Frequency Response of BJT Amplifiers

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 High frequency Response of CE Amplifier
➢At high frequencies, internal
transistor junction capacitances do
come into play, reducing an amplifier's
gain and introducing phase shift as
the signal frequency increases.

In BJT, Cbe is the B-E junction capacitance,

and Cbc is the B-C junction capacitance.
(output to input capacitance)

➢At lower frequencies, the internal capacitances have a very high

reactance because of their low capacitance value (usually only a few pf)
and the low frequency value. Therefore, they look like opens and have
no effect on the transistor's performance.

➢As the frequency goes up, the internal capacitive reactance's go

down, and at some point they begin to have a significant
effect on the transistor's gain.
High frequency Response of CE Amplifier

➢When the reactance of Cbe becomes

small enough, a significant amount of
the signal voltage is lost due to a
voltage-divider effect of the source
resistance and the reactance of Cbe.

➢ When the reactance of Cbc

becomes small enough, a
significant amount of output
signal voltage is fed back out of
phase with the input (negative
feedback), thus effectively
reducing the voltage gain.
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Millers Theorem
The Miller effect occurs only in inverting amplifiers –it is the inverting gain that
magnifies the feedback capacitance.

vin  ( Avin )
iin   vin (1 A)  2  f  C F
XC Here C F represents C bc

vin 1 1
Z in   
iin (1 A)  2  f  C F 2  f  Cin

Cin  (1 A) CF 4

High frequency Response of CE Amp.: Millers Theorem

➢Miller's theorem is used to simplify the analysis of inverting amplifiers at

high-frequencies where the internal transistor capacitances are important. Av is
the voltage gain of the amplifier at midrange frequencies, and C represents Cbc
Miller theorems state that C effectively appears as a capacitance from input
to ground and can be expressed as follows: Cin(Miller) = C(Av +1)

Miller's theorems also state that C effectively appears as a capacitance

from output to ground and can be expressed: Cout(Miller) = C(Av +1)/Av

➢This indicates that if the voltage gain is 10 or greater Cout (Miller) is

approximately equal to Cbc because (Av + 1) / Av is equal to 1
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 High frequency Response of CE Amp.: Millers Theorem

NOTE: Common base and common collector amplifiers

do not suffer from the Miller effect, since in these
amplifiers, one side of is connected directly to ground.
When the common base mode is used,the base-collector capacitor does not affect the input since it is grounded at the base end.
The input capacitance is equal to Cbe. (Well,in practise there is a small parasitic capacitance between collector and emitter)
Common collector circuit has the collector end grounded (Vcc is ground for AC) , so the input capacitance equals the base-
collector capacitance provided the load has no capacitance of its own.
High frequency Response of CE Amp.: Input RC ckt

As the frequency increases, the capacitive reactance becomes smaller. This

cause the signal voltage at the base to decrease, so the amplifier's voltage gain
decreases. The reason for this is that the capacitance and resistance act as a
voltage divider and, as the frequency increases, more voltage is dropped across
the resistance and less across the capacitance.
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High frequency Response of CE Amp.: Input RC ckt
At the critical frequency, the gain is 3 dB less than its midrange
value. Just as with the low frequency response, the critical high
frequency, fc , is the frequency at which the capacitive reactance is
equal to the total resistance

1
XC   Rs // R1 // R2 //  ac re'
2  f c  Ctotal

1
fC  Ctotal  Cbe  Cin Miller
2 (R s // R1 // R2 //  ac re' )  Ctotal

As the frequency goes above in the input RC circuit causes the

gain to roll off at a rate of -20 dB/decade just as with the low-
frequency response.

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Phase shift for Input RC ckt at high frequency

Because the output voltage of a high-frequency input RC circuit is

across the capacitor, the output of the circuit lags the input.

The phase shift in the output RC circuit is

R // R // R //  r '
  tan 1 ( s 1 2 ac e )

Xc

As the frequency increases above fc , the phase angle increases above

45° and approaches 90° when the frequency is sufficiently high.

At the critical frequency fC , the phase shift is 45º with the signal
voltage at the base of the transistor lagging the input signal.

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 High frequency Response of CE Amp.: Output RC ckt

The critical frequency is determine with the following equation, where Rac=RC║RL

1 Rac
fC    tan (1
)
2  Rac  Cout Miller X cout Miller
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Total High frequency Response of CE Amplifier
The two RC circuits created by the internal transistor capacitances
influence the high frequency response of BJT amplifiers. As the
frequency increases and reaches the high end of its midrange
values, one of the RC will cause the amplifier's gain to begin
dropping off. The frequency at which this occurs is the dominant
critical frequency; it is the lower of the two critical high frequencies.
At fc(input) the voltage gain begins to roll off at -20dB/decade. At
fc(output) , the gain begins dropping at -40 dB/decade because
each RC circuit is providing a -20 dB/decade roll-off.

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Total frequency Response of CE Amplifier

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Frequency Response of BJT Amplifiers

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Frequency Response of CE BJT Amplifier
1
XC 
2  f  C

Assuming that the coupling and

bypass capacitors are ideal shorts
at the midrange signal frequency,
the midrange voltage gain can be
determined by

Av,mid  (RC \ \R L )
re'

➢ In the low frequency range, BJT amplifier has three high-pass RC

circuits, namely input, bypass and output RC circuit, that affect its gain.

➢ The lower cutoff frequency of a given common emitter amplifier will be

given by the highest of the individual RC circuits.

fC-low = MAX(fc-input , fc-output ,fc-bypass ) 2

Low Frequency Response of Input RC circuit

The input RC Circuit

Rin  R1 \ \R2 \ \Rinbase

V ( Rin )V
B
X 2  R2 in
c1 in

➢As the signal frequency decreases, XC1 increase, This causes less
voltage across the input resistance of the amplifier at the base and
because of this, the overall voltage gain of the amplifier is reduced.

