Module-2

MOSFET Amplifier Configurations

Contents: Basic Configurations, CS Amplifier, CS amplifier with a source Resistance,
Source Follower, MOSFET Internal Capacitance and High Frequency Model,Frequency
Response of CS Amplifier
Basic configurations
There are three basic configurations for connecting the MOSFET as an amplifier. Each of these
configurations is obtained by connecting one of the three MOSFET terminals to ground, thus
creating a two-port network with the grounded terminal being common to the input and output
ports.
(a) Common Source (CS)
(b) Common Gate (CG)
(c) Common Drain (CD)
Common-Source (CS) amplifier
In the circuit of Fig.(a) the source terminal is connected to ground, the input voltage signal is
applied between the gate and ground, and the output voltage signal is taken between the drain
and ground, across the resistance RD . This configuration, therefore, is called the grounded-
source or common-source (CS) amplifier. It is by far the most popular MOS amplifier
configuration

Common-Gate Amplifier
The common-gate (CG) or grounded-gate amplifier
is shown in Fig.(b). It is obtained by connecting
the gate to ground, applying the input Vi
between the source and ground, and taking the
output Vo across the resistance RD
connected between the drain and ground.

Common-Drain (CD) or grounded-drain amplifier.

Finally, Fig.(c) shows the common-drain (CD) or grounded-drain amplifier. It is obtained by
connecting the drain terminal to ground, applying the input voltage signal between gate and
ground, and taking the output voltage signal between the source and ground, across a load
resistance . For reasons that will become apparent shortly, this configuration is more commonly
called the source follower.

Characterization of the amplifier as a functional block

Figure (a) shows an amplifier fed with a signal source having an open-circuit voltage Vsig and
an internal resistance Rsig . These can be the parameters of an actual signal source or, in a
cascade amplifier, the Thévenin equivalent of the output circuit of another amplifier stage
preceding the one under study. The amplifier is shown with a load resistance RL connected to
the output terminal. Here, RL can be an actual load resistance or the input resistance of a
succeeding amplifier stage in a cascade amplifier.

Fig.(a): An amplifier fed with a voltage signal vsig having a source resistance Rsig, and feeding a
load resistance RL;

Equivalent-circuit representation of the circuit

Figure (b) shows the amplifier circuit with the amplifier block replaced by its equivalent- circuit
model. The input resistance represents the loading effect of the amplifier input on the signal
source. It is found from Rin=
And together with the resistance Rsig forms a voltage divider that reduces Vsig to the value Vi
that appears at the amplifier input,

The second parameter in characterizing amplifier performance is the open-circuit voltage gain
Avo, defined as

The third and final parameter is the output resistance . Observe from Fig. (b) that is the resistance
seen looking back into the amplifier output terminal with set to zero. Thus can be determined, at
least conceptually, as indicated in Fig. (c) with

Determining the amplifier output resistance Ro.

The Common-Source (CS) Amplifier

Fig (a) shows a common source amplifier fed with a signal source Vsig having a source
resistanmce Rsig. To analyze the circuit, determining the Rin, Avo, Ro and Gv is required. For
this purpose, assume RD is part of the amplifier and thus if a load resistance RL is connected to
the amplifier output, it appears in parallel with RD

RD is lower than ro and the effect of ro on reducing IAvoI is slight(less than 10% or so). Thus in
many cases we can neglect ro and express Avo simply as

This concludes the analysis of the CS amplifier proper. We can now make the following
observations.
1. The input resistance is ideally infinite.
2. The output resistance is moderate to high (in the kilo ohms to tens of kilo ohms range).
Reducing to lower is not a viable proposition, since the voltage gain is also be reduced.
Alternatively, if a low output resistance (in the ohms to tens of ohms range) is needed, a source
follower stage is
3. The open-circuit voltage gain can be high, making the CS configuration the workhorse in
MOS amplifier design. Unfortunately, however, the bandwidth of the CS amplifier is severely
limited.

