ENGR355 LABORATORY 8 REPORT

CHARACTERISTIC OF TRANSISTOR AND

COMMON EMITTER AMPLIFIER DESIGN

Son Quang Dinh, Lab Partner: Chris Rahimi

11/05/2015
Section 2

I. Procedure:
1. Sinusoidal Operation:
Apply a 20 KHz sinusoid to the input of the amplifier given in Fig. 3.
Adjust the amplitude of the signal so as to obtain a sinusoidal output
signal of maximum magnitude. Measure the peak values of the input
and output signals and calculate the magnitude of the voltage gain.
Determine the phase relation between the input and output signals.

Figure 1: Circuit diagram in Fig. 3

Figure 2: Output and Input signal with maximum magnitude of output

- Output setting at 1 volt/division, 10S/ division
- Input setting at 0.2 volts/division, 10S/ division

From figure above:

- Peak value of input is 210mV
- Peak value of output is 2.29V
- Voltage gain: G =

2.29

210

= 10.9

- Phase relation: Output are delay in phase 175.60

2. Non-linear Operation:
Increase the amplitude of the input signal until marked distortion is noted
in the output. Record the magnitude of the input signal. Apply a square
wave at 20 KHz to the input of the amplifier. Note the output waveforms
of the amplifier for various input amplitudes of the square wave input
signal.

Figure 3: Output and Input signal when marked distortion is noted on output
- Output setting at 1 volt/division, 10S/ division
- Input setting at 0.2 volts/division, 10S/ division

The magnitude of input signal is: 230mV

Change the input into square waveform with frequency 20kHz

- With input amplitudes is 225mV

Figure 4: Output and Input signal when input is square wave with amplitude 225mV
- Output setting at 1 volt/division, 10S/ division
- Input setting at 0.1 volts/division, 10S/ division

- With input amplitudes is 2.1V:

Figure 5: Output signal when input is square wave with amplitude 2.1V
- Output setting at 5 volt/division, 10S/ division

- With input amplitudes is 0.9V:

Figure 6: Output signal when input is square wave with amplitude 0.9V
- Output setting at 5 volt/division, 10S/ division

Comment: When the input amplitude is very high, the BJT will work in
saturation mode decreasing the amplitude of output.
3. Amplifier Output Resistance:
Apply a 20 KHz sinusoid to the input of the amplifier. Adjust the
amplitude of the input signal so as to give maximum output with a
minimum of distortion. Determine the output resistance of the amplifier
as follow. Place a variable resistance (use a resistance box) across the
output terminals of the amplifier and beginning with a high value of
resistance (100 K); decrease the resistance until the output voltage
has decreased to one-half of its value when no resistance is used. This
resistance is approximately the output resistance of the amplifier.

 Before using the resistance box:

Figure 7: Output and Input signal before using resistance box

Output voltage peak value now is 2.49V

After using the resistance box with resistance between 4700 and
6800:

Figure 8: Output and Input signal after using resistance box

Output voltage peak value now is 1.17V

Comment: The output resistance is between 4700 and 6800

4. Frequency Response:
Measure the magnitude of the voltage gain over a frequency range of
100 Hz to 500 KHz by varying the frequency of the sinusoidal generator.
Choose at least 10 frequencies over this range at which to make your
measurements.
Frequency
(KHz)
0.1

Peak value Input

(mV)
229

Peak value Output

(V)
1.57

Gain

50

229

2.49

10.87

100

229

2.49

10.87

150

229

2.45

10.70

200

229

2.45

10.70

250

229

2.45

10.70

300

229

2.41

10.52

350

229

2.41

10.52

400

229

2.37

10.35

450

229

2.33

10.17

500

229

2.33

10.17

6.86

Table 1: The voltage gain over the range of frequency from 100Hz to 500 kHz

II. Assignment:
1) Plot the Bode Plot of the AC Voltage gain measured in part 4; (use a
log-axis for thefrequency). Discuss the shape of the curve plotted and
the theoretical gain-frequency curve. Explain why the magnitude of
the gain drops off at high frequencies.

Bode Plot

20log(Gain)
25
20
15

Gain

10
5

Frequency
0
1

10

100

1000

10000

100000 1000000

Figure 9: Bode Plot of the AC voltage gain

- We see a tendency of decreasing the gain if we continue

increasing frequency
- Theoretically, the Bode Plot will look like this

From our experiments value, the Bode Plot will be suitable for the
low frequency band. At high frequency band, the effect of depletion

capacitance in BJT increase, creating a low pass filter for high

frequency band gain drop off. From my calculation, the cut off
frequency for high frequency band is around 50 MHz.
The Circuit diagram for high frequency band:

2) Using the transistor characteristics measured in part 1; calculate the

magnitude ofthe AC voltage gain and the output resistance of the
amplifier at low frequencies. Compare the calculated values with your
measured values and explain any discrepancy.
- From my calculation:
+ The AC voltage gain: |Av| =

1+

805.6
1+800.47

= 11.56

+ The output resistance: Rout = RC = 5.6k

+ The circuit diagram for calculation (AC small signal):

- From my measurement:
+ The AC voltage gain is: 10.67
+ The output resistance is between 4.7k and 6.8k
- Comment: The measurement is approximately similar to the
calculated value.
3) Give a brief discussion of the reasons why distortion was observed in
part 4 when a sinusoidal signal was used. Is there a relationship with
the computations performed in pre-lab part 3? Use sketches of the

transistor characteristic curves showing the load line in your

explanation.
- The distortion happens because the BJT work in saturation mode
during that moment. In saturation mode, Vce does not depend on
IB (or input signal) so the output is distorted related to the
prelab 3 session.
- Sketch the transistor characteristic:

III. Conclusion:
- From these experiments, I know about the characteristic of BJT
(working mode, current relationship).
- I understand about the effect of frequency to the CE amplifier
circuit.