Analog Electronics

Transistor Biasing

Chapter 3
 Content
Variation in Current Gain
Load Line and the Operation point
The Transistor Switch
Emitter Bias
Voltage Divider Bias

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 Variation in Current Gain
 The current gain (or : the forward current transfer ratio in
the common-emitter configuration)of a transistor depends
on three factors:
 the transistor, the collector current, and the temperature

Variation of current
gain of 2N3904

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 Load Line and
 If  (it remains fixed even with transistor replacement and
temperature changes).
 If


 The quiescent or Q point of this circuit is denoted as ()

Base bias circuit 4

Its load line and the operation point
 Load Line
Can also find the Q point using a graphical solution
based on the transistor load line, a graph of versus .
Every transistor circuit has a load line.
The collector-emitter voltage is

Thus,

 When  which is the saturation current denoted as (it

is a maximum current )
 When  which is the cutoff voltage denoted as (it is a
maximum possible voltage)
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 Load Line
Load lines when the voltage supply differences

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 Load Line
load lines when the resistor differences

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 The Operation point

For the circuit below, the saturation current and the cutoff
voltage is .
If the current gain of the ideal transistor


 8
 The Operation point
We assumed a current gain of 100. What happens if the current gain
is 50? If it is 150?
When the current gain is 50



When the current gain is 150



If the changes in current gain were much greater, the
operating point could be driven easily into saturation or
cutoff. In this case, an amplifying circuit would become useless
because of the loss of current gain outside the active region.
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 The transistor switch
There are two basic kinds of transistor circuits:
 The amplifying circuits, the Q point must remain in the
active region under all operating conditions. If it does
not, the output signal will be distorted on the peak
when saturation or cutoff occurs.
 The switching circuits, the Q point usually switches
between saturation and cutoff.

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 The transistor switch
Base bias is useful in digital circuits because these
circuits are usually designed to operate at
saturation and cutoff.
When the switch is closed (on), we get
 The collector current

The collector-emitter voltage

Thus, this transistor operates in saturation region.

(actually 0.2V) and
The output voltage is 0V.
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 The transistor switch
When the switch is open (off), which mean the
transistor operates in the cutoff region. we get
 The collector current

The collector-emitter voltage

The output voltage is 10V.

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 Emitter Bias
 This dc bias network contains an
emitter resistor to improve the stability
level over that of the fixed-bias
configuration.
 Base-Emitter Loop
By KVL,

Thus the emitter current

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 Emitter Bias
Collector Emitter Loop
By KVL,

where
But 
We have,

Thus,

As the result, and are independent on .

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 Example
For the emitter bias network below, determine
(a) , (b)
Solution:
(a)
(b)

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 Voltage Divider Bias
 This circuit is the most widely used bias circuit.
 There are two ways to analysis of this circuit
 Simplified analysis
 Accurate analysis

(a) voltage-divider bias

circuit
(b) voltage divider;
(c) simplified circuit

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 Voltage Divider Bias
 Simplified Analysis
Condition:
 The base current is much smaller than the current through the
voltage divider or
 (taking called firm voltage divider or taking called stiff voltage
divider)
By voltage divider rule for the circuit (b): which is the supply voltage of
the circuit (c). Here is a summary of the equations you can use to
analyze VDB
 The emitter current
 The collector current
 The collector-emitter voltage


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 Voltage Divider Bias
 Accurate Analysis
 This analysis gives very accurate result than the simplified analysis
in case of not verifying the conditions above.
 If it is verified the conditions above, the result from this analysis is
very similar to each other.

𝑅2
𝑉 𝐵𝐵 = 𝑉
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 𝐶𝐶
(a) Thevenin resistance; (b) equivalent circuit; (c) input resistance of base
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 Voltage Divider Bias
 By KVL for Base Emitter Loop

where
The base current

 By KVL for Collector Emitter Loop

where and
We have,

Thus,

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 Example
Determine the dc bias voltage and the
current .
Accurate Analysis

The collector current

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 Example
The collector-emitter voltage

Approximate Analysis
Condition:

(Satisfied)
The base voltage
The collector current
The collector emitter voltage
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 VDB load line and Q Point

 For previous example with simplified analysis, the Q point has the a
collector current of 1.1mA and a collector-emitter voltage of 4.94V.
 One Way to move the Q point is by varying the emitter resistor.
 If ,  and

 If ,  and


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 VDB Design Guideline
, , , and control the saturation current and the
cutoff voltage.
A change in any of these quantities will change
and/or .
If is too large, the Q point moves into the cutoff point.
If is too small, the Q point moves into saturation.
Some designers set the Q point at the middle of the
load line.

HOW?
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 VDB Design Guideline
 Start by making
 Next, calculate
 Since the Q point needs to be at approximately the middle
of the dc load line, about . therefore:

 Find and as following

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 Exercises
1. Consider the circuit in Figure 1.
a. Find the Q point.
b. Draw the load line for the circuit below.
c. The current gain varies from 25 to 300. What is the
minimum voltage from the collector to ground? The
maximum?
2. Find the voltage range 𝑉𝐵𝐵 to operate the transistor as
switch for the circuit in Figure 2.

Figure 1 Figure 2
VBB

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 Exercises
3. What is the Q point of the circuits in Figure 3?

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 3

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