Transistor Hybrid Model

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Article:AndyCollinson
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Introduction
Theprimaryfunctionofa"model"istopredictthebehaviourofadeviceinaparticular
operatingregion.Atdcthebipolarjunctiontransistor(BJT)andsomeofitsbiasing
techniqueshavealreadybeendescribed,seethesearticles:
BJTBiasing
TransistorasaSwitch
ThebehaviouroftheBJTinthesinusoidalacdomainisquitedifferentfromitsdcdomain.
AtdctheBJTusuallyworksatineithersaturationorcutoffregions.Intheacdomainthe
transistorworksinthelinearregionandeffectsofcapacitancebetweenterminals,input
impedance,outputconductance,etcallhavetobeaccountedfor.Thesmallsignalac
responsecanbedescribedbytwocommonmodels:thehybridmodelandremodel.The
modelsareequivalentcircuits(orcombinationofcircuitelements)thatallowmethodsof
circuitanalysistopredictperformance.

TransistorHybridModel
TodemonstratetheHybridtransistormodelanacequivalentcircuitmustbeproduced.
Thelefthanddiagrambelowisasinglecommonemitterstageforanalysis.

AtacthereactanceofcouplingcapacitorsC1andC2issolowthattheyarevirtualshort
circuits,asdoesthebypasscapacitorC3.Thepowersupply(whichwillhavefilter
capacitors)isalsoashortcircuitasfarasacsignalsareconcerned.Theequivalentcircuit
isshownaboveontherighthanddiagram.TheinputsignalgeneratorisshownasVsand
thegeneratorssourceimpedanceasRs.
AsRB1andRB2arenowinparalleltheinputimpedancewillbeRB1||RB2.Thecollector

resistorRCalsoappearsfromcollectortoemitter(asemitterisbypassed).Seebelow:

Thebluerectanglenowrepresentsthesmallsignalacequivalentcircuitandcannow
startworkonthehybridequivalentcircuit.
Thehybridmodelhasfourhparameters.The"h"standsforhybridbecausethe
parametersareamixofimpedance,admittanceanddimensionlessunits.Incommon
emittertheparametersare:
hie inputimpedance()
hre reversevoltageratio(dimensionless)
hfe forwardcurrenttransferratio(dimensionless)
hoe outputadmittance(Siemen)

Notethatlowercasesuffixesindicatesmallsignalvaluesandthelastsuffixindicatesthe
modesohieisinputimpedanceincommonemitter,hfbwouldbeforwardcurrenttransfer
rationincommonbasemode,etc.ThehybridmodelfortheBJTincommonemittermode
isshownbelow:

Thehybridmodelissuitableforsmallsignalsatmidbandanddescribestheactionofthe
transistor.Twoequationscanbederivedfromthediagram,oneforinputvoltagevbeand
onefortheoutputic:
vbe=hieib+hrevce
ic=hfeib+hoevce
Ifibisheldconstant(ib=0)thenhreandhoecanbesolved:
hre=vbe/vce|ib=0
hoe=ic/vce|ib=0
Alsoifvceisheldconstant(vce=0)thenhieandhfecanbesolved:

hie=vbe/ib|vce=0
hfe=ic/ib|vce=0
ThesearethefourbasicparametersforaBJTincommonemitter.Typicalvaluesarehre
=1x104,hoetypicalvalue20uS,hietypically1kto20kandhfecanbe50750.TheH
parameterscanoftenbefoundonthetransistordatasheets.Thetablebelowliststhe
fourhparametersfortheBJTincommonbaseandcommoncollector(emitterfollower)
mode.
hparametersofBipolarJunctionTransistor

Common
Base

Common Common
Emitter Collector

Definitions
InputImpedancewith
OutputShortCircuit
ReverseVoltageRatio
InputOpenCircuit
ForwardCurrentGain
OutputShortCircuit
OutputAdmittance
InputOpenCircuit

Hparametersarenotconstantandvarywithtemperature,collectorcurrentandcollector
emittervoltage.Forthisreasonwhendesigningacircuitthehybridparametersshouldbe
measuredunderthesameconditionsastheactualcircuit.Belowaregraphsofthe
variationofhparameterswithtemperatureandcollectorcurrent.
VariationofhparameterswithCollectorCurrent

VariationofhparameterswithTemperature

OutputCharacteristicCurves
Thegraphbelow,showstheoutputcharacteristiccurvesfora2N3904transistorin
commonemittermode.Theoutputcurvesarequiteusefulastheyshowthechangein
collectorcurrentforarangeofcollectoremittervoltages.
OutputCharacteristicsfor2N3904

Inaddition,becausethebasecurrentsarealsoknown,thentwosmallsignalparameters,
hfeandhoecanbedeterminedstraightfromthegraph.Thealmostflatportionofthe
curves,showsthatthetransistorbehavesasaconstantcurrentgenerator.However,in
saturationthesteepnessofthecurves(between0and0.4Vce)showasharpdropinhfe.
Thisisanimportantfacttoconsider,ifusingthetransistorasaswitch.
TypicalhparameterValues
hparametersarenotconstantandvarywithbothtemperatureandcollectorcurrent.
Typicalvaluesfor1mAcollectorcurrentsare:
hie=1000hre=3x104hoe=3x106Shfe=250

Examples
CEStagewithREBypassed

Thehparametermodelwillbeappliedtoasinglecommonemitter(CE)stagewiththe
emitterresistor(RE)bypassed.Themodelwillbeusedtobuildequationsforvoltage
gain,currentgain,inputandoutputimpedance.Thecircuitisshownbelow:

