Chapter-3

Wide-Band Amplifiers

INTRODUCTION
High frequency communication circuits requires amplifiers. Mixer output IF amplifiers Output of modulator / demodulator Repeaters Power amplifiers Video amplifiers All amplifiers have a high frequency limit beyond which it does not provided the needed gain. In designing of amplifiers , the frequency response of amplifiers have to be considered.

Introduction
Frequency Response of various amplifiers are found in this chapter High frequency model of BJT. High frequency model of FET. Miller Theorem High Frequency Analysis of BJT Amplifier High Frequency Analysis of FET Amplifier Broadbanding techniques
Input Compensation Feedback Neutralization

Cascode Amplifier

High Frequency Performance OF BJT

Low frequency model of BJT

Where r is the input resistance gm is the transconductance

High frequency model

Where r is the input resistance ro is the output resistance c is the base to emitter terminal capacitance c is the base to collector terminal capacitance co is the collector to emitter terminal capacitance

Analysis:

Common emmiter short circuit current gain (Ai ) Unity gain frequency (fT ) -3dB frequency

Derivations

From the above equations it is seen that: at low frequencies the short circuit current gain is At higher frequencies the gain is reduced by due to c and c .

At high frequency, the short circuit current gain

Analysis of the high frequency current gain

Unity Gain Frequency

Current Gain-Bandwidth Product

Bandwidth = Unity Gain Frequency = T
The Unity Gain Frequency , T is also called as Current Gain Bandwidth Product

f is the bandwidth is the gain Therefore fT is referred to as the current gain bandwidth product of the device

Significance of fT
The gain bandwidth product fT can be readily used to find the current gain at any frequency

At frequency below short circuit current gain is constant = At frequency above short circuit current gain is readily determined by Since, Therefore knowledge of T allows us to find the gain at any given frequency

Problem-1

Given Data:
Ic = 10 mA, = 100, fT = 3 x 108 Hz, C = 4pF Short circuit current gain Ai is determined by

Contd:

Conclusion of High Frequency BJT analysis

At high frequency, the short circuit current gain Analysis of the high frequency current gain
Unity Gain Frequency

Plot of Current Gain

Current Gain-Bandwidth Product

High Frequency Analysis of FET

Small Signal , Low Frequency model

High Frequency Model

The only difference is that the resistor r is included in the model for bipolar transistor

The mid frequency input impedance of the common emmiter amplifier is r .

Whereas the mid frequency input impedance of the common source amplifier is . The output circuits of the two devices are the same The high frequency analysis of JFET model is similar to Bipolar model to obtain the frequency response

From such analysis the Unity Gain Frequency for JFET can be written as

Conclusion of High Frequency FET analysis

High Frequency FET model

Current Gain-Bandwidth Product Short Circuit Current Gain

Plot of Current gain

Miller Theorem

Equivalent Circuit

An equivalent circuit of the amplifier with feedback resistor

Equivalent Circuit

High Frequency Analysis of FET Amplifier

High Frequency Model of FET

Applying MILLERS THEOREM to the feedback capacitor Cgd

Frequency Analysis of FET Amplifier

Plot of Voltage gain v/s Frequency
Voltage gain at low frequency without considering the effects of parasitic capacitance

Vo = I x RL

Output side

Vg= I x Rg

I = Vi / (R + Rg )
Vg = [Vi / (R + Rg )] x Rg Input Side

Low Frequency Voltage Gain

High Frequency analysis of High voltage gain FET amplifier

Miller Effect Limits the performance of High voltage gain amplifier
To find the voltage gain Av , the equivalent fig. seen is simplified as

VTH = Vi

Derivation of High frequency Voltage Gain

High Frequency Equivalent Circuit

To find input voltage Vi

Apply Voltage divider theorem

VOLTAGE GAIN AT LOW FREQUENCY (Common Source FET Amplifier)

VOLTAGE GAIN AT HIGH FREQUENCY (Common Source FET Amplifier)

Frequency Response Analysis of the derived voltage gain

Plotting the frequency dependent voltage gain v/s frequency and determining the upper cutoff frequency

GAIN AT HIGH FREQUENCY

The two high frequency poles are at 1 and 2.

1 is the high frequency pole due to the input circuit.

2 is the high frequency pole due to the output circuit. The high frequency pole due to the input circuit. The high frequency pole due to the output circuit.

Significance of the two poles studied

ANALYSIS SHOWS THAT THE UPPER FREQUENCY LIMIT OF THE AMPLIFIER IS USUALLY DETERMINED BY THE POLE OF THE INPUT CIRCUIT

Miller effect leads to high value of CT ( as the input capacitance is amplified by the voltage gain) CT is larger than Co . (as CT is amplified by the voltage gain.) Hence 1 is much smaller than the 2 value unless R is very small.

