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Active Components and Circuits
All circuits we have discussed so far are only composed of passive components (resistors, capacitors and
inductors) driven by current and/or voltage sources. Later we will consider circuits containing active components
such as bipolar junction transistors (BJT), fieldeffect transistors (FET), operational amplifiers (OpAmps)
containing many transistors, and voltage amplifiers. These active components can be considered as controlled
voltage or current sources as functions (typically linear) of the input voltage or current.
We first consider modeling the overall function and performance of an active component (instead of its
internal structure and implementation which may be very complicated) by the following three parameters:
Voltage gain : The output voltage is related to the input voltage by ,
usually .
drawn from the source, i.e., the source is minimally affected by the amplifier as a load. Ideally
.
across this resistance will result when the load of the amplifier draws a current from the amplifier, i.e.,
the load will minimally affect the output voltage of the amplifier.
Example 1: Consider the circuit below containing an active component, a voltage amplifier, model by the
three parameters , and , dirven by either a current source or a voltage
with internal resistance :
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We next consider a circuit containing an active circuit such as a transistor, an opamp, or a voltage amplifier.
This circuit can be modeled as a twoport network with input port between terminals A and B and output
port between terminals C and D, and described in terms of the three parameters, the opencircuit voltage
gain, the input resistance and output resistance:
Input resistance : This is the resistance between the two terminals A and B of the input port,
In general is affected by the load .
Output resistance : According to Thevenin's theorem, any oneport network can be treated as
is affected by of the source.
a load ( ) to an ideal voltage source
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The performance of such a circuit containing active components can also be described by terms such as
``voltage gain'' , ``current gain'' , and ``power gain'' , which can be found based on the specific
circuits. They are defined as below:
Voltage gain : defined as the ratio of the output voltage to the source voltage:
For the output of the voltage amplifier to be as high as possible, we would like to have ideally
and , so that the output voltage is maximized and the gain is
Current gain : defined as the ratio of the output current to the input current:
Ideally, when , , we have .
Power gain : defined as the ratio of the power delivered to the load to that to the amplifier:
Example 3:
, and .
Input resistance: By inspection, the input resistance of this 2port network can be found to be
.
Output resistance: We assume the internal voltage source is the Thevenin voltage , and get the open
resistance is
Alternatively, can be found as the resistance between the two terminals C and D of the output port
when the voltage source of the amplifier is turned off (shortcircuit), i.e., .
Opencircuit voltage gain: This is the ratio of the voltage across the output port to the voltage
across the input port, when the output port is an open circuit, i.e., .
Example 4:
A 2port network with a voltage aplifier on the left can be modeled by the circuit on the right. Find the parameters
, and of the twoport network with the voltage amplifier embedded.
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Opencircuit voltage gain: As the output port is open circuit, the output current is zero and so is the voltage
drop across . Applying an ideal voltage source to the input, we get the voltage across and
across , respectively:
The opencircuit voltage across output port is therefore:
The opencircuit voltage gain can be found as the ratio of the opencircuit output voltage to the input
voltage:
if , the circuit is reduced to the original voltage amplifier and we have .
Output resistance:
resistance is applied to the input port while the output port is shortcircuited. Applying KVL to the two
loops of the circuit, we get:
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The opencircuit output voltage is
Now the output resistance can be found to be:
i.e., the output resistance is much reduced. Moreover, when , .
Input resistance: This can be found by applying an ideal voltage source to the input port, while the
current. Applying the KVL to the two loops of this circuit, we get
Now the input resistance can be found to be
Note that is affected by the load
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is much increased. Moreover, if , the circuit is reduced to the original voltage amplifier with
In summary, the resistor shared by both the input and output loops serves as a negative feedback:
increased and the is reduced.
Example 5: (Homework)
Note that all output between C and D of the output port is fed back to the input port between A and B:
or , i.e., it is a negative feedback.
Then simplify the three results above by making reasonable approximations based on the assumptions that
, .
current through the input port, when a load is connected to the output port between C and D.
The opencircuit gain .
Answer
Example 6: (Homework)
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To maximize the output , how would you change the values of the six parameters?
Find the power gain of the system.
Answer
Example 7: (Homework)
obtained experimentally. First, connect an ideal voltage source (a new battery with very low internal
Now the three parameters can be derived from the known values of , and the two measurements of the
load voltage , corresponding to the two resistance values used.
Answer
Next: About this document ... Up: Chapter 2: Circuit Principles Previous: TwoPort Networks
Ruye Wang 20170703
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