The Common-Source Amplifier with a Source Resistance

The CS amplifier with a source resistance Rs: (a) Circuit without bias details;(b) Equivalent circuit with the
MOSFET represented by its T model

In Fig. (b) we have added a second gmvgs current source in series with the original controlled
source. This addition obviously does not change the terminal currents and is thus allowed. The
newly created circuit node, labeled X, is joined to the gate terminal G in Fig. (c). Observe that
the gate current does not change—that is, it remains equal to zero—and thus this connection does
not alter the terminal characteristics. We now note that we have a controlled current source
gmVgs connected across its control voltage Vgs. We can replace this controlled source by a
resistance as long as this resistance draws an equal current as the source. Thus the value of the
resistance is Vgs/gmVgs=1/gm. This replacement is shown in above fig, which depicts the
alternative model. Observe that ig is still zero, id=gmVgs and is=Vgs/(1/gm)=gmVgs, all the
same as in the original model in fig 5.40(a). The model of 5.40(d) shows that the resistance
between gate and source looking into the source is 1/gm. This observation and the T model prove
useful in many applications. Note that the resistance between gate and source looking into the
gate is infinite.

Thus we can use the value of RS to control the magnitude of the signal Vgs and thereby ensure
that Vgs does not become too large and cause unacceptably high nonlinear distortion. This is the
one of the benefit of including resistor Rs . The mechanism by which Rs causes such
improvements in amplifier performance is negative feedback. To see how Rs introduces negative
feedback :
If while keeping constant, for some reason the drain current increases, the source current also
will increase, resulting in an increased voltage drop across. Thus the source voltage rises, and the
gate-to-source voltage decreases. The latter effect causes the drain current to decrease,
counteracting the initially assumed change, an indication of the presence of negative feedback.

Small Signal Equivalent Models

Equation (5.80) indicates that including the resistance Rs reduces the voltage gain by the factor
(1+gmRs)
It is also the same factor by which bandwidth and other performance parameters improve.
Because of the negative-feedback action of it is known as a source-degeneration resistance.

The Common-Drain Amplifier or Source Follower

 It finds application in the design of both small-signal amplifiers as well as amplifiers that
are required to handle large signals and deliver substantial amounts of signal power to a
load.
  The Need for Voltage Buffers: A signal source delivering a signal of reasonable
strength (1 V) with an internal resistance of 1 M is to be connected to a 1-k load
resistance. Connecting the source to the load directly as in Fig.(b) would result in severe
attenuation of the signal; the signal appearing across the load will be only 1/(1000+1)of
the input signal or about 1 mV.
An alternative course of action is suggested in Fig.(c). Here we have interposed an amplifier
between the source and the load. Our amplifier, however, is unlike the amplifiers we have been
studying in this chapter thus far; it has a voltage gain of only unity. This is because our signal is
already of sufficient strength and we do not need to increase its amplitude.
Note, however, that our amplifier has a very large input resistance, thus almost all of Vsig(i.e., 1
V) will appear at the input of the amplifier proper. Since the amplifier has a low output resistance
(100 ), 90% of this signal (0.9 V) will appear at the output, obviously a very significant
improvement over the situation without the amplifier.

Common-drain amplifier or source follower

(a) Common-drain amplifier or source follower. (b) Equivalent circuit of the source follower obtained by replacing the MOSFET
with its T model.

simplified equivalent circuit

Characteristic Parameters of the Source Follower

The source follower is fed with a signal generator ( Vsig,Rsig ) and has a load resistance RL
connected between the source terminal and ground.
We shall assume that includes both the actual load and any other resistance that may be present
between the source terminal and ground (e.g., for biasing purposes). Normally, the actual load
resistance RL would be much lower in value than such other resistances and thus would
dominate.
Since the MOSFET has a resistance connected in its source terminal, it is most convenient to use
the T model as shown in fig(b).
Note that we have included , simply because it is very easy to do so. However, since ro in effect
appears in parallel with RL , and since in discrete circuits ro>>RL , we can neglect and obtain
the simplified equivalent circuit shown in Fig. (c). From the latter circuit we can write by
inspection