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 Decibel
Bel is a form of gain measurement and is commonly used to express
amplifier response.

The Bel is a logarithm measurement of the ratio of one power to another

or one voltage to another.
G(dB)  10log10 (P2 / P1 )
G  log10 (P2 / P1 ) G(dB)  20log10 (V2 /V1)
It was found, that the Bel was too large a unit of measurement for
practical purposes, so the decibel (dB) was defined such that 1B =10dB

0 dB reference
It is often convenient in amplifiers to assign a certain value of gain as the 0
dB reference This does not mean that the actual voltage gain is 1 (which is
0 dB); it means that the reference gain, is used as a reference with which to
compare other values of gain and is therefore assigned a 0 dB value. The
maximum gain is called the midrange gain and is assigned a 0 dB value.
Any value of gain below midrange can be referenced to 0 dB and expressed
as a negative dB value.
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 Bode Plots
A plot of dB voltage gain versus frequency on semilog graph paper is
called a bode plot.

The Bode Plot is a variation of the basic frequency response curve.

A Bode plot assumes the amplitude is zero until the cutoff frequency
is reached. Then the gain of the amplifier is assumed to drop at a set
rate of 20 dB/decade (or one RC time constant).

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Low Frequency Response of Input RC ckt
➢A critical point in the amplifier's response occurs when the output
voltage is 70.7% of its midrange value. This condition occurs in the
input RC circuit when XC1 = Rin

Rin In terms of measurement in decibels:

VB  ( )Vin
X  Rin2
2 20 log(Vout /Vin )  20 log(0.707)  3dB
c1

Lower critical frequency

The condition where the gain is down 3 dB is called the -3dB point of
the amplifier response; The frequency fc at which the overall gain is
3dB less than at midrange is called the lower cutoff frequency.

1 1
X C1   R in fC 
2  f c  C1 2  (Rs  Rin )  C1

Where Rs is the signal internal resistance and Rin  R1 \ \R2 \ \Rinbase

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Voltage Gain Roll Off for input ckt at low frequency
➢ The input RC circuit reduces the overall voltage gain of an amplifier
by 3 dB when the frequency is reduced to the critical value fC.

➢As the frequency continues to decrease below fC the overall

voltage gain also continues to decrease. The decrease in voltage gain
with frequency is called roll-off.

➢For each ten times reduction

in frequency below fC there is a
20dB reduction in voltage gain.

At fc , XC1 = Rin , so XC1 =10 Rin at 0.1fc,

VB Rin
  0.1
Vin X  Rin2
2
c1

20 log(VB /Vin )  20 log(0.1)  20dB

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Phase shift for input RC ckt at low frequency
➢ At lower frequencies, higher values of XC1 cause a phase shift to
be introduced, and the output voltage leads the input voltage.

➢ The phase angle in an input RC circuit is expressed as:

  tan 1 ( X C1 )
Rin
➢ At midrange frequencies the phase shift through the input RC
circuit is zero because XC1 ≈ 0Ω .


f
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Output RC circuit at low frequency
1 1
X C3   RC  RL fC 
2  f c  C3 2  (RC  RL )  C3

As the signal frequency decreases, XC3 increases. This causes

less voltage across the load resistance because more voltage is
dropped across C3.
The signal voltage is reduced by a factor of 0.707 when frequency
is reduced to the lower critical value, fC, for the circuit. This
corresponds to a 3 dB reduction in voltage gain
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Phase shift for Output RC ckt at low frequency
The phase shift in the output RC circuit is

X C3
  tan 1 ( )
RC  RL

➢ θ ≈ 0 for the midrange frequency and approaches 90º as the

frequency approaches zero (XC3 approaches infinity).

➢ At the critical frequency fC , the phase shift is 45º

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Emitter-bypass RC ckt at low frequency

1
fC 
Rinemitter  Ve  re' Rth
Ie 2 [(re'  ) // R E ] C2
ac
Rinemitter  Rth I b  re'  Rth  re'
I b  11
Total Low frequency Response of CE Amplifier
➢The critical frequencies of the three RC circuits are not necessarily all
equal. If one of the RC circuits has a critical frequency higher than the
other two, then it is dominant RC circuit.

➢As the frequency is reduced from midrange, the first "break point"
occurs at the critical frequency of the input RC circuit, fc(input) , and
the gain begins to drop at -20dB/decade.

➢This constant roll\off rate continues until the critical frequency of

the output RC circuit, fc(output), is reached. At this break point, the
output RC circuit adds another - 20 dB/decade to make a total roll-off
of -40 dB/decade.

➢This constant -40 dB/decade roll-off continues until the critical

frequency of the bypass RC circuit, fc(bypass), is reached. At this break
point, the bypass RC circuit adds still another -20dB/decade, making
the gain roll-off at - 60 dB/decade
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 If all RC circuits have
different critical frequency If all RC circuits have the
same critical frequency

[Link]

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Low frequency Response of CE Amplifier
Determine the value of the lower cutoff frequency for the following
amplifier. Consider the following component values:
RS = 600 Ω , R1 = 18 kΩ, R2 = 4.7 kΩ, RC = 1.5 kΩ, RE = 1.2 kΩ, RL = 5 kΩ,
CC1 = 1 µF, CC2 = 0.22 µF, CE = 10 µF, hfe = 200, hie = 4.4 kΩ, Vcc = 10 V

fc-input = 61.2 Hz
fc-output = 111 Hz
fc-bypass = 650 Hz

Lower cutoff frequency of

the amplifier:
fC-Low = max (61.2, 111, 650)
fC-Low = 650 Hz

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