EEE / INSTR F244

Microelectronic
Circuits
BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus
 BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus

Amplifier Basics
Mixed signal System design
ADC- SubSystem Design

• A to D Converter, D to A Converter
Flash ADC-100 Msps
Band width requirement of OPAMP

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DAC
Design issues

• Diff amp, biasing circuit, CSA, C (if compensation is

reqd.)
Signals
• Arbitrary in nature.

• Obtained through sensors---variations

converted into current or voltage

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Sinusoid
• Important signal in analysis , design, testing
• For an LTI system, if input is sinusoid, output is
also sinusoid with modified amplitude and
phase. Hence analysis is easy

• Every natural signal can be represented as sum

of sine waves of different frequencies and
amplitude.

• Lab testing is possible

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Why amplifier first?
• Reasons—
• Fundamental signal processing function
• Employed in every electronic system
• Easy to understand
• Design techniques can be easily extended
to design of complex analog circuits.

Similar to NOT gate in Digital Electronics

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Amplifier circuit symbol

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Amplifiers

• Need- Weak signals- energy too small for

reliable processing

• Requirement---Information contained in
the signal should not get changed/ Output
must be exact replica of the input.
• Relation ship of amplifiers
vo(t) = A vi(t)
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Characterizing parameters
• Gain
• Voltage swing
• Linearity
• Power efficiency
• Frequency response, bandwidth
• Power supply and dc bias

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Analog Design tradeoffs

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Gain/ transfer characteristics
• Voltage Gain

• Current gain

• Power gain

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VTC

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Information from VTC
• Highest and Lowest signal amplitude
• Gain—steepness of transition
• Inverting/ non inverting nature
• Single/ dual power supply
• Offset

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Measuring Unit---Use of Decibel unit
• The decibel, or dB, is a means of
expressing either the gain of an active
device (such as an amplifier) or the loss in
a passive device (such as an attenuator or
length of cable).

• The decibel was developed by the

telephone company to conveniently
express the gain or loss in telephone
transmission systems.
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• Input >---- Amp #1 ---- Amp #2 ------>
Output
• A1 = 275, A2 = 55
• The total gain factor
At = 275 x 55 = 15,125.

• Use logarithms-
• log (A x B) = log A + log B
• log (A/B) = log A - log B
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• Invented a unit of gain measurement
called a "Bel," named after Alexander
Graham Bell.

• They defined the Bel as

Gain in Bels = log A = log (Po / Pi )

where A = Power amplification factor

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• log 275 = 2.4393326 and
• log 55 = 1.7403626,
15,125

• so the total gain in our cascade is

• 2.4393326 + 1.7403626 =
4.179,695,289 Bels
• Rounding problem---
• 4.179 Bels15124.99----4.2 Bels15,849
• 5% error
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• it was decided to express power gain in units
which were equal to one-tenth of a Bel, or in
deci-Bels
• 1 Bel=10 decibels
• Gain in decibels (dB) = 10 log A

• 2.4393326 + 1.7403626 = 4.179,695,289 Bels

• 24.39 + 17.40 = 41.79 decibels

• 41.79 dB is a power gain of 15,101, 41.8 dB

is a power gain of 15,136
• so the error is only 0.23%.
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Voltage gain---
• Gain in dB---10 log[ (Vo2/RL) / (Vi2/Ri)]
• If RL= Ri

• Gain in dB= 20 log (Vo/ Vi)

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Linearity
• Amplifier follows a relationship.--- linear
amplifier
• vo(t) = A vi(t)

• Any deviation (higher powers of vi) ---

nonlinear distortion

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THD
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 Amplifier Power Supplies
• Important part of the circuit

• Power balance equation---

Pdc + Pin = P load + P dissipated
• Maximum power must be delivered to the load
• Figure of merit---Amplifier Power efficiency

PL
  100
Pdc
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Classes of amplifiers
• Class A----ηmax = 25 %
• Class B (~70%)
• Class AB (~70%)
• Class C (~80%)
• Class D (~100%)

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Amplifier Classes represent the amount of the output signal
which varies within the amplifier circuit over one cycle of
operation when excited by a sinusoidal input signal.

