1953 193PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E.

725

Transistor Negative-Impedance Converters*

J. G. LINVILLt, ASSOCIATE, IRE
Summary-Negative impedances having very stable characteris- frequency range of transistor converters extends into the
tics are obtained with circuits using transistors. The physical char- hundreds of kilocycles.
acteristics of transistors, compactness, long life, simple power re-
quirements, plus constancy of pertinent electrical parameters en- NEGATIVE-IMPEDANCE CONVERTERS-BALANCED
hance their practical utility in the production of negative impedances.
OPEN-CIRCUIT STABLE TYPE
INTRODUCTION A simple qualitative explanation of the negative-im-
NTETWORK DESIGNERS have long been at- pedance converter circuit shown in Fig. 1(b) is as fol-
tracted to the potentialities of negative imped- lows: Practically all of the current I,, going into the
ances. Their use in one form or another has been transistor, flows out of the collector into the load, devel-
proposed for the reduction of parasitic losses, for the im- oping a voltage across it. This voltage is cross-coupled
provement of device characteristics, and for the design by the condensers back to the bases of the transistors,
of new circuits impossible with purely passive elements. and thence to the input terminals practically undimin-
Vacuum tubes have been employed in the construction ished because of the low impedance of the operating
of negative impedances, and circuit configurations which transistor between emitter and base. Hence input volt-
exhibit negative impedances have long been known.'-6 age is practically the negative of voltage across the load,
In the telephone plant negative-impedance repeaters' and one sees at input the negative of load impedance.
have been employed to reduce the loss on telephone
800B
lines. The inherent limitations of vacuum tubes, their O
1-I 0 MEASURED
bulkiness, relatively short life, requirement of a heated 60 lo -

U
A CALCULATED
filament, deterioration with age, and limited ruggedness 300 KC
40 0
have deterred a broader application of negative imped- - -j

UJ 200
ances. A wider usefulness of these circuits is made pos- V, 2011o - lL

11ble by the appearance of the transistor which, appar- ;

c
40 KC
0
ently, possesses none of these practical limitations and,
0

z IO 250 _
in addition, has desirable electrical characteristics. x -20
Junction transistors are particularly adapted for ap- 100 10
-40 0 A A
plication in a circuit called a negative-impedance con- 50 30
verter. Ideal negative-impedance converters are active -60 0 A 22
0 /
four-poles which are completely characterized by two -801IO A
properties: the input current equals the output current %JWV
-1200 -800 -400 0 400 800
and the input voltage equals the negative of the output R IN OHMS

voltage. Thus negative-impedance converters act im- (a)

pedance-wise as a sort of ideal transformer in which the
input impedance is the negative of the load impedance.
Transistor converters are good approximations to
ideal converters; the physical converter can be repre-
sented as an ideal converter with an impedance-con-
version factor in the range -0.90 to -0.98, with a para-
sitic-series resistance at the input of a few tens of ohms. Z
The conversion properties of the transistor converter
are stable; the conversion factor depends, principally,
upon the alpha of the transistors and this parameter
varies insignificantly with bias conditions. The useful
*Decimal classification: R282.12XR145. Original manuscript
received by the Institute, November 4, 1952. (b)
t Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., Murray Hill, N. J.
1 J. L. Merrill, "Theory of the negative impedance converter," Fig. 1(a) and (b)-Open circuit stable negative-impedance
Bell Sys. Tech. Jour., vol. 30, pp. 88-109; January, 1951. converter and locus of its input impedance.
2 G. Crisson, "Negative impedances and the twin 21-type re-
peater," Bell Sys. Tech. Jour., vol. 10, pp. 485-513; July, 1931.
3L. C. Verman, "Negative circuit constants," PROC. I.R.E., vol. Actually, the emitter current can vary from the col-
19, pp. 676-681; April, 1931.
4E. W. Herold, "Negative resistance and devices for obtaining lector current by not more than a few per cent and the
it," PROC. I.R.E., vol. 23, pp. 1201-23; October, 1935. emitter-base resistance of typical units typically biased
E. L. Ginzton, "Stabilizedjnegative impedances," Electronics,
vol. 18, pp. 140-144; September, 1945. is about 25 ohms; hence this analysis is quite accurate.
726 PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E. June

A direct analysis of the equivalent circuit of Fig. 2(a) a number of calculated points which were evaluated us-
indicates that the input impedance of the converter is ing (1). In connection with the calculation, it should be
pointed out that the of transistors is frequency-de-
a

