C
versus the rati o of I
C
to I
RB1
. I
RB1
i s the cur-
rent fl owi ng through resi stor R
B1
, whi ch i s the summa-
ti on of base current I
B
and current fl owi ng through
resi stor R
B2
. The maxi mum permi ssi bl e rati o of I
C
to
I
RB1
i s l i mi ted by the h
FE
of the transi stor. Fi gure 11
represents the worst case condi ti on, where I
C
i ncreases
at maxi mum h
FE
and hi ghest temperature. Fi gure 12
shows the opposi te scenari o, i n whi ch the l owest I
C
resul ts from l owest h
FE
and l owest temperature. The
percentage change i s certai nl y more pronounced at hi gh
h
FE
and hi gh temperature.
Al though some of the predi cted resul ts are somewhat
surpri si ng, the bi as network wi th emi tter resi stor feed-
back, as expected, offers the best performance overal l .
For a rati o of I
C
to I
RB1
of 10 to 1 or l ess, the resul tant
change i n col l ector current i s l ess than 20 percent. The
vol tage feedback wi th vol tage source network performs
best wi th an I
C
to I
RB1
rati o between 6 and 10 wi th a
worst case change of 41 percent i n col l ector current.
To compl ete the compari son, two addi ti onal poi nts
representi ng the nonstabi l i zed and the vol tage feedback
networks have been added to the graphs. They are
L Fi gure 8. Agi l ent Technol ogi es AppCAD modul e f or BJT
bi asi ng.
-40.00%
-20.00%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
50 70 90 110 130 150
h
FE
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

D
e
v
i
a
t
i
o
n

F
r
o
m

A

Q
u
i
e
s
c
e
n
t

C
o
l
l
e
c
t
o
r

C
u
r
r
e
n
t
Nob-stabilized
Voltage Feedback
Voltage Feedback
w/Current Source
Voltage Feedback
w/Voltage Source
Emitter Feedback
L Fi gure 9. Percent change i n qui escent col l ect or current
versus h
FE
f or t he HBFP- 0405 where V
CC
= 2.7 vol t s, V
CE
= 2 vol t s, I
C
= 5 mA and T
j
= + 25 degrees C.
-40.00%
-30.00%
-20.00%
-10.00%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
-25 -15 -5 5 15 25 35 45 55 65
o
(C)
P
e
r
c
e
n
t

C
h
a
n
g
e

F
r
o
m

A

Q
u
i
e
s
c
e
n
t

C
o
l
l
e
c
t
o
r

C
u
r
r
e
n
t
Non-stabilized
Voltage Feedback
Voltage Feedback
w/Current Source
Vol tage Feedback
w/Voltage Source
Emitter Feedback
Temperature
L Fi gure 10. Percent change i n qui escent col l ect or current
versus t emperat ure f or t he HBFP- 0405 where V
CC
= 2.7
vol t s, V
CE
= 2 vol t s, I
C
= 5 mA and T
j
= + 25 degrees C.
44 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
shown as si ngl e poi nts because onl y the base current i s
i n addi ti on to the col l ector current. The nonstabi l i zed
network has an i ncrease of 129 percent, whi l e the vol t-
age feedback network has an i ncrease of 74.5 percent.
The vol tage feedback wi th current source network offers
no benefi t over the si mpl er vol tage feedback network.
Concl usi on
Thi s arti cl e di scussed the ci rcui t anal ysi s of four com-
monl y used stabi l i zed bi as networks and one nonstabi -
l i zed bi as network for the bi pol ar juncti on transi stor. I n
addi ti on to the presentati on of the basi c desi gn equa-
ti ons for the bi as resi stors for each network, an equati on
was presented for col l ector current i n terms of bi as
resi stors and devi ce parameters. The col l ector current
equati on was then di fferenti ated wi th respect to the
three pri mary temperature dependent vari abl es resul t-
i ng i n three stabi l i ty factors for each network. These
stabi l i ty factors pl us the basi c col l ector current equati on
gi ve the desi gner i nsi ght as to how best bi as transi stors
for best performance over h
FE
and temperature vari a-
ti ons. The basi c equati ons were then i ntegrated i nto an
AppCAD modul e, provi di ng the ci rcui t desi gner wi th an
easy and effecti ve way to anal yze bi as networks for bi po-
l ar transi stors. I
Acknowl edgement
The authors woul d l i ke to thank Bob Myers at Agi l ent
Technol ogi es i n Newark, CA, for hi s fi ne work i n con-
verti ng the bi pol ar bi asi ng equati ons i nto a very effec-
ti ve and useful AppCAD modul e wi th whi ch vari ous bi as
networks can be easi l y desi gned and eval uated.
Ref erences
1. A Cost-Effective Amplifier Design Approach at 425
MHz Using the HXTR-3101 Silicon Bipolar Transistor,
Hewl ett-Packard Appl i cati on Note 980, February 1981
(out of pri nt).
2. Kenneth Ri chter, Desi gn DC Stabi l i ty I nto Your
Transi stor Ci rcui ts, Microwaves, December 1973: 4046.
3. Microwave Transistor Bias Considerations,
Hewl ett-Packard Appl i cati on Note 944-1, August 1980,
(out of pri nt).
4. 1800 to 1900 MHz Amplifier using the HBFP-0405
and HBFP-0420 Low Noise Silicon Bipolar Transistors,
Hewl ett-Packar d Appl i cati on Note 1160, November
1998, publ i cati on number 5968-2387E.
5. AppCAD i s avai l abl e from Agi l ent Technol ogi es
through the companys Web si te, www.semi conductor.
agi l ent.com.
Aut hor i nf ormat i on
Al Ward i s an appl i cati ons engi neer wi th Agi l ent
Technol ogi es Wi rel ess Semi conductor Di vi si on, 1410 E.
Renner Road, Sui te 100, Ri chardson, TX, 75082. He may
be reached at 972-699-4369, or vi a e-mai l at al _ward@
agi l ent.com. Bryan Ward was a summer SEED stu-
dent wi th Agi l ent Technol ogi es.
Maximum h
FE
and +65
o
C
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
1 10 100
Ratio of Ic to IRB1
Non-stabilized
Voltage Feedback
Voltage Feedback
w/Current Source
Voltage Feedback
w/Voltage Source
Emitter Feedback
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
a
g
e

