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Transistor Biasing Q Or Quiescent Point, DC Load Line, AC Load Line, Stablity Factor

Q- point or quiescent or operating point of BJT


Q-point is an acronym for quiescent point. Q-point is the operating point of the
transistor (ICQ,VCEQ) at which it is biased. The concept of Q-point is used when
transistor act as an amplifying device and hence is operated in active region of
input output characteristics. To operate the BJT at a point it is necessary to provide
voltages and currents through external sources.
Importance of q point in transistor
Normally whatever signals we want to amplify will be of the order milli volts or less.
If we directly input these signals to the amplifier they will not get amplified as
transistor needs voltages greater than cut in voltages for it to be in active region.
Only in active region of operation transistor acts as amplifier. So we can establish
appropriate DC voltages and currents through BJT by external sources so that BJT
operates in active region and superimpose the AC signals to be amplified. The DC
voltage and current are so chosen that the transistor remains in active region for
entire AC signal excursion. All the input AC signals variations happen around Qpoint.

Q-point is generally taken to be the intersection point of load line with the output
characteristics of the transistor. There can be infinite number of intersection points
but q-point is selected in such a way that irrespective of AC input signal swing the
transistor remain in active region.

DC load line
The dc load line is the locus of I C and VCE at which BJT remains in active region i.e. it
represents all the possible combinations of IC and VCE for a given amplifier.

Procedure to draw DC load line


To draw DC load line of a transistor we need to find the saturation current and
cutoff voltage. The saturation current is the maximum possible current through the
transistor and occurs at the point where the voltage across the collector is
minimum. The cutoff voltage is the maximum possible voltage across the collector
and occurs at zero collector current. A common emitter amplifier is shown the
figure below

The

biasing and blocking capacitors

acts

as

open circuit for DC signals hence

can

be

represented

by

open

circuit

terminals.

The DC equivalent of amplifier is

shown

the figure.

in

From the DC equivalent circuit by applying Kirchoffs voltage Law in collector


loop in
Vce = Vcc Rc *Ic
The two points on the line are found as follows

(Equation 1)

Cutoff point : To find the cutoff point equate the collector current to zero(actually
in cutoff the collector current is I COwhich will be of micro amperes order and hence
can be assumed to be zero). In equation 1 equating Ic to zero the cutoff point is (Vcc,
0).
Saturation point : To find the saturation point equate the collector voltage to
zero(actually in saturation the collector voltage will be around o.2 Volts which is
small and hence can be assumed to be zero). In equation 1 equating Vce to zero the
cutoff point is (0, Vcc/Rc).
(Vcc, 0) is cut off point where transistor enters in to cut off region from active region
and (0, Vcc/Rc) is saturation point where the transistor enters saturation region.

AC load line:
DC load line analysis gives the variation of collector currents and voltage for static
situation of Zero AC voltage. The ac load line tells you the maximum possible output
voltage swing for a given common-emitter amplifier i.e. the ac load line will tell you
the maximum possible peak-to-peak output voltage V ce(cut off) from a given amplifier.
For AC input signal frequencies the biasing capacitors are chosen such that they
acts as short circuits and as open circuits for DC voltages. Hence the AC signal
equivalent circuit is shown in the figure below along with the AC load line

From the AC equivalent circuit we will get

Vce =
The

(Rc//Rl)*Ic
AC

output

Vce can

quiescent

at

most

Vceq (since

normally

chosen

such a way that the maximum input

in

the

have

point

is

signal

excursion is symmetrical on both

negative

and positive half cycles i.e Vmax= +

Vceq and

Vmin =

-Vceq so that the transistor

stays in active region for entire input signal excursion ), hence the maximum
current for that corresponding Vceq is Vceq / (Rc//Rl). Also output collector current can
be at most Icq hence the maximum voltage for that corresponding I cq is Icq*(Rc//Rl).
Hence by adding quiescent currents the end points of AC load line are
Ic(sa)t = Icq+ Vceq/(Rc//Rl) and Vce(off) = Vceq+ Icq*(Rc//Rl)

Below is the graph showing DC and AC load lines

Why stabilization of operating point is needed?


In practice the operating point varies shifts due to drift in temperature e.t.c. As
temperature increases Ico, , Vbe gets affected. The reverse saturation current almost
doubles for every 10 degree rise in collector junction temperature. The base to
emitter voltage decreases by 2.5 milli volts for every one degree rise in
temperature. Hence the operating point should be stabilized against the variations
in temperature so that it remains stable. To achieve this biasing circuits are
introduced.
Biasing circuits for BJT
The main aim of biasing circuits is to stabilize the transistors operating point
irrespective of variations in Ico, , Vbe which vary because of varying temperature.
Mainly the variation of Ico with temperature is a significant one and has to be taken
care of.
Stability factors
To quantify how good these these biasing circuits are in stabilizing the operating
point stability factors are defined with respect to variation in these transistor
parameters.
Stability Factor S = Ic/Ico
Similarly S = Ic/ , S= Ic/ Vbe
(Hand out on Biasing circuits is also uploaded)

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