Since 1 < 2 , The upper cutoff frequency of the voltage gain is determined by 1

Significance of 1, is that it is the plot of gain is almost constant (low frequency voltage gain ) till 1 and reduces by 0.707 Avmax at 1 Therefore , high value of CT , limits the frequency reponse of the common source amplifier circuit

Problem

The High frequency equivalent circuit with the given data

Solution

Problem on Common Emitter BJT amplifier

For analysis we apply Miller theorem

Simplified equivalent

To Plot the Frequency response Mid Frequency Voltage Gain

Mid Frequency Voltage Gain is frequency independent term Therefore we can neglect the effect of parasitic capacitances Vo = (gm V ) 600 Where, V = Vth

Common Base BJT amplifier

Common Base amplifiers are used in many high frequency applications because they have a wider bandwidth than does a equivalent common emitter amplifier has.

 In CB configuration the i/p impedance is relatively small and output impedance is quite large.

Typical values of ri is few to maximum of 50 ro is from (i.e in M range)

CB amplifier has Wider Bandwidth than CE amplifier ?

For CE amplifier : Voltage G ain

For CB amplifier : Voltage Gain

i.e the input capacitance reduces This leads to an increase in cutoff frequency 1 This effectively causes the gain of the CB amplifier to be lesser than the CE amplifier (because of low input impedance) and BW is wider than CE configuration

Circuit diagram of CB amplifier

High frequency model

Apply Miller theorem

ro is very high (MHz) therefore ignored (ro in parallel with RL )

Analysis (for the corner frequencies)

Analysis can be done either by computing the gain Vo/Vi and then find 1 and 2. Analysis can be done by analyzing the input and output circuit separately

Input circuit is analyzed to find 1 Output circuit is analyzed to find 2

Analysis of input circuit ( 1)

Where,

and,

Where,

Analysis of the output circuit

Similar to the analysis of the input circuit , the output circuit is analyzed to find Vo / I L in order to get the corner frequency due to the output circuit

Conclusion on the high frequency analysis of the common base BJT amplifier
Analysis of input circuit gives

Using approximations and Miller theorem

Analysis of output circuit gives 2

High frequency model of CB amplifier For Common Base Amplifier the output circuit corner frequency can be lower than the corner frequency of the input circuit

Problem

High frequency model of CB amplifier

Voltage Gain of CB amp. Is much less than that of CE amp. Bandwidth of CB amp. is larger than CE amp.

BROADBANDING
BROADBANDING Techniques are basically the techniques used for improving the frequency response of the basic amplifier circuit. In designing high frequency-high gain amplifier miller capacitor plays an important role in reducing the bandwidth As gain increases miller capacitance increases and this capacitor invariably limits the upper frequency response of the amplifier

In Communication Circuits
Narrowband amplifier: Which includes some type of tuned circuit. Wideband amplifier: Such as Video amplifiers in which it is necessary to maintain gain relatively constant over several decades of frequency. The bandwidth of single stage amplifier can be extended by adding frequency sensitive components to the circuits.

This method is called as BROADBANDING.

High Frequency Analysis of Common Emitter BJT amplifier

The bandwidth of the CE amplifier is decided by the input Miller Capacitance (Cm)

Voltage Gain of CE amplifier is

High Frequency Analysis of Common Emitter BJT amplifier

Midband voltage gain Bandwidth (cutoff frequency)

From the above equation it is seen that source impedance should be as small as possible to maximize the voltage gain and bandwidth

Broadbanding Techniques
To improve the frequency band few techniques are Input Compensation Feedback techniques Neutralization

Input Compensation
Input Compensation is a method used to cancel the effect of miller capacitance (Cm) on the input with no reduction in voltage gain.
Bandwidth can be extended by modifying the amplifier input circuit.

Input Compensation is a method in which a capacitor Cs is added in parallel with the input resistance Rs

Basic Principle
By using input compensation method The Bandwidth is determined by the output side of the circuit (2) and not by the input circuit ( 1) Where , 2 > 1

Design

Cs has to be selected such that :

The Bandwidth is determined by the output side of the circuit (2) and not by the input circuit ( 1)

Neutralization
Neutralization is a wideband technique

The concept is to cancel out the feedback current flowing through the C with an equal and opposite current. Neutralizing the parasitic capacitance C , which appears between the input and the output terminals of the transistor.

Neutralization
In order to prevent these unnecessary oscillations, neutralization is done in RF amplifiers

Voltage amplifier with Neutralization

This is the most commonly used method of neutralization.