Thus Gv will be lower than unity. However, because 1/gm is usually low, the voltage gain can be
close to unity.
The unity open-circuit voltage gain in Eq. (5.90) indicates that the voltage at the source terminal
will follow that at the input, hence the name source follower.
In conclusion, the source follower features a very high input resistance (ideally, infinite), a
relatively low output resistance, and an open-circuit voltage gain that is near unity (ideally,
unity). Thus the source follower is ideally suited for implementing the unity-gain voltage buffer
of Fig. (c). The source follower is also used as the output (i.e., last) stage in a multistage
amplifier, where its function is to equip the overall amplifier with a low output resistance, thus
enabling it to supply relatively large load currents without loss of gain (i.e., with little reduction
of output signal level).
THE MOSFET INTERNAL CAPACITANCES AND HIGH-FREQUENCY MODEL
The device models we derived so far, such as the small-signal model, do not include any
capacitances. The use of these models would predict constant amplifier gains independent of
frequency. We know, however, that this is (unfortunately) not the case; in fact, the gain of every
MOSFET amplifier falls off at some high frequency. Similarly, the MOSFET digital logic
inverter exhibits a finite nonzero propagation delay. To be able to predict these results, the
MOSFET model must be augmented by including internal capacitances.

There are basically two types of internal capacitances in the MOSFET:

1. The gate capacitive effect: The gate electrode (polysilicon) forms a parallel-plate capacitor
with the channel, with the oxide layer serving as the capacitor dielectric. It is denoted its value
per unit area as Cox.
2. The source-body and drain-body depletion-layer capacitances: These are the capacitances
of the reverse-biased pn junctions formed by the n+ source region (also called the source
diffusion) and the p-type substrate and by the n+ drain region (the drain diffusion) and the
substrate.
These two capacitive effects can be modeled by including capacitances in the MOSFET model
between its four terminals, G, D, S, and B. There will be five capacitances in total:
Cgs, Cgd, Cgb, Csb, and Cdb, where, where the subscripts indicate the location of the
capacitances in the model.

The Gate Capacitive Effect

The gate capacitive effect can be modeled by the three capacitances Cgs, Cgd, and Cgb. The
values of these capacitances can be determined as follows:
1. When the MOSFET is operating in the triode region at small vDS, the channel will be of
uniform depth. The gate-channel capacitance will be WL Cox and can be modeled by dividing it
equally between the source and drain ends; thus,

This is obviously an approximation (as all modeling is) but works well for triode region
operation even when vDS is not small.
2. When the MOSFET operates in saturation, the channel has a tapered shape and is pinched off
at or near the drain end. It can be shown that the gate-to-channel capacitance in this case is
approximately 2/3WLC0X and can be modeled by assigning this entire amount to Cgs, and a zero
amount to Cgd (because the channel is pinched off at the drain); thus,

3. When the MOSFET is cut off, the channel disappears, and thus Cgs = Cgd = 0. However, we
can (after some rather complex reasoning) model the gate capacitive effect by assigning a
capacitance WLCox to the gate-body model capacitance; thus,
4. There is an additional small capacitive component that should be added to Cgs and Cgd in all
the preceding formulas. This is the capacitance that results from the fact that the source and drain
diffusions extend slightly under the gate oxide. If the overlap length is denoted Lov, we see that
the overlap capacitance component is

Typically, Lov = 0.05 to 0.1 L.