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Need to set DC Bias

Practical VTC is non

linear-- Saturation,
varying slope

output will be distorted

--Operate at a point where

VTC is close to linear-
middle
--Keep input small Bits, pilani
Frequency response-bandwidth
• Ideal frequency response---gain does not
change with frequency

• Practical frequency response

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 Poles, Zeros and Bode Plots
Characterization:
K ( s  z1 )( s  z 2 ) ... ( s  z m )
G(s) 
s  ( s  p1 )( s  p2 ) ... ( s  pn )
s s s
(  1)(  1) ... (  1)
K  z1 z 2 z m  z1 z2 zm
G(s) 
 p1 p2 pn  s  ( s  1)( s  1) ... ( s  1)
p1 p2 pn
K  z1 z 2 z m 
KB 
 p1 p2 pn 
( z1s  1)( z 2 s  1) ... ( zm s  1)
G(s)  K B
s  ( p1s  1)( p 2 s  1) ... ( pn s  1)
(Time Constant Form.)
Characterization:
Considering the transfer function in the time constant form.
we have 4 different types of terms in the time constant form,
these are:
1 1
KB , , , (s / z  1)
s ( s / p  1)
Expressing the transfer function dB:
j
KB (  1)
G ( jw)  z
 j
(j )(  1)
0 p
20 log | G( j ) |
j  j
 20 log K B  20 log | (  1) | 20 log | j | 20 log | 1|
z o p
 Mechanics: We have 4 distinct terms to consider:

20logKB ----- ( constant gain in time constant format)

- 20log|j /ω0 | ----- (Pole at origin if wo=1)

- 20log|(j  /1 + |p|) ------ (Pole at 0 = p )

20log|(j/1 ±z)| ----- (zero at 0 = z )

wlg
 1 1 1 1 1 1

This is a sheet of 5 cycle, semi-log paper.

This is the type of paper usually used for
preparing Bode plots.

dB Mag
Phase
(deg)

wlg

 (rad/sec)
Frequency response plots

• Different types of transfer functions---

• K

w 1 jw 1
j w 1 jw
wo j wo 1
wo wo

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K constant
Gain in dB

Log w

Ө= 0

Log w
jw/wo
Gain in dB

20 dB/ dec

wo
Log w

Ө= 90

Log w
-j w/wo = 1/ [jw/wo]–
, pole at the origin, jw/w
w0=1 o

Gain in dB

20 dB/ dec

Log w
wo rad./ sec

For a pole at the origin draw a line with a slope of -20

Ө dB/decade that goes through 0 dB at 1 rad/sec

Log w

Ө= -90
1+ j (w/wo)
Gain in dB
Corner plot

20 dB/ dec

wo
Log w
Corner frequency
Ө

90

45
Ө= tan-1 (w/wo)

0.1 wo Log w
~10 wo
Magnitude and phase

jw
1
wo

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1 / [1+ j (w/wo)]
Gain in dB

wo
Log w

20 dB/ dec

Ө
Ө= -tan-1 (w/wo)
~0.1 wo
Log w
-45

-90
~10 wo
 Using Matlab For Frequency Response
Instruction: We can use Matlab to run the frequency response for the
previous example. We place the transfer function in the
form:
5000 ( s  10) [ 5000 s  50000 ]

( s  1) ( s  500) [ s 2  501s  500]

The Matlab Program

num = [5000 50000];

den = [1 501 500];
Bode (num,den)
Using Matlab For Freq. Response

Instruction: We can use Matlab to run the frequency response for the
previous example. We place the transfer function in the
form:
5000 ( s  10) [ 5000 s  50000 ]

( s  1) ( s  500) [ s 2  501s  500]

The Matlab Program

num = [5000 50000];

den = [1 501 500];
Bode (num,den)
 Bode Diagrams

From: U(1)
40

30

20
Phase (deg); Magnitude (dB)

10

-10
1 10 100 500
0

-20

-40
To: Y(1)