Working

CN = Neutralization Capacitor C = Parasitic capacitance

Neutralizing Current flowing through CN (I CN ) will cancel out the current I C . Hence the effect of C on the output is overcome.
However the circuit works fine if the parasitic capacitance is known precisely. Inaccuracy of the circuit may result in relatively narrowband amplifier

Second method of neutralization

Value of L is chosen so that it forms a parallel tuned circuit with C at the frequency of interest. Hence it provides high impedance at this frequency Thereby decoupling the input and the output side via C.

Feedback

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK SYSTEM

Advantage of Negative feedback over Neutralization

Summary: Benefits of Negative Feedback

1) Gain desensitization to transistor parameters 2) Bandwidth enhancement by the factor (1 + loop gain)

3) Modification of I/O impedances Rin is increased by the factor (1 + loop gain) Rout is decreased by the factor (1 + loop gain) 4) Linearity improvement Gain is more uniform for different signal levels.

Types of Feedback

Basic Principle

Current to Voltage Feedback (Feedback is a voltage to output current)

Common Emitter Amplifier with Current series Feedback

Here a voltage proportional to the load current is fedback to the input via emitter resistor RE
This feedback Increases the amplifier input impedance and decreases its output impedance

Without Feedback

Ce is called as the bypass capacitor

Vi = Vs

With Feedback

Vi = Vs - ieRe Effective input voltage between the base and the emitter is reduced (NEGATIVE FEEDBACK) The feedback voltage ieRe is proportional to the output current (ie ic) (CURRENT SERIES FEEDBACK)

High Frequency Model

Frequency Analysis

Multiplying and dividing this equation with

The gain without feedback is

Therefore the feedback factor is

This Proves that with negative feedback The midfrequency gain with feedback can be made independent of the transistor parameters.

Bandwidth

Which shows that the bandwidth can be made independent of the Miller capacitance

Voltage to Current Feedback

The common emitter amplifier shown in figure generates a feedback current through the resistor RF which is proportional to output voltage. This feedback Reduces the amplifier input impedance.

Mid Frequency Equivalent Circuit

Frequency Analysis

Features :

High Frequency Amplifier using MOSFET

Basic Common Source MOSFET amplifier

High Frequency Equivalent Circuit

Simplified Circuit (miller theorem)

Cutoff Frequency related to the input circuit

Cutoff Frequency related to the output circuit

Gain Bandwidth Product

Midfrequency Voltage gain of the MOSFET is given by

Therefore the gain bandwidth product can be written as

 Cutoff Frequency w.r.t input circuit

Cutoff Frequency w.r.t output circuit

Time constant of output RC network is higher than the time constant of the input RC network Therefore the cutoff frequency Fo (i.e bandwidth B) is the upper cutoff frequency of the amplifier

Bandwidth B =

CASCODE AMPLIFIER
A cascode amplifier has a high gain moderately high input impedance high output impedance high bandwidth.

Cascode Amplifier
The analysis of single stage amplifier shows that
The upper frequency limit of the amplifier is usually determined by the input circuit. The Bandwidth can be increased by decreasing the source resistance or by decreasing the voltage gain ( which reduces the Miller capacitance)

If neither of these reductions is possible:

Cascode amplifier meets the gain bandwidth specification.

Cascode amplifieris a two stage amplifier consisting on a common emitter (or common source) amplifier followed by a common base (or common gate) amplifier..

Basic Concept
While the C-B (common-base) amplifier is known for wider bandwidth than the C-E (common-emitter) configuration, the low input impedance (10s of ) of C-B is a limitation for many applications. CB amplifier has better frequency response than CE amplifier CE amplifier is still preferred to have moderately high input impedance. The key is to reduce the gain of the CE amplifier ( to about 1) so that the miller effect on the input reduces. The solution is to precede the C-B stage by a low gain C-E stage which has moderately high input impedance (ks).

Analysis of Cascode amplifier

Which is same as that realized by a single stage amplifier But since the first stage (CE amplifier ) no longer has a gain greater than unity The input miller capacitor of CE will decrease Hence 1 will increase as compared to 2. 1 > 2.

Bandwidth of cascode amplifier is decided by the capacitance at the output.

The two stage amplifier has voltage gain same as that of a single stage amplifier with an appreciably wider bandwidth

REVIEW on Cascode Amplifier

A cascode amplifier consists of a common-emitter stage loaded by the emitter of a common-base stage. The heavily loaded C-E stage has a low gain of 1, overcoming the Miller effect A cascode amplifier has a high gain, moderately high input impedance, a high output impedance, and a high bandwidth.

Extra Notes

Application of Millers theorem to simplify the amplifier model

Where, K is the voltage gain between the two nodes