The Junction Capacitances
The depletion-layer capacitances of the two reverse-biased pn junctions formed between each of
the source and the drain diffusions and the body can be determined using the formula .
Thus, for the source diffusion, we have the source-body capacitance, Csb,

where Csb0 is the value of Csb at zero body-source bias, VSB is the magnitude of the reversebias
voltage, and V0 is the junction built-in voltage (0.6 V to 0.8 V). Similarly, for the drain diffusion,
we have the drain-body capacitance Cdb,
where Cdb0 is the capacitance value at zero reverse-bias voltage, and VDB is the magnitude of
this reverse-bias voltage. Note that we have assumed that for both junctions, the grading
coefficient .
It should be noted also that each of these junction capacitances includes a component arising
from the bottom side of the diffusion and a component arising from the side walls of the
diffusion. In this regard, observe that each diffusion has three side walls that are in contact with
the substrate and thus contribute to the junction capacitance
The High-Frequency MOSFET Model
Figure 9.6(a) shows the small-signal model of the MOSFET, including the four capacitances
Cgs, Cgd, Csb, and Cdb. This model can be used to predict the high-frequency response of
MOSFET amplifiers.
It is, however, quite complex for manual analysis, and its use is limited to computer simulation
using, for example, SPICE. Fortunately, when the source is connected to the body, the model
simplifies considerably, as shown in Fig. 9.6(b).
In this model, Cgd, although small, plays a significant role in determining the high-frequency
response of amplifiers and thus must be kept in the model. Capacitance Cdb, on the other hand,
can usually be neglected, resulting in significant simplification of manual analysis. The resulting
circuit is shown in Fig. 9.6(c).
High-frequency, equivalent-circuit model for the MOSFET

Figure 9.6(a) shows the small-signal model of the MOSFET, including the four capacitances
Cgs, Cgd, Csb, and Cdb. This model can be used to predict the high-frequency response of
MOSFET amplifiers.

The equivalent circuit for the case in which the source is connected to the substrate (body).
The equivalent-circuit model of (b) with Cdb neglected (to simplify analysis).
Frequency Response of CS Amplifier
The Three Frequency Bands
So far we assumed that coupling capacitors Cc1 and Cc2 and bypass capacitor Cs are acting as
perfect short circuits for all signal frequencies of interest. We also neglected the internal
capacitance of the MOSFET Cgs and Cgd which are sufficiently small to act as

open circuits for all signal frequencies of interest. Thus ignoring all these capacitive effects, the
gain expression becomes independent of frequency and is given by,

i.e, the gain is almost constant over a wide frequency range and is called the midband gain AM
This frequency response has 3 bands of frequencies.
(i) Midband: it is the useful frequency band of the amplifier. In this frequency band, the
gain remains almost constant over a wide frequency range.
(ii) Low frequency band: In this frequency band, the gain falls off when the signal
frequency is reduced. This is due to the effect of Cc1, Cc2 and Cs. As the signal
frequency is reduced, their impedances increases and they no longer acts as short
circuits.
(iii) High frequency band: In this frequency band, the gain falls off when the signal
frequency is increased. This is due to the effect of Cgs and Cgd. As the signal
frequency is increased, their impedances decreases and they no longer acts as open
circuits.
Here fL is called lower 3dB frequency and fH is called upper 3dB frequency.
The difference between fL and fH is called bandwidth of the amplifier.

A figure of merit for the amplifier is its gain–bandwidth product, defined as

GBP=|AM| BW

The High Frequency Response

Figure (a) shows the high-frequency, equivalent-circuit model of a CS amplifier. Observe that
the circuit in Fig. (a) is general; for instance, it includes a resistance , which arises only in the
case of a discrete-circuit amplifier. Also, can be either a passive resistance or the output
resistance of a current-source load, and similarly for .
The equivalent circuit of Fig.(a) can be simplified by utilizing Thévenin theorem at the input side
and by combining the three parallel resistances at the output side. The resulting simplified circuit
is shown in Fig. (b).

The equivalent circuit in Fig. (b) can be further simplified if we can find a way to deal with the
bridging capacitor Cgd that connects the output node to the input side. Toward that end, consider
first the output node. It can be seen that the load current is (gmVgs − Igd), where (gmVgs) is the
output current of the transistor and Igd is the current supplied through the very small capacitance
Cgd. At frequencies in the vicinity of fH, which defines the edge of the midband, it is reasonable
to assume that Igd is still much smaller than (gmVgs), with the result that Vo can be given
approximately by

-----------------(1*)
 --------------------------(2)
Thus Cgd gives rise to a much larger capacitance Ceq, which appears at the amplifier input. The
multiplication effect that Cgd undergoes comes about because it is connected between circuit
nodes g and d, whose voltages are related by a large negative gain ( gmRL’). This effect is known
as the Miller effect, and (1 + gm RL’) is known as the Miller multiplier.