C
h
a
n
g
e

f
r
o
m

I
c

(
+
)
L Fi gure 12. Percent change i n qui escent col l ect or current
versus rat i o of I
C
t o I
RB1
f or mi ni mum h
FE
and T
j
= 25
degrees C f or t he HBFP- 0405, where V
CC
= 2.7 vol t s, V
CE
= 2 vol t s and I
C
= 5 mA.
L Fi gure 11. Percent change i n qui escent col l ect or current
versus rat i o of I
C
t o I
RB1
f or maxi mum h
FE
and T
j
= + 65
degrees C f or t he HBFP- 0405, where V
C
= 2.7 vol t s, V
CE
= 2 vol t s and I
C
= 5 mA.
46 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
L St abi l i t y f act ors f or vol t age f eedback wi t h current source bi as net work # 3.
V
I
V
I h
BE
C
BE
CBO FE

'
'
, constant
I
I
I
h V
CBO
C
CBO
FE BE

, ' = constant
h
I
h
I V
FE
C
FE
CBO BE

, ' constant
Col l ector Current at any
Temperature (I
C
)
I
CBO
Stabi l i ty Factor
V'
BE
Stabi l i ty Factor
h
FE
Stabi l i ty Factor
h
V A R R I h V
R h A R h R R R
I h
FE
BE B C CBO FE CC
B ie B FE C C B
CBO FE
+ ( )
[ ]
+ ( ) + + + ( )

1
]
1
1
+ + ( )
'
2
2 1
1
1
) 1 (
) 1 ( ) (
FE C B ie
FE CBO BE CC FE
h R R h
A h I V V h
+
.

. + +
.
'
+ +
.
V
I
V
I h
BE
C
BE
CBO FE

'
'
, constant
I
I
I
h V
CBO
C
CBO
FE BE

, ' = constant
) 1 (
) 1 (
FE C B ie
FE
h R R h
A h

.
.
+

+ + +
) 1 (
FE C B ie
FE
h R R h
h



+ + +
.



C ie B C FE
CBO BE CC
R h R R h
I A V V ' +
.
.
+ + +
2
) (
) (
C ie B C FE
CBO CBO BE CC FE C
R h R R h
I A I A V V h R
+ +
.

. .
' + + .
+
C B ie
R R h A + +
h
I
h
I V
FE
C
FE
CBO BE

, ' constant
Col l ector Current at any Temperature (I
C
)
I
CBO
Stabi l i ty Factor
V'
BE
Stabi l i ty Factor
h
FE
Stabi l i ty Factor
where
L St abi l i t y f act ors f or vol t age f eedback bi as net work # 2.
Appendi x

















where A = R
B1
+ R
B2
+ R
C
B = V'
BE
(R
B1
+ R
B2
+ R
C
)
C = (R
B
+ h
ie
) (R
B1
+ R
B2
+ R
C
)
D = (R
B
+ h
ie
) (R
B1
+ R
B2
+ R
C
)
+ R
B2
(h
FE
R
C
+ R
C
+ R
B1
)

50 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
L St abi l i t y f act ors f or vol t age f eedback wi t h vol t age source bi as net work # 4.
. .
.
Collector Current at any Temperature (IC
)
I
CBO
Stability Fact or


