Common Emitter Amplifier

Sayed Taher Zewari

ECE 334- 201

Lab No. 7

09/28/00
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Common Emitter Amplifier

I. Introduction
The purpose of this is to investigate the operation of a common-emitter NPN transistor amplifier.
II. Background Information
Amplifiers: Amplifier is a circuit that is capable of increasing the magnitude level of a signal. Amplifiers
are divided into three groups based on the configuration. The configurations of a single stage transistor
amplifier are:
Common Emitter Amplifier (CE)
Common Collector Amplifier (CC)
Common Base Amplifier (CB)

The Common Emitter configuration:

This configuration of the amplifier is the most used of the three. It gives both voltage gain and current
gain greater than unity and the input and output impedances can have medium values compared to the
other configurations. D

The Common Base configuration:

In this configuration, the current gain is less than unity and the voltage gain is high around that of the
common emitter configuration gain. This configuration has the lowest input impedance and the highest
output impedance of the three configurations mentioned above. It has few applications because there is
not advantage at low and medium frequencies of the common base configuration. The ma in advantage of
the common base configuration is that it has a better performance in high frequencies.

The Common Collector configuration:

In this configuration, the current gain is high around that of the common emitter configuration and the
voltage gain is less than unity. The input impedance is the highest and the output impedance is the lowest
of the three configurations mentioned above. It is also called emitter follower and has wide applications
as a buffer between high impedance and low impedance stages.

Input Resistance: The input resistance is the resistance seen by the current source or voltage source that
drives the circuit.
Output Resistance: is an indication of a source's ability to drive load impedance. An ideal voltage
source has zero output resistance, and an ideal current source has infinite output resistance.

III. Materials Used

The following materials were used in this lab: four resistors of 100 kΩ, 47 kΩ, 1.258 kΩ and 32kΩ. DC
voltage sources of 12 V, multimeters, banana to alligator wires, resistor substitution box, function
generator, oscilloscope, and the bread board on the Heathkit Trainer.
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IV. Procedure
1. Determine the values of , VT , gm, rπ, and RB, Rc.
2. Once the above values determined, using a thevenin equivalent circuit find the value of Re.
3. When the value of Rc, Re determined, setup the following circuit:

V2

0 12Vdc

Rc
1650
R1
100k C7 R3

200u 1k
Q1 V
C4

200u
V Q2N2222
0

V4 R2
VOFF = 0 Re
VAMPL = .010 47k C6
FREQ = 1000 3300
200u

4. Supply dc voltage of 12 V.
5. Using function generator, supply an input voltage. Select any desired voltage level and frequency.
6. Use the capacitors, as indicated in the circuit, to isolate the amplifier circuit.
7. Measure the gain that is the Av = Vo / Vi.

Input Resistance:
8. Connect a variable resistance in series with the circuit and voltage supply.
9. Adjust the variable resistor until the output is half of that of the input.
10. Measure the resistance of the variable resistor. That is the input resistance.

Output Resistance:
11. Connect a variable resistance in parallel with the circuit
12. Adjust the variable resistor until the output is half of that of the input.
13. Measure the resistance of the variable resistor. That is the output resistor.
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V. Results
Re = 3299.84 Ω Rc = 1650 Ω for Ic = 0.75 mA gain = 50
Re = 3299.84 Ω Rc = 1650 Ω for Ic = 1 mA gain = 37

Input resistance: 5.2 kΩ This is usually close to the value of rπ.

Output resistance: 1.3 kΩ This is close to the value of Rc.

VI. Conclusion
The data above indicates that the determining factor in performance of the amplifier is the value of the
resistor Rc. If Rc is low the gain is low; and when it is high the gain is also high. When the coupling
capacitor is removed the output dramatically drops below that of the input. Its gain is obviously zero.
When the coupling capacitor is removed and the load is directly connected to the collector, the gain drops
significantly.