Using Ceq enables us to simplify the equivalent circuit at the input side to that shown in Fig. (c). We recognize the
circuit of Fig. (c) as a single-time-constant (STC) circuit of the low-pass type.
The Low Frequency Response

To determine the low-frequency gain or transfer function of the common-source amplifier, we

show in Fig. (b) the circuit with the dc sources eliminated (current source I open-circuited and
voltage source VDD short-circuited). We shall perform the small-signal analysis directly on this
circuit. However, we will ignore ro. This is done in order to keep the analysis simple and thus
focus attention on significant issues.
Thus we see that the expression for the signal transmission from signal generator to amplifier
input has acquired a frequency-dependent factor. From thew study of frequency response, we
recognize this factor as the transfer function of an STC circuit of the high-pass type with a break
or corner frequency

Thus the effect of the coupling capacitor CC1 is to introduce a high-pass STC response with a
break frequency that we shall denote P1,

Continuing with the analysis, we next determine the drain current Id by dividing Vg by the total
impedance in the source circuit, [(1/gm)+(1/sCs)] which is to obtain
The overall low-frequency transfer function of the amplifier can be found by combining Eqs. (1),
(3), and (5) and replacing the break frequencies by their symbols from Eqs. (2), (4), and (6):
Determining the Lower 3-dB Frequency, fL
The magnitude of the amplifier gain |Vo/Vsig|, at frequency ω can be obtained by substituting
s=j ω in Eq. (8) and evaluating the magnitude of the transfer function. In this way, the frequency
response of the amplifier can be plotted versus frequency, and the lower 3-dB frequency fL can
be determined as the frequency at which |Vo/Vsig| drops to AM/√2

A quick way for estimating the 3-dB frequency fL is possible if the highest-frequency pole (here,
fP2) is separated from the nearest pole (here, fP3) by at least a factor of 4 (two octaves). In such
a case, fL is approximately equal to the highest of the pole frequencies,

Usually, the highest-frequency pole is the one caused by This is because Cs interacts with 1/gm
which is relatively low (see Eq. 4).
Determining the Pole Frequencies by Inspection Before leaving this section, we present a
simple method for finding the time constant and hence the pole frequency associated with each
of the three capacitors. The procedure is simple:
1. Reduce Vsig to zero.
2. Consider each capacitor separately; that is, assume that the other two capacitors are acting as
perfect short circuits.
3. For each capacitor, find the total resistance seen between its terminals. This is the resistance
that determines the time constant associated with this capacitor.
Selecting Values for the Coupling and Bypass Capacitors We now address the design issue of
selecting appropriate values for CC1, CS, and CC2. The design objective is to place the lower 3-
dB frequency fL at a specified value while minimizing the capacitor values. Since as mentioned
above CS results in the highest of the three pole frequencies, the total capacitance is minimized
by selecting CS so that its pole frequency fP2 = fL. We then decide on the location of the other
two pole frequencies, say 5 to 10 times lower than the frequency of the dominant pole, fP2.
However, the values selected for fP1 and fP3 should not be too low, for that would require larger
values for CC1 and CC2 than may be necessary.
 LC AND CRYSTAL OSCILLATORS

• Oscillators utilizing transistors (FETs or BJTs), with LC-tuned circuits or

crystals as feedback elements, are used in the frequency range of 100 kHz to
hundreds of megahertz. They exhibit higher Q than the RC types. However, LC
oscillators are difficult to tune over wide ranges, and crystal oscillators operate
at a single frequency.
 LC-TUNED OSCILLATORS