ThesmallsignalparameterhreVceisoftentoosmalltobeconsideredsotheinput
resistanceisjusthie.Oftentheoutputresistancehoeisoftenlargecomparedwithethe
collectorresistorRCanditseffectscanbeignored.Thehparameterequivalentmodelis
nowsimplifiedanddrawnbelow:

InputImpedanceZi

TheinputimpedanceistheparallelcombinationofbiasresistorsRB1andRB2.Asthe
powersupplyisconsideredshortcircuitatsmallsignallevelsthenRB1andRB2arein
parallel.RBBwillrepresenttheparallelcombination:
RBB=RB1||RB2=

RB1RB2
RB1+RB2

AsRBBisinparallelwithhiethen:
Zi=RBB||hie
OutputImpedanceZo

AshfeIbisanidealcurrentgeneratorwithinfiniteoutputimpedance,thenoutput
impedancelookingintothecircuitis:
Zo=RC

VoltageGainAv

Notethesignintheequation,thisindicatesphaseinversionoftheoutputwaveform.
Vo=IoRC=hfeIbRC
asIb=Vi/hiethen:
=hfe

Av=

hfe
hie

Vo
Vi

Vi
hie

RC

RCVi

hfeRC
hie

CurrentGainAi

ThecurrentgainistheratioIo/Ii.Attheinputthecurrentissplitbetweentheparallel
branchRBBandhie.Solookingattheequivalenthparametermodelagain(shown
below):

ThecurrentdividerrulecanbeusedforIb:
Ib=

Ib
Ii

RBBIi
RBB+hie

RBB
RBB+hie

Attheoutputside,Io=hfeIb
rearrangingIo/Ib=hfe
Ai=

Io
Ii

IoIb
IbIi

Ai=

=hfe

RBB
RBB+hie

RBBhfe
RBB+hie

IfRBB>>hiethen,

Ai RBBhfe =hfe
RBB

CEStagewithREUnbypassed

Thehparametermodelofacommonemitterstagewiththeemitterresistorunbypassed
isnowshown.Themodelwillbeusedtobuildequationsforvoltagegain,currentgain,
inputandoutputimpedance.Thecircuitisshownbelow:

Asinthepreviousexample,RB1andRB2areinparallel,thebiasresistorsarereplaced
byresistanceRBB,butasREisnowunbypassedthisresistorappearsinserieswiththe
emitterterminal.Thehybridsmallsignalmodelisshownbelow,onceagaineffectsof
smallsignalparametershreVceandhoehavebeenomitted.

InputImpedanceZi

TheinputimpedanceZiisthebiasresistorsRBBinparallelwiththeimpedanceofthe
base,Zb.
Zb=hie+(1+hfe)RE
Sincehfeisnormallymuchlargerthan1,theequationcanbereducedto:
Zb=hie+hfeRE
Zi=RBB||(hie+hfeRE)

OutputImpedanceZo

WithVisettozero,thenIb=0andhfeIbcanbereplacedbyanopencircuit.Theoutput
impedanceis:
Zo=RC
VoltageGainAv

Notethesignintheequation,thisindicatesphaseinversionoftheoutputwaveform.

Ib=

Vi
Zb

Vo=IoRC=hfeIbRC
=hfe

Av=

Vo
Vi

Vi
Zb

RC

hfeRC
Zb

AsZb=hie+hfeREoftentheproducthfeREismuchlargerthanhie,soZbcanreduced
totheapproximation:

ZbhfeRE
Av=

Av=

Vo
Vi

hfeRC
hfeRE

RC
RE

CurrentGainAi

ThecurrentgainistheratioIo/Ii.Attheinputthecurrentissplitbetweentheparallel
branchRBBandZb.Solookingattheequivalenthparametermodelagain(shown
below):

ThecurrentdividerrulecanbeusedforIb:

Ib=

Ib
Ii

RBBIi
RBB+Zb

RBB
RBB+Zb

Attheoutputside,Io=hfeIb
rearrangingIo/Ib=hfe
Ai=

Io
Ii

IoIb
IbIi

Ai=

=hfe

RBB
RBB+Zb

RBBhfe
RBB+Zb

ExampleCEStage

Thehybridparametersmustbeknowntousethehybridmodel,eitherfromthe
datasheetormeasured.Intheabovecircuit,Zi,Zo,Av,andAiwillnowbecalculated.
NotethatthisCEstageusesasinglebiasresistorRB1whichisthevalueRBB.
Zi

Zb=hie+(1+hfe)RE
=0.56k+(1+120)1.2k=145.76k
Zi=RB||Zb
Zi=270k||145.76k=94.66k
Zo

Zo5.6k

Av

Av=

hfeRC
Zb

120x5.6k
145.76k

Av=4.61
Ai

Ai=

RBBhfe
RBB+Zb

270kx120
270k+145.76k
Ai=77.93

Summary
Thehybridmodelislimitedtoaparticularsetofoperatingconditionsforaccuracy.Ifthe
deviceisoperatedatadifferentcollectorcurrent,temperatureorVcelevelfromthe
manufacturersdatasheetthenthehparameterswillhavetobemeasuredforthesenew
conditions.Thehybridmodelhasparametersforoutputimpedanceandreversevoltage
ratiowhichcanbeimportantinsomecircuits.

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