55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Midterm 2 Exam
Name: _____________________

Max: 90 Points

Question 1 Consider the circuit below. The duty cycle and frequency of the 555 astable is 55%
and 5 kHz respectively. (a) Determine a value for
so that the average current through the
IR diode is 30 mA. (5 points) (b) How much power will
dissipate? (1 point)

Solution
Part (a) The peak- and average currents, and the duty cycle

(
Assume that for the BJT,
closest standard value of
Part (b)

, then

.
.

in % are related as follows

)
(

. Use the

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Question 2 For the BJT in the amplifier below,

, and
. (a) Show that
( )
. (5 points). (b) Estimate the 3-dB bandwidth if
. Ignore the BJTs
.
parasitic capacitances. (9 points) (c) Estimate the overall midband voltage gain
(3) points.

Solution
Part (a) For a dc analysis, we open the capacitors. KVL gives

(
Solving yields

and consequently

Part (b) For the transistor

estimate the resistance looking into the emitter as
(
The time constant associate with

Using BJT impedance scaling, we

is
(

Since

is much smaller than

and

we can write

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

The 3-dB bandwidth is

Part (c) This is an emitter follower with voltage gain from base to emitter of slightly less than 1.
The resistance looking into the base is
(
)( ), which is more than 500K. This
is in parallel with the 100K resistor . Thus, the voltage division between the source (through
) and the resistance it sees is negligible, and the overall midband voltage gain is slightly less
than 1.

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Question 3 Consider the CE BJT amplifier below. (a) Draw a hybrid- small signal model of
the amplifier. Be sure to include , and . (6 points) (b) Provide numerical values for
and . (2 points) (c) Estimate the upper 3 dB bandwidth. (12 points) (d) Determine the overall
. (3 points)
midband gain

Solution
Part (a)

Part (b)

Part (c)
(

The Miller effect transforms

to a value
gain working across . That is
(
The Miller capacitance is in parallel with

)(

where

. A small signal model is

), the

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

(
The time constant is
upper 3 dB frequency is then

)(

)(

Part (d)
The overall midband voltage gain is
|
|

|
|

. The

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Question 4 For the common-emitter amplifier below, the transistor parameters are
and
. Ignore the BJT parasitic capacitances. (a) Show that
( )
7.6 mA. (5 points) (b) Determine
and
(2 points) (c) Calculate the 3-dB frequency
(6 points) (d) Determine the overall midband voltage gain . (3 points) (e) Sketch the
Bode plot of the voltage gain magnitude. (6 points)

Solution
Part (a)
The Thevenin equivalent circuit for the base bias network consists of a 1.565 V voltage source in
series with a 1.3 K resistor. Then

(
(
Solving yields

)
(

so that

Part (b)

.Part (c)
(

)[

(
6

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Further
(

Part (d) The midband voltage gain from the base to the collector is

A quick approximation, also acceptable here, is

The source resistor
forms a voltage divider with so that the overall midband voltage gain is

Part (e)

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Question 5 In the amplifier below, ignore the MOSFETs parasitic capacitances. (a) Show that
. (6 points) (b) Determine
. (2 points) (c) Determine the midband voltage
gain of the circuit. (2 points)

Solution
Part (a) The gate current is zero, so

Further

) . Thus
(
(

Solving using trial-and-error gives 2.55 V. The drain current is

(
)(
)

) ( )
) (
)
(

Part (b)

Part (c) The small-signal model is given below where

)
voltage gain is
(

. From the model the

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Question 6 In the amplifier below, assume

for all the transistors. (a) Show that
( )
the collector current of
is approximately
(2 points) (b) Estimate the output
resistance. (8 points) (c) Estimate the voltage gain . (2 points) (d) Find the quiescent, dc
voltage at the output. (3 points)
Hint: view the transistors as a composite transistor and use BJT impeadance scaling.

Solution
Part (a) The collector current of
.

is about (

)(

Part (b) We can view the three transistors as a single BJT with beta
( )(
)
. For this composite transistor

base current is

, and

Use BJT scaling to estimate

Part (b) The arrangement is that of a voltage follower, so the gain is essentially 1.
Part (c) The base current of
voltage is then

is

so the base voltage of

is

. The dc output

55:041 Electronic Circuits. The University of Iowa. Fall 2012.

Question 7 Consider the amplifier shown. Draw a small-signal model for the amplifier, carefully
labeling each component of the model. Ignore the parasitic capacitances. If
, what
is
for ? (6 points)

Solution

10