Chad Beibide

cnb0036@auburn.edu | 256.529.9267

Lab Two: Common Emitter Amplifier

Building and Measuring the DC Circuit

The circuit shown in Figure 1 is a four-resistor biased NPN transistor. This network serves as a basic amplifier of a given input signal once several AC components are added. This circuit is then created on a breadboard as shown in Figure 2. Next, VBE is measured to be 0.69V and VCE is measured as 4.36V. Now the q-point is measured using a digital multimeter. The q-point is defined as (VCE,IC) and measured to be (4.2V,0.3mA).

DC Circuit Scematic
Fig.1 - DC Four-Resistor Biased Network Schematic
DC Circuit Breadboard
Fig.2 - Breadboarded DC Four-Resistor Biased Network

Adding the AC Portion

Now the AC portion as showin in Figure 3 is added to the breadboard as shown in Figure 4. The circuit now functions as an analog amplifier given an input on the breadboard rail number two.

AC Circuit Scematic
Fig.3 - DC Four-Resistor Biased Network Schematic
AC Circuit Breadboard
Fig.4 - Breadboarded DC Four-Resistor Biased Network

The gain of the amplifier is now measured as RL is varied from 10Ω to 100kΩ as shown in Table 1 and Graph 1.

R1(Ω)GainVV103.0710010.351k3510k48.125100k50

Table.1 - Resistors and Gain
AC Circuit Gain Plot
Fig.4 - Breadboarded DC Four-Resistor Biased Network

The gain shown above is taken from data collected using an oscilloscope. Due to the varying nature of measurements, the data shown in the below screenshots (Figures 5-7) do not line up directly with the above graph. From left to right, the Figures are taken from RL=10Ω, RL=1kΩ, and RL=100kΩ.



10 Ohm Load
Fig.5 - 10Ω Load
1k Ohm Load
Fig.6 - 1kΩ Load
100k Ohm Load
Fig.7 - 100kΩ Load

The AC input frequency is now varried from a range of 100Hz to 10MHz. A sample of a low, medium, and high input frequency is shown in Figures 8-10. Table 2 and Graph 2 show the gain in dB as the frequency is varied.

Low Frequency AC
Fig.8 - Low Frequency AC Input
Medium Frequency AC
Fig.9 - Medium Frequency AC Input
High Frequency AC
Fig.10 - High Frequency AC Input

Frequency(Hz)VoltageGainVVGain(dB)1008.6718.7730023.8427.541k52.2234.353k65.7936.3610k67.5336.5930k67.5436.59100k68.0136.65300k68.1236.671M68.6536.733M51.1034.1710M20.4526.22

Table.2 - Resistors and Gain
Frequency Gain
Graph.2 - Frequency vs. Gain in (dB)