_1 aZ U__ + 2rf pendent, varying roughly according to the relationship

+Z.
I1~ ~ ~~ (Z ZO ZA)2Z ao
1x (3)
+ (1 a) [2rb + 2Zd+ZA)2Z5]
I + jf/fca

where f.,e is called the alpha cut-off frequency. The cut-

or at the operating frequencies, where Zd-*O, off frequency used in the calculation of high-frequency
points shown on Fig. 1 (a) is 1.75 mc.
El The fact that the locus of input impedance of the cir-
= (1 2a)ZN + 2r, + (1 a)2rb.
- (2)
-

11 cuit of Fig. 1 (a) encloses the origin in the clockwise sense

indicates that the circuit is open-circuit stable. Open-
The only approximation made in arriving at the above circuit stability is a characteristic of converters in which
relations is that ZA/r, is negligible, a very good approxi- the emitters are at the input terminal pair, independent
mation for practical circuits with a load in the thou- of the nature of the passive load or of the cross-coupling
sands of ohms as r, is of the order of megohms. networks, as is proved in the Appendix.
czI, al,I
1300 KC
2.0 l

1.6
200
1.2k
150

0
E 0.8 Z 100
3
1.4

z t40 K~C
l
z
500
-1.4
10
200
20
-0.8 100
50

-1 .2
I.r-

~ ~ ~ ~ -0 -2.4 -2.0 -1.6 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0.4 0.8

-(a I, GIN IN MILLIMHOS
(a) (b) (a)
Fig. 2-Equivalent circuits of open- and short-circuit stable con-
verters. (a) Z. is the parallel combination of ZA and 2Zd+2Z,.

(b) YL'=
I

2r, +
YL + 2z

Since the alpha's of good transistors are between 0.95 Y p

and 1.0, the multiplier of ZN in (2) is close to the ideal

value of 1.0. The deviation of the input impedance
-

from ZN associated with the second and third terms of

-

(2) is small also: r, is inversely proportional to emitter VC = 4V

current being 13 ohms at 2 ma.; the third term is a few Ic = 9 MA
per cent of rb, which is a few hundred ohms. (b)
The independence of the input impedance with re-
Fig. 3(a) and (b)-Short circuit stable negative-impedance converter
spect to the point of operation is important in the nega- and locus of its input impedance.
tive-impedance converter. In this connection, the tran-
sistor circuit is very good indeed. The significant quan-
tity, a, varies insignificantly with the point of operation. NEGATIVE-IMPEDANCE CONVERTERS-BALANCED
The emitter resistance, rE, is inversely proportional to SHORT-CIRCUIT STABLE TYPE
emitter current, but its value is so small that this varia- The circuit diagram of the short-circuit stable con-
tion is of no consequence for load impedances above a verter is shown in Fig. 3(b), and the equivalent circuit
few hundred ohms. of the significant part of it is shown in Fig. 2(b). A
The locus of measured-input impedance of a converter straightforward analysis of the equivalent circuit indi-
which was constructed is shown in Fig. l(a) along with cates the input admittance to be
 1953 Linvill: Transistor Negative-Impedance Converters 727
1 F rbl ture of the passive cross-coupling networks provided
aYL'+
a + (1 - a) 11+ b]YL
2Z~ I Z0J that the magnitude of alpha remains less than one. Also
the converter must be stable (short-circuit) for any
1 + -+ (1 -a)YL' [2rb + - (2rb + 2Ze)] passive load provided that alpha is real and less than one.
A plastic plug-in unit including transistors, cross-cou-
pling
From (4) it is apparent that in the short-circuit sta- stable condensers, and biasing circuits of a short-circuit
ble type, deviations from ideal character, i.e., 11/E1 converter is shown in Fig. 4.
= - YL', are small but of different nature from those in In connection with the overload characteristics of the
the open-circuit stable type. converters, it is important that as the open-circuit stable
type is overloaded, the amount of negative input re-
sistance decreases. As the short-circuit stable type of
converter is overloaded, the amount of negative input
conductance decreases. These statements indicate that
the circuits are less susceptible to oscillation when over-
loaded than when they are under normal load levels.
UNBALANCED NEGATIVE-IMPEDANCE CONVERTERS
In the telephone repeater application, the balanced
configurations of converters described in the foregoing
are ideal. However, for other applications, it is fre-
quently desirable to have a common-ground connection.
It is desirable, also, in an active circuit to have the power
supply grounded. A small change in the circuits already
described adapts them to the unbalanced configuration.

