c Copyright 2010. W. Marshall Leach, Jr., Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The Common-Drain Amplier Basic Circuit

Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of a single stage common-drain amplier. The object is to solve for the small-signal voltage gain, input resistance, and output resistance.

Figure 1: Common-drain amplier.

DC Solution
(a) Replace the capacitors with open circuits. Look out of the 3 MOSFET terminals and make Thvenin equivalent circuits as shown in Fig. 2. VGG = VSS = V V + R2 + V R1 R1 + R2 RSS = RS RGG = R1 kR2 VDD = V + RDD = 0

(b) Write the loop equation between the VGG and the VSS nodes. VGG VSS = VGS + IS RSS = VGS + ID RSS (c) Use the equation for the drain current to solve for VGS . r ID VGS = + VT O K 1

Figure 2: Bias circuit. (d) Solve the equations simultaneously. r ID ID RSS + + [(VGG VSS ) VT O ] = 0 K (e) Let V1 = (VGG VSS ) VT O . Solve the quadratic for ID . 2 1 + 4KV1 RSS 1 ID = 2RSS K p > VGS VT O = ID /K for the active mode.

(d) Verify that VDS

VDS = VD VS = (VDD ID RDD ) VGG = VDD VSS ID RDD

Small-Signal or AC Solutions
(a) Redraw the circuit with V + = V = 0 and all capacitors replaced with short circuits as shown in Fig. ??. (b) Calculate gm , rs , and r0 from the DC solution. p gm = 2 KID rs = 1 gm r0 = VA + VCE IC

(c) Replace the circuits looking out of the gate with a Thvenin equivalent circuit as shown in Fig. 4. R1 kR2 vtg = vi Rtg = R1 kR2 Rs + R1 kR2

Figure 3: Signal circuit.

Figure 4: Signal circuit with Thvenin gate circuit.

Exact Solution
Note that the Thvenin resistance Rtd seen looking out of the drain is zero. This exact solution is also valid for circuits where Rtd 6= 0. (a) Replace the circuit seen looking into the source with its Thvenin equivalent circuit as shown in Fig. 5. Solve for vs(oc) . vs(oc) = vtg r0 rs + r0 ris = rs r0 + Rtd rs + r0 Rtd = 0

Figure 5: Thvenin source circuit. (b) Solve for vo . vo = vs(oc) RS kRL R1 kR2 RS kRL = vi ris + RS kRL Rs + R1 kR2 ris + RS kRL RS kRL vo R1 kR2 = vi Rs + R1 kR2 ris + RS kRL rin = R1 kR2 (e) Solve for rout . rout = ris kRS (f) Special case for r0 = . vs(oc) = vtg ris = rs

(c) Solve for the voltage gain. Av = (d) Solve for rin .

Example 1 For the CS amplier of Fig. ??, it is given that Ri = 5 k, R1 = 5 M, R2 = 1 M, RD = 10 k, RS = 3 k, R3 = 50 , RL = 20 k, V + = 24 V, V = 24 V, K0 = 0.001 A/ V2 , VT O = 1.75 V, = 0.016 V1 . Solve for the gain Av = vo /vi , the input resistance rin , and the output resistance rout . The capacitors can be assumed to be ac short circuits at the operating frequency.

Solution. For the dc bias solution, replace all capacitors with open circuits. The Thvenin voltage and resistance seen looking out of the gate are VGG = V + R2 + V R1 = 16 V R1 + R2 RBB = R1 kR2 = 833.3 k

The Thvenin voltage and resistance seen looking out of the source are VSS = V and RSS = RS . To calculate ID , we neglect the Early eect by setting K = K0 . The bias equation for ID is 2 1 + 4KV1 RSS 1 ID = = 1.655 mA 2 KRSS To test for the active mode, we calculate the drain-source voltage VDS = VD VS = V + V + ID RSS = 43.036 V p This must be greater than VGS VT O = ID /K = 1.286 V. It follows that the MOSFET is biased in its active mode. For the small-signal ac analysis, we need gm , rs , and r0 . When the Early eect is accounted for, the new value of K is given by K = K0 (1 + VDS ) = 1.689 103 A/ V2 Note that this is an approximation because the Early eect was neglected in calculating VDS . However, the approximation should be close to the true value. It follows that gm , rs , and r0 are given by p 1 rs = = 299.135 gm = 2 KID = 3.343 103 A/ V gm r0 =

1 + VDS = 63.78 k ID For the small-signal analysis, V + and V are zeroed and the three capacitors are replaced with ac short circuits. The Thvenin voltage and resistance seen looking out of the gate are given by R1 kR2 = 0.994vi Rtg = Ri kR1 kR2 = 4.97 k vtg = vi Ri + R1 kR2 The Thvenin voltage and resistance seen looking into the source are vs(oc) = vtg r0 = 0.989vi rs + r0 Rtd = 0 ris = rs r0 + Rtd = 297.738 rs + r0