V
BE
Stability Factor
h
FE
Stability Factor


Where:

C
CC
V D B
ie
h
CBO
I A
CBO
I ( )
.
( ) +

C
A B h
ie











[ ]
C
E h I
h
R
h
R
I
ie CBO
FE
B
FE
C
CBO
2
1
2

C
R
R
R
R
B
B
B
C
1
2
1
2


constant V , h
I
I
I
BE FE
CBO
C
CBO




constant h , I
V
I
V
FE CBO
BE
C
BE




2 2
2
1
2
2
1
FE FE B
B
FE B
C
h h R
R
h R
R
E



BE
B
BE
B
BE
B
C
V
R
V
R
V
R
R
D
2
1
2
]




+ +

+ + +
FE FE B
B
FE B
C
ie
FE
B
FE
C
C
h h R
R
h R
R
h
h
R
h
R
R C
1
2
1
2
1

1
1
2
1
2
1
2 2


FE B
B
FE B
B
B
C
FE B
C
h R
R
h R
R
R
R
h R
R
B
1
1
B
FE
B
C
FE
C
R
h
R
R
h
R
A + + +






+
+
E h
h
R
h
R
C
V D B h I + A I
ie
FE
B
FE
C CC ie CBO CBO
2
1
2 2
constant V , I
h
I
h
BE CBO
FE
C
FE

+
+

.



+
. .
[

]
[
+ +

V
I
V
I h
BE
C
BE
CBO FE

'
'
, constant
I
I
I
h V
CBO
C
CBO
FE BE

, ' = constant
h
I
h
I V
FE
C
FE
CBO BE

, ' constant
Col l ector Current at any
Temperature (I
C
)
I
CBO
Stabi l i ty Factor
V'
BE
Stabi l i ty Factor
h
FE
Stabi l i ty Factor
B
R
R h
R
R
R
R h
R
R h
C
B FE
C
B
B
B FE
B
B FE

+ +

+ + +
2 2
1
2
1
2
1
1

where:
52 APPLI ED MI CROWAVE & WI RELESS
Collector Current at any Temperature (I
C
)
I
CBO
Stabilit y Factor



V
BE
Stabilit y Factor



h
FE
Stabilit y Factor



Where:








FE
E
FE
E
E
FE
E
FE FE
ie
h
R
R
R
R
h
R
R
R
R
h
R
h R
R
h
h C
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
+ + + + +








C
D B I A I h
CBO CBO ie
+ + ) ( ) (

C
B A h
ie
+
constant h , I
V
I
V
FE CBO
BE
C
BE




constant V , h
I
I
I
BE FE
CBO
C
CBO




C
R
R
2
1
1

CC BE BE
V V
R
R
V D +
2
1

1
1
2
1
2
1
R
h
R
R
h
R
R
R
R
h
R
R
R
B
FE
E
FE
E
E
FE
E
+ + + + +
1
1
2
1
2
1
+ + +

FE FE
h R
R
h R
R
A














+
E
h R
R
h
h
C
D A I h B I
FE FE
ie
CBO ie CBO
2
2
1
2 2
1
.






+
C
h R
R
h
I h E I
FE FE
CBO ie CBO
2
2
1
2
1

constant V , I
h
I
h
BE CBO
FE
C
FE

[ ]

[ ( ) ]
+

( )
+

L St abi l i t y f act ors f or emi t t er f eedback bi as net work # 5.
V
I
V
I h
BE
C
BE
CBO FE

'
'
, constant
I
I
I
h V
CBO
C
CBO
FE BE

, ' = constant
h
I
h
I V
BE
FE
C
FE
CBO BE

, ' constant
Col l ector Current at any
Temperature (I
C
)
I
CBO
Stabi l i ty Factor
V'
BE
Stabi l i ty Factor
h
FE
Stabi l i ty Factor








FE
E
FE
E
E
FE
E
FE FE
ie
h
R
R
R
R
h
R
R
R
R
h
R
h R
R
h
h C
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
+ + + + +








2
1
2
2
1
2
FE FE
E
FE
E
h
R
h
R
R
R
h
R
E

CC BE BE
V V
R
R
V D +
2
1

1
1
2
1
2
1
R
h
R
R
h
R
R
R
R
h
R
R
R
B
FE
E
FE
E
E
FE
E
+ + + + +
1
1
2
1
2
1
+ + +

FE FE
h R
R
h R
R
A
( )
+

I E h I
h
R
R h
C
I B h I
CBO ie CBO
FE FE
CBO ie CBO
+

1
]
1
1

2
1
2
2
1
+

_
,

1
]
1
1
A D
C
h
h
R
R h
E
ie
FE FE
2 2
1
2
2
1
where