(a)

(a) (b)
Fig. 5-UTnbalanced negative impedance converters. (a) Open-circuit
stable type. (b) Short-circuit stable type.

Fig. 5 shows unbalanced negative-impedance converters

of both the open-circuit stable and the short-circuit sta-
ble types. It is interesting that in the unbalanced con-
verters, the roles of the two transistors are quite differ-
ent. In the figure, the upper transistor in each type plays
the same role that the transistors of the balanced circuits
played. The load current passes through it. However,
the lower transistors in Fig. 5 act as phase inverters.
(b) They essentially sense the phase of voltage at the collec-
Fig. 4(a) and (b)-Two views of a short-circuit stable converter in
plastic plug-in unit (14X i X2 in.).
a
tor of the upper transistor and feed to its base a volt-
age of the opposite phase. The phase inverters could be
Fig. 3 shows element values of a circuit which was replaced by suitable transformers or phase-shift net-
constructed, and the locus of measured-input admit- works if it were desirable to do so.
tance over a wide range of frequencies. The fact that the
locus (only a part of which is shown in Fig. 3) encloses THE APPLICATION OF TRANSISTORS TO NEGATIVE-
the origin in the clockwise sense indicates the short-cir- IMPEDANCE REPEATERS
cuit stability of the device. It is shown in the Appendix Vacuum-tube converters have been employed suc-
that any converter of the type shown in Fig. 3 (the input cessfully in the exchange plant as negative-impedance
terminals are at the collectors) will be short-circuit sta- repeaters. Transistor converters are more nearly ideal
ble with a resistive termination independent of the na- converters than are the vacuum-tube version. Deviation
 728 PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E. i une

from ideal character in the vacuum-tube model depends rent, I,, is extremely temperature sensitive. Proper de-
upon limited size of gm and the inequality of u- 1/,+ l sign of converter circuits can make its effect on circuit
to 1. Corresponding deviations from ideal character to performance small. At toom temperatures Ico ordinarily
that obtained in a transistor model with parameter val- amounts to a few microamperes. For junction transis-
ues typical of junction transistors would be obtained tors of type M1752, the change in Ico from room tem-
with a triode having a gm of 47,000 micromhos and a perature to 15OF can be expected to be less than 100 mi-
,u of 50. croamperes. The effect of increased Ico is to decrease the
In the application of a negative-impedance repeater, maximum-power output by decreasing the amount of
the input terminals of the negative-impedance con- signal which leads to distortion. In some circuits the
verter are placed in series or in shunt with the line, the changes in I., are amplified and reduce very greatly
output being terminated in an appropriate passive net- maximum-undistorted power output. Analysis of the
work. Thus connected, the repeater increases the trans- equivalent circuit of Fig. 6 with the two pessimistic ap-
mission of the line in both directions. If a repeater is to proximations, r, =co, a =1, gives the relationships
be connected in series with the line, an open-circuit sta-
ble converter is used. Open-circuit stable repeaters are R1R2
also called the series type for this reason. If the repeater Rg + R2
is to be connected across the line (called a shunt re-
peater), a short-circuit stable converter is used.
^AIo
Aie
R_ + re,(5
One very significant merit of the transistor repeater R1R2
Rg±+
is the fact that changes in the supply voltage cause small
AIc - Al,, 1
Rg+R,+ R2
(6)
changes in the negative resistance that is presented at +
R_ + rE
the input terminals. For central office applications this
point is not of great importance, but there is possibility
of using transistor repeaters along the line where they R1R2
are supplied by the voltage between the wires. One nega-
tive-impedance repeater exhibited a decrease in nega- -AIco0RRg RR
AVc +2I
~R,R2
tive resistance of less than 5.5 per cent as the supply
voltage was changed from 45 to 12 volts, a decrease in
voltage of 73 per cent. + R+ I + R (7)