• Figure 17.12 shows two commonly used configurations of LC-tuned oscillators. They are known as the Colpitts
oscillator and the Hartley oscillator. Both utilize a parallel LC circuit connected between collector and base
(or between drain and gate if a FET is used) with a fraction of the tuned-circuit voltage fed to the emitter (the
source in a FET).
• This feedback is achieved by way of a capacitive divider in the Colpitts oscillator and by way of an inductive
divider in the Hartley circuit.
• In both circuits, the resistor R models the combination of the losses of the inductors, the load resistance of the
oscillator, and the output resistance of the transistor.
• If the frequency of operation is sufficiently low that we can neglect the transistor capacitances, the frequency of
oscillation will be determined by the resonance frequency of the parallel-tuned circuit (also known as a tank
circuit because it behaves as a reservoir for energy storage). Thus for the Colpitts oscillator we have

• The ratio L1/L2 or C1/C2 determines the feedback factor and thus must be adjusted in conjunction with the
transistor gain to ensure that oscillations will start.
 INTRODUCTION

• A crystal oscillator is basically a tuned-circuit oscillator using a piezoelectric

crystal as a resonant tank circuit. The crystal (usually quartz) has a greater
stability in holding constant at whatever frequency the crystal is originally cut
to operate.
• Crystal oscillators are used whenever great stability is required, such as in
communication transmitters and receivers.
 CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR

• A piezoelectric crystal, such as quartz, exhibits electromechanical-resonance characteristics that are very stable
(with time and temperature) and highly selective (having very high Q factors). The circuit symbol of a crystal is
shown in Fig. 17.15(a), and its equivalent circuit model is given in Fig. 17.15(b).

=CM
• A quartz crystal (one of a number of crystal types) exhibits the property that when mechanical stress is applied
across the faces of the crystal, a difference of potential develops across opposite faces of the crystal. This
property of a crystal is called the piezoelectric effect.
• Similarly, a voltage applied across one set of faces of the crystal causes mechanical distortion in the crystal
shape.
• When alternating voltage is applied to a crystal, mechanical vibrations are set up—these vibrations having a
natural resonant frequency dependent on the crystal.
• Although the crystal has electromechanical resonance, we can represent the crystal action by an equivalent
electrical resonant circuit as shown in Fig.
• The resonance properties are characterized by a large inductance L (as high as hundreds of henrys), a very small
series capacitance Cs (as small as 0.0005 pF), a series resistance r representing a Q factor ω0 L/r that can be as
high as a few hundred thousand, and a parallel capacitance Cp (a few picofarads). Capacitor Cp represents the
electrostatic capacitance between the two parallel plates of the crystal. Note that Cp >> Cs.
• The crystal as represented by the equivalent electrical circuit of Fig. 17.15 can have two resonant frequencies. One
resonant condition occurs when the reactances of the series RLCs leg are equal (and opposite). For this condition,
the series-resonant impedance is very low (equal to R).

• The other resonant condition occurs at a higher frequency when the

reactance of the series-resonant leg equals the reactance of capacitor Cp.
This is a parallel resonance or antiresonance condition of the crystal.

• At this frequency, the crystal offers a very high impedance to the external circuit. In order to use the crystal
properly, it must be connected in a circuit so that its low impedance in the series- resonant operating mode or
high impedance in the antiresonant operating mode is selected.
• We observe that the crystal reactance is inductive over the very narrow frequency band between ω s and ωp. For
a given crystal, this frequency band is well defined.
• Thus we may use the crystal to replace the inductor of the Colpitts oscillator. The resulting circuit will oscillate at
the resonance frequency of the crystal inductance L with the series equivalent of Cs and (Cp + C1C2 ⁄ (C1 + C2))
• Since Cs is much smaller than the three other capacitances, it will be dominant and
 RECOMMENDED QUESTIONS

• With a neat diagram explain working of a crystal oscillator. Explain series and
parallel resonance action with equivalent circuits and relevant expressions. A
crystal has L=0.334H, C=0.065pF, CM=1pF and R=5.5k𝛀. Calculate its series
and parallel resonant frequency.

• Explain the working of a Colpitts oscillator.