-60
100(1  jw / 10)
Bode for: G( jw) 
-80 (1  jw)(1  jw / 500)
-100
10-1 100 101 102 103 104

Frequency (rad/sec)

G( j )  tan 1 ( / 10)  tan 1 ( / 1)  tan 1 ( / 500)

Initial angle=00 and final angle -900
Evaluating the frequency response
• Single time constant circuits

Vo (s) = 1/ [1+sCR] vi (s) Vo (s) = sCR/ [1+sCR] vi (s)

[vo./ vi]= K / [1+{s/wo}] [vo./ vi]= K s / [1+{s/wo}]

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Amplifier circuit models-analysis tools

• Amplifiers must be characterized for its

terminal behavior first to be used as
block in system design
• For analysis purpose, complex circuits are
replaced by their (models)--- simple
circuits
• Voltage amplifier model (v,v)
• Current amplifier (i,i)
• Trans-conductance (v,i)
• Trans-resistance (i,v)
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Use 2 port network theory

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 Z parameter model

4/16/2019 Anu Gupta BITS PILANI

CLASSIFICATION OF AMPLIFIERS
Voltage amplifier
Ro

+ + +
vi Ri vo
Avvi
- -
-

Using the voltage divider rule open circuit voltage gain is

Av = vo/vi|io=0
Unit (V/V)
Ideal conditions: R0 = 0 Ri =  condition for no loss
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 Current amplifier

ii io

+ +
Ri A iv i Ro vo
- -

Short-Circuit current gain

Ais = io/ii |vo=0
Unit (A/A)
Ideal conditions Ri = 0 ; R0 = 

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 Transconductance amplifier
io
+ +
vi Ri Ro vo
Gmvi
- -

Short-Circuit Transconductance
Gm = io/vi |vo=0
Unit (A/V)
Ideal conditions Ri =  ; R0 = 

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Transresistance amplifier

ii Ro

+
Ri vo
Rmii
-

Open-Circuit Transresistence
Rm = vo/ii |io=0
Unit (V/A)
Ideal conditions Ri = 0 ; R0 = 0

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Relations between parameters

Av0 = Ais(Ro /Ri)

Av0 = GmRo

Av0 = Rm/Ri

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 BJT
• The bipolar junction transistor, unlike other transistors, is
usually not a symmetrical device. This means that
interchanging the collector and the emitter makes the transistor
leave the forward active mode and start to operate in reverse
mode.
• Because the transistor's internal structure is usually optimized
for forward-mode operation, interchanging the collector and the
emitter makes the values of α and β in reverse operation much
smaller than those in forward operation; often the α of the
reverse mode is lower than 0.5.
• The lack of symmetry is primarily due to the doping ratios of the
emitter and the collector.

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• The emitter is heavily doped, while the collector is lightly doped,
allowing a large reverse bias voltage to be applied before the
collector–base junction breaks down.
• The collector–base junction is reverse biased in normal
operation. The reason the emitter is heavily doped is to
increase the emitter injection efficiency: the ratio of carriers
injected by the emitter to those injected by the base. For high
current gain, most of the carriers injected into the emitter–base
junction must come from the emitter.
• The low-performance "lateral" bipolar transistors sometimes
used in CMOS processes are sometimes designed
symmetrically, that is, with no difference between forward and
backward operation.
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• The area of collector layer is largest. So it can dissipate
heat quickly. IT is normally in direct contact with the
metal case of the transistor, or a metal mounting pad,
which may then be bolted or clipped directly on to a
heat-sink.

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• The collector needs to be lightly doped so that the collector-base junction

will have a high breakdown voltage. This translates into a high allowable

collector power supply voltage. Small signal silicon transistors have a 60-80

V breakdown voltage. Though, it may run to hundreds of volts for high

voltage transistors.

• The collector also needs to be heavily doped to minimize ohmic losses if the

transistor must handle high current. These contradicting requirements are

met by doping the collector more heavily at the metallic contact area. The

collector near the base is lightly doped as compared with the emitter. The

heavy doping in the emitter gives the emitter-base a low approximate 7 V

breakdown voltage in small signalBits,

transistors.
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END

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