DESIGN FOR MAXIMUM UNDISTORTEP aAL

POWER OUTPUT
The design for maximum-undistorted power output
for converters is similar to that used in designing Class A
pentode amplifiers. In both cases, the power output is
limited by the allowable quiescent dissipation which,
for the transistor, is VJ0, VC and IC being the quiescent-
collector voltage and current. In the converter the am-
plitude of incremental voltages and currents for the in-
put terminals, the output terminals, and the collectors
of the transistors are practically the same. Hence for
distortion-free operation, the maximum magnitudes of
the ac components of voltage and current at all of the
points are V, and I,. The quiescent operating point is de- Fig. 6 -Equivalent circuit to determine
termined by the allowable dissipation, VoI0, and the effect of AIl,.
load impedance, V,/IC. The maximum power available
at the input terminals, half of the allowable dissipation On the basis of (6) and (7), to minimize variations in the
of a transistor, is 25 mw for the Ml752 transistor. Ac- point of operation, one should keep the ratio
tually, part of this power is lost in the biasing resistors
at the input. Laboratory circuits were constructed R1R2
which provided powers out as high as 17 mw. Rg+R,
+ R2
DESIGN TO MINIMIZE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE R_g-
SENSITIVITY OF THE SATURATION CURRENT Ico to small values. The change in I,, of a few hundred mi-
Junction transistors are not greatly influenced by croamperes, obtained when the above ratio is a few
changes in temperature, except in one respect. The col- units, is still a small fraction of the usual quiescent-col-
lector current which flows in the absence of emitter cur- lector currents which are a few milliamperes.
1953 Linvill: Transistor Negative-Impedance Converters 729
ACKNOWLEDGMENT for the structures shown in Fig. 7(b), where El,' is asso-
The author is pleased to acknowledge the suggestions ciated with the left source and E12' is associated with the
of R. L. Wallace, J. L. Merrill, J. A. Weller, and G. right source. Clearly,
Raisbeck. Wallace observed that transistors should be EZ
ideal in the El type of repeater and suggested a first-cir- Z = - + 2r, + Zjl('I- a) + Z12(at), (8)
cuit configuration to effect the substitution. Merrill and I,
Weller have given suggestions on the negative-imped- where Z11 and Z12 are the driving-point and transfer im-
ance repeater problem in general and on the application pedances of the passive four-pole shown in the dotted
of transistors to it. Wallace and Raisbeck have made lines of Fig. 7(b). The poles of Z are the poles of Znl,
helpful comments on revision of the manuscript. which are the same as those of Z12 and the pole of a
which is in the left half-plane. The poles of Znl are in the
APPENDIX left half-plane since the structure is a passive one. Hence
Open and Short-Circuit Stability of Different Types of this type of converter must be open-circuit stable.
Converters A converter in which the input terminals are at the
The property of open-circuit stability holds for tran- collectors is shown in Fig. 8. The short-circuit stability
sistor converters in which the input terminals are the is to be verified by the fact that the input admittance
emitter terminals, independent of the nature of the load Y=I,/E, has no poles in the right half of the complex-
or the cross-coupling networks, as long as these are pas- frequency plane. To evaluate Y one considers Fig. 8(b)
sive. For converters in which the input terminals are the in which I, is represented as the sum of the current
collectors of the transistors, one finds the property of through the current generator, plus that into the other
short-circuit stability from the input terminals holds, structure, Ill. The emitter and load currents are split
independent of the nature of the passive cross-coupling into two paralleled parts. The current I12 is simply
network, for any resistive load as long as < 1, or for ajI -aId, and (1 -a)I, is determined as the product of El
any passive load as long as a is real and less than 1. and the transfer admittance Y2, of the structure shown

-I6

I rb
rr SrUCUEbI
E, E PASSIVE I
STRUCTURE I1 TUTR

(a) (b)
Fig. 7(a) and (b)-Open-circuit stable converter with arbitrary cross-
coupling and equivalent circuit.
(a) (b)
The open-circuit stability of the converter shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b)-Short-circuit stable converter with arbitrary cross-
coupling and equivalent circuit.
Fig. 7 is identified with the fact that the impedance,
El inside the dotted lines in Fig. 8(b). By consideration of
Z = -,
I1 Fig. 8(b), one sees that
has no poles in the right half of the complex-frequency T, I1l 112
E et
plane.' The impedance Z is simply Y = -= ---+--- = Y,i + (Y21, (9)
El Fl El
where Y1, and Y21 are the driving-point and transfer
I1 (from input to loop containing ZL/11-a) admittances
One can evaluate of the network shown in Fig. 8(b) inside the dotted lines.
This network is certainly a passive structure if a is real
and less than one, or if |a .' 1 and ZL is resistive. The
11 poles of Yn, and Y21 are those of Y; and under the above
as being conditions, the passivity of the network inside the dot-
ted lines of Fig. 8(b) assures that these poles lie in the
I11' E12 left half-plane. Hence the type of converter illustrated
Il I, is short-circuit stable.