The invention of the bipolar transistor in 1948 ushered in a revolution in electronics. Technical feats previously requiring relatively large, mechanically fragile, power-hungry vacuum tubes were suddenly achievable with tiny, mechanically rugged, power-thrifty specks of crystalline silicon. This revolution made possible the design and manufacture of lightweight, inexpensive electronic devices that we now take for [...]
Transistors : Feedback
If some percentage of an amplifier’s output signal is connected to the input, so that the amplifier amplifies part of its own output signal, we have what is known as feedback. Feedback comes in two varieties: positive (also called regenerative), and negative (also called degenerative). Positive feedback reinforces the direction of an amplifier’s output voltage [...]
transistors : Biasing calculations
Although transistor switching circuits operate without bias, it is unusual for analog circuits to operate without bias. One of the few examples is “TR One, one transistor radio” TR One, Ch 9 with an amplified AM (amplitude modulation) detector. Note the lack of a bias resistor at the base in that circuit. In this section [...]
Transistor : Biasing techniques
Biasing techniques In the common-emitter section of this chapter, we saw a SPICE analysis where the output waveform resembled a half-wave rectified shape: only half of the input waveform was reproduced, with the other half being completely cut off. Since our purpose at that time was to reproduce the entire waveshape, this constituted a problem. [...]
The common-collector amplifier
Our next transistor configuration to study is a bit simpler for gain calculations. Called the common-collector configuration, its schematic diagram is shown in Figure below. Common collector amplifier has collector common to both input and output. It is called the common-collector configuration because (ignoring the power supply battery) both the signal source and the load [...]
Transistors : The common-emitter amplifier
At the beginning of this chapter we saw how transistors could be used as switches, operating in either their “saturation” or “cutoff” modes. In the last section we saw how transistors behave within their “active” modes, between the far limits of saturation and cutoff. Because transistors are able to control current in an analog (infinitely [...]