The output voltage is given by vo = vs(oc) Thus the voltage gain is RS kRL = 0.888vi ris + RS kRL

vo = 0.888 vi The input and output resistances are given by Av = rin = R1 kR2 = 833.3 k 5 rout = ris kRS = 270.86

Alternate Solutions
Because the Thvenin resistance Rtd seen looking out of the drain is zero, the drain-source resistance r0 connects from source to ground. In this case, an exact solution can be obtained with r0 in the circuit. In cases where Rtd > 0, let r0 = (an open circuit) to obtain approximate solutions. Source Equivalent Circuit Solution (a) After making the Thvenin equivalent circuits looking out of the gate, replace the MOSFET with the source equivalent circuit as shown in Fig. 6.

Figure 6: Source equivalent circuit. (b) Solve for vo . vo = vtg r0 kRS kRL R1 kR2 r0 kRS kRL = vi rs + r0 kRS kRL Rs + R1 kR2 rs + r0 kRS kRL r0 kRS kRL vo R1 kR2 = vi Rs + R1 kR2 rs + r0 kRS kRL rin = R1 kR2 (e) Solve for rout . rout = r0 krs kRS Example 2 Use the source equivalent circuit solutions to calculate the values of Av , rin , and rout for Example 1. Av = 0.994 0.893 = 0.888 rin = R1 kR2 = 833.3 k rout = 270.86

(c) Solve for the voltage gain. Av = (d) Solve for rin .

Figure 7: Hybrid- model. Model Solution (a) After making the Thvenin equivalent circuits looking out of the gate and source, replace the MOSFET with the model as shown in Fig. 7. (b) Solve for i0s . vtg = v + i0s r0 kRS kRL = vtg i0d i0 + i0s r0 kRS kRL = s + i0s r0 kRS kRL gm gm

= i0s =

1 + r0 kRS kRL gm vtg

(c) Solve for vo . vo = i0s r0 kRS kRL = 1 + r0 kRS kRL gm R1 kR2 r0 kRS kRL = vi 1 Rs + R1 kR2 + r0 kRS kRL gm r0 kRS kRL

(d) Solve for the voltage gain. Av = r0 kRS kRL vo R1 kR2 = 1 vi Rs + R1 kR2 + r0 kRS kRL gm rin = R1 kR2

(e) Solve for rin . (f) Solve for rout .First, solve for the open-circuit output voltage. This is the output voltage with RL = . r0 kRS vo(oc) = vtg 1 + r0 kRS gm 7

Next, solve for the short-circuit output current. This is the output current with RL = 0. The output current is given by io = r0 kRS kRL r0 kRS vo vtg vtg = = 1 1 RL RL R + r0 kRS + r0 kRS kRL + r0 kRS kRL L gm gm io(sc) = The output resistance is given by rout = vo(oc) 1 r0 kRS 1 = = kr0 kRS 1 io(sc) gm gm + r0 kRS gm vtg = gm vtg 1 gm

Now, let RL = 0 to obtain

Note this is simply rs kr0 kRS , an answer that is obvious using the source equivalent circuit. Example 3 Use the model solutions to calculate the values of Av , rin , and rout for Example 1. Av = 0.994 0.893 = 0.888 rin = R1 kR2 = 833.3 k T Model Solution (a) After making the Thvenin equivalent circuits looking out of the gate and source, replace the MOSFET with the T model as shown in Fig. 8. rout = 270.86

Figure 8: T model circuit. (b) Solve for i0s . vtg i0s (rs + r0 kRS kRL ) vtg = i0s = rs + r0 kRS kRL = 8

(c) Solve for vo . vo = i0s r0 kRS kRL = vtg r0 kRS kRL rs + r0 kRS kRL R1 kR2 r0 kRS kRL = vi Rs + R1 kR2 rs + r0 kRS kRL r0 kRS kRL vo R1 kR2 = vi Rs + R1 kR2 rs + r0 kRS kRL rin = R1 kR2 (f) Solve for rout . First, solve for the open-circuit output voltage. This is the output voltage with RL = . r0 kRS vo(oc) = vtg rs + r0 kRS

(d) Solve for the voltage gain. Av = (e) Solve for rin .

Next, solve for the short-circuit output current. This is the output current with RL = 0. The output current is given by io = r0 kRS kRL r0 kRS vo vtg vtg = = RL rs + r0 kRS kRL RL rs + r0 kRS kRL RL + r0 kRS io(sc) = The output resistance is given by rout = vo(oc) r0 kRS = rs = rs kr0 kRS io(sc) rs + r0 kRS vtg rs

Now, let RL = 0 to obtain

This is the same answer obtained from the source equivalent circuit. Example 4 Use the T-model solutions to calculate the values of Av , rin , and rout for Example 1. Av = 0.994 0.893 = 0.888 rin = R1 kR2 = 833.3 